Welcome To The Wall Of Fame
This week's interview is with Les Becker,
The first of the standard questions. Why do you blog?
When I first started blogging, it was to bring attention to a little "No Money/No Experience/No-Hope-In-Hell" production company I was involved in. My thoughts quickly scattered to the wind and I ended up blogging about everything BUT the business - which folded. Surprise...
I blog now, I think, for the social aspect. I've built incredible relationships with people from all over the globe in the last three years. Being somewhat of a hermit sort of fits with the whole blog-thing, too.
What's the story behind your blog name?
ROTFL! "Where the Walls are Soft" was chosen, again, because of that business. People thought I was crazy to want to do such a thing. In hindsight, I guess they were right. Now, the name reflects that my blog is my own little "safe" space - an asylum of sorts, I suppose.
What is the best thing about being a blogger?
Again, I'd have to say it's the social aspect that I enjoy the most. If not for the bloggers I've become so attached to, I would never have made some serious plans to actually get out into the world and see other places. My travel plans will start in my own province, scatter down into the United States (MOST states, actually), and eventually, I want to travel to the UK and Australia to meet some very special people. I will blog it all, of course!
What key advice would you give to a newbie blogger?
"ORIGINAL CONTENT." A lot of new bloggers tend to just regurgitate the same stuff that's already all over the Internet. I like to "clip" interesting bits from Youtube, entertainment and news sites, and other blogs, too ... but when every post is a steady copy and paste, along with a string of links - well, I can get that pretty much anywhere.
"Write what you know" works for me. I want to read about the blogger, not what the blogger saw on TV.
What is the most significant blog post you've ever read?
I thought this might be a hard question to answer when I first read it. Turns out, it's not, at all. It's not exactly a "post", though that struck a chord with me - my very best girl, a blogger called Cardio Girl wrote this in her comments after a particularly personal/difficult entry .... "I often wonder if my writing speaks to anyone, other than myself. Part of me wants to be this eloquent writer who just nails it. And another part of me wants to be the approachable, affable Everyman who resonates with everyone. I know there has to be a middle ground. I just have to keep looking for it."
She wrote what I've always felt, but never would have been able to put into words. For the record, I think she "nails it" every single time.
What is the most significant blog post you've ever written?
Now, this one IS difficult! Hmmmmm. The most significant blog post to ME would have to be my entry for October 22nd, 2007, called Great Aunt Emma. It cemented my friendship with Cardiogirl, for one thing, and it became the inspiration for (sigh...*) yet another novel.
Today's Sunday Roast with Les Becker is the 21st in a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world.
Today's winners are Les Becker with There Were Moments Of Stupidity; Crash Test Dummy with So Lucky I Have Hemophilia and Merideth Teagarden with Gray Like Clay. The other top contenders were River Poet with Draining; Old Man Lincoln with Praying Mantis; Urban Panther with Failures In The Medical Profession; The Dust Will Wait with Mid Night Musings; Twisted Fencepost with No Pain; Silence Is Broken with The Tea Cup; Kat with I’m Just Gonna Have Some Fun and I’m Being Held Hostage with She’s A Very Cheeky Girl. Do pay them a visit and leave a comment if you have time.
