The Sunday Roast

Flying The Flag For Notable Causes

This week's interview is with Katney,
who writes the blog Katney's Kaboodle.

The first of the standard questions. Why do you blog?

I started noticing blogs because, among my six very techie grown children, I have two blogging sons-- neither of whom I read much any more. (Well, to be truthful, the one rarely blogs any more--life and parenthood has caught up with him. The other writes about stuff that does not interest me much, but I check every once in a while to make sure he is still breathing.) Their blogs got me to reading others that were linked, and eventually, when our ISP started offering blogging, I signed on. I blogged about ten times in eighteen months, and that blog has disappeared (I just went to check to see if it was still there.)

I just went to read what I said about why I started again. You know, reasons change. This is what I said in my first post: "I've been visiting a couple of interesting blogs and have decided to start a new one myself. I started a blog a couple of years ago - it has a grand total of about ten entries.

Rather than resurrect that one, I decided to start anew. I think that the difference will be that I can actually find this one, and maybe anyone who might actually be interested in my musings will, too. My plan is to actually post to this one."

Well, I have continued to be able to find this one and found it fun, and some others have, too, so I go on.

What's the story behind your blog name?

This one is easy, but it will take a while. To start with, I have to explain the Katney part. Back in the dark ages we had finally gone beyond the "There is no way we will ever have a computer in this house!" through "No way no how will we ever have the Internet in this house!" We were arranging our first Internet account. Knowing nothing about how to put together an e-mail address, we assumed it was as the local representative of brigadoon dot com explained: You take the first three letters of your name and the last three letters of his name.

So we became katney at brigadoon dot com. (I spell it out this way because, while brigadoon dot com the ISP faded into the mists about six months later, right after we had paid our next quarter's connection bill BTW, the domain name has since been picked up by promoters of the musical and all that surrounds its story.) We have moved to different providers, but I have remained Katney through them all.

Now for the Kaboodle part. The spring before I started the blog I had been teaching middle school language arts. We read a book in the seventh grade class that was rich with vocabulary -- sometimes used in unique ways. One of the expressions used was that the girl had "a whole caboodle of" something. I'd never seen or heard the word used that way, but it worked for me in regards to alliteration and meaning. My blog is a whole caboodle of things.

BTW, I also have the "---Yakima Valley Daily Photo" which I started in July. The name of that one is pretty obvious except for the "---" part. That's the only way I could get the title to show over the dark corner of the picture in the header.

What is the best thing about being a blogger?

People.

I am shy. Honest! I get paranoid in crowds. Ha, you say, but honest, I do. The things that have enabled me to do some of the things that I do are Boy Scouts, quilting, and blogging. Grin -- you figure that out!

I know that I can go to almost any city and find a friend. For example, Kim from Seattle Daily Photo met me in support during the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in Seattle when other friends had not managed to make it as they had assured me they would. I was feeling pretty alone in a huge crowd at that point, and seeing Kim was a big boost. I had never met her before, except through the blogs. We immediately shared a huge hug.

The Internet has lots of ways to connect with people, and I think blogging is one of the best. Use it wisely. Photoblogging has also given me a fresh eye for an image. It has brought out the artist in me and take me places I might not have been inclined to go.

What key advice would you give to a newbie blogger?

Well, for starters, it helps if you can find your blog -- LOL. No, actually, it really helps if you can find the blogs of others who are models of good blogging. Bookmark those you like or do the feed thing or "following" in Blogger. Read other blogs and see what works for folks. Then do your own thing.

Comment on blogs. Most folks follow up on comments most of the time, so you will get visits. But blog for yourself. Keep your layout clean and easy to read, too. That makes a difference to me on whether I come back. Getting involved in a weekly meme gives you an impetus, too. (Is this where I get to hawk Odd Shots Monday?)

What is the most significant blog post you've ever read?

I knew this question was coming and I knew it would be the hardest of all. I don't think it possible to identify the ONE most significant blog post I have ever read. If I went around to each blogger and asked them your next question -- the most significant that they have written -- I would say that for each of the blogs I read, that that might well be the most significant post I have read.

When a blogger puts their heart and soul into a post, then that post is truly significant. When a blogger shares something that is truly precious to them, then that post is truly significant. When a blogger takes a risk in a post, then that is truly significant. When a blogger explores an experience that helped to form them into the person they are, then that is a truly significant post.

You've had a number of these kinds of posts, especially when you write about your mother. So have most bloggers, so I don't want to single them out.

What is the most significant blog post you've ever written?

It could very well be the first time I did Sunday's Psalm -- (though that means changing the "written" to "posted".) It came of a realization I had had during a prayer time that I was boxing up various facets of my life and keeping them separate. Up to that time the only other of my interests that I had incorporated regularly into my blogging were hiking and travel. Except for a couple of random posts, you wouldn't have known that I was a person of faith.

That first Sunday's Psalm was a turning point in that way, and it has become something I make sure I have prepared no matter what else is going on.



Today's Sunday Roast with Katney is the 52nd in a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world.