January 08, 2016

Blogger Interview with...ME!



Last year I started doing Blogger Interviews. I’ve interviewed many awesome bloggers including Alex J Cavanaugh, Arlee Bird, and Sherry Ellis. For a full list go HEREThis month I decided to do something a little different and interview...MYSELF! :P


1. Tell us about Write with Fey.

I started blogging in 2012. There was no secret motive behind it. Why I started blogging is the same reason so many other writers started...we were told to. We heard many agents and publishers say that writers should be blogging and building their platforms well before they publish their first book. So, I caved and created Write with Fey. The first year I published 52 posts about how to write a novel from beginning to end. I had about 5 comments. Haha!

2, What was your very first blog post?

Catching a Spark was my first post. I reference this a lot whenever I talk about how I started writing since the full story is there.



3. How did you come up with your Writing About feature?

During my second year of blogging I wanted some way to get potential interested readers and to help writers at the same time. So I looked at the book I was writing at the time (the last book in my unpublished series) and created posts based on the types of scenes I wrote. The first one I ever did was “Writing About: A Kidnapping” which receives a lot of views. When I ran out of posts for that book, I looked at all of my published and unpublished stories. As of today I’ve published 64 of these posts. 

To see them all go HERE.

4. Do you have anything new ideas for your blog this year?

Since I’m not doing A to Z this year (I know, I know. I’m sorry!), on the Wednesdays not devoted to IWSG, I will be doing my own form of A-Z devoted to my new series. This year I’ll be publishing book 2 in my Disaster Crimes series. Each Wednesday will be for a different topic related to my series from A-Z. There will be a lot of neat insights and teasers, so I hope you’ll all enjoy it. :)




5. What are the top 5 most-viewed posts on your blog?


6. What gave you the idea to interview bloggers?

I wanted to broaden my audience and honor the great bloggers I’ve gotten to know. Whenever I post a blogger Interview, I love to see comments from readers who thank me for introducing them to a new blogger. That’s a great feeling!

7. Share your number one tip to bloggers just starting out.

Take time to plan out what you want to do with your blog. Don’t just dive into blogging blindly. Make a plan, know how often you want to post, and what topics you will cover.

See: Blogging 101 for more tips.


Hyper Round:
1. Favorite time to post blogs? 
7:00am Eastern for normal posts, 6:30am for IWSG
2. Blogger or Wordpress?
Blogger (Although I use Wordpress for my website.)
3. Do you host guests? YES!
4. Where are you when you’re blogging?
At my desk in the part of my bedroom that is my office.



QUESTION: Do you have any questions for me about my blog? I’d love to answer them! If I get enough, I might do a post later this month. :)


72 comments:

  1. Gasp! I am speechless. No A to Z? Totally understand. Great interview and perfect timing with my review of your book. I look forward to reading yout A to Z series.

    Betty

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    1. Last year's A to Z took it out of me. I didn't even want to write a single post for A to Z. But I will for next year. :)

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  2. Fun interview, Chrys!

    I'm waffling about doing A-Z this year....

    I post early in the day, too. And usually early in the week, although I try not to rule anything out. :)

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    1. Post early ensures everyone will see it eventually throughout the day.

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  3. I did the blogging blindly thing when I first started out. I just played around with it. I try to do that less with my current blog, but there are still periods where I'm in the dark.

    I usually do 7am EST, too, and I have have Blogger & Wordpress.

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    1. I couldn't blog blind. I'd be in a constant state of panic. Lol

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  4. Sorry you're not doing the Challenge but I like your version of the A to Z.
    I've been a 5:00 am Eastern poster for years.

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    1. Thanks. 5 am? I'm not even up that early. HAHA

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  5. The a to z can take a lot of time indeed. Nice spin on it for your sea. Have a plan? haha the cat never had a plan he just went to it.

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  6. I did some challenges last year, for the first time. I met the Goodreads challenge, but failed to keep up with the others. Alas, I will rethink that for this year. I can hardly wait for Book II of the Disaster Crime series. :-) I enjoy your posts and have met some great bloggers and authors through them. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work.
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. Your enthusiasm makes me so happy. One day I hope to have many, many people anxious for my next book. I'm glad you like my interviews. :)

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  7. What a novel idea! You bring up some really good points as well. Especially perseverance; for just because you write, doesn't mean they'll come, right away. Of course, you're well over that particular hurdle:-) I look forward to the interesting posts you've planned; which is another essential point - planning.

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  8. You do have fabulous blog. I'm a bit of a blind blogger. I keep planning to have a better plan, but never do.

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    1. Thank you, Elizabeth! Oh, but your blog is fabulous. :)

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  9. Hi Chrys - love the way you got going .. just by blind faith - I think if I'd got so few comments at the beginning I'd have given up. But thank goodness you didn't and you're still here ...

    The A-Z takes a lot of time, but can be immensely satisfying ... but it's a great way to post items .. using the A-Z format whenever ... many people outside of our blogosphere are using the A-Z --- I get quite cross!!!

    Your idea sounds great fun and I'll be around .. and doing the A-Z .. .cheers Hilary

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    1. My perseverance has always been strong. I had a goal with my blog so I couldn't give up after a disappointing first year.

      The A-Z format is great. I may do it every year for something. :)

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  10. Hehehe. I love the idea of interviewing yourself.

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    1. Thanks. At least I didn't do witty back and forth banter. I almost did. :p

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  11. My first blog post garnered zero comments. And most of my posts had about the same number of comments for years. Only when I started joining blog hops and such did I start getting some attention.

    As you are well aware, you inadvertently helped introduce an awesome blogging community to me. So I will always be eternally grateful to you and your blogging series.

    My question for you, where do you see your blog in five years time?

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    1. Getting involved is the only way to get comments and views. That was my mistake the first year.

      Oh gosh. Five years? I'm not sure if I will be blogging on 5 years. I hope so but do much can change in that time. I will be blogging next year but it'll be a very different year for my blog. I'll be ending a lot of my usual features and right now I have no ideas past 2017. So at this point, I don't know where my blig will be in 2018.

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    2. Maybe the better question would have been, where do you see your writing in five years? I have to admit, it's something I should really start thinking about. Blogs come and go, but our writing is essentially eternal. What changes is the direction and the outlet. Thanks for answering my question.

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    3. I see my Disaster Crimes series being complete and having a contract for the first book in my unpublished series with Avrianna's from Ghost of Death. Fingers crossed! :)

      And sorry for all the typos on my last reply. That's what I get for using my phone and not reading my reply before hitting publish.

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  12. Great self interview, Chrys! I re-read the first post about the spark. I love it. It's such a great way to describe an idea for a story. Well, you've really accomplished so much here at your blog. Your posts have helped me along in my fiction writing. I'll be sending my short story collection to the editor this month! I can't blame you for not doing the A-Z challenge this year. Great post!! I'm going to re-read the how to write about hospitals again. :)

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    1. The fact you read my first post makes me very happy. I'm glad that I could inspire you with your fiction writing. I hope you hear good news about your collection. Good luck!

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  13. Great post and love the interview with yourself concept! You are right on track with your blog. Busy busy busy you are!

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  14. I really enjoyed reading more about you! What a cool idea to interview yourself!

    Thanks for providing the link to my interview, again!

    Have a terrific 2016!

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    1. I guess I should blog more about myself in the future. :) You're welcome!

      Happy 2016!!!

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  15. Nice interview, Chrys! If I was to interview myself, I'd have Nevada Jack do it--he used to appear often in my blog when I was writing more satire and parody. Maybe I should try the A-Z challenge as I haven't done that before (and I'm now on 12 years of blogging). I also use both blogger and wordpress--but the wordpress is strictly work related.

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    1. I think the A-Z Challenge would be great for you and your blog. :D

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  16. I love your interview with yourself and it is inspiring because I had hardly any comments until I found all of you. Card people seem to look but don't talk...or I just have not hit the right note. Funny 'cos I took Psychology in University but hung out with the English club. Sorry about the A to Z but looking forward to what you will write

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    1. The best of us get no comments in the beginning. ;)

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  17. I want to know which tricky questions you're glad you didn't ask yourself.

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    1. Haha. Hmm...I'm glad I didn't ask myself anything personal. ;)

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  18. Excellent post Chrys, you did yourself proud.
    Yvonne.

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  19. I bowed out of A-Z last year and became a minion instead so I completely understand. Ready to go this year and wish you all the best with your own A-Z posts this year outside of the usual fare.It is important to know what you want to write about. I started my blog to meet more writers and readers. So happy to say mission accomplished and you are one of my people Chrys. Enjoy your weekend.

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    1. I am one of your people. :D

      I was thinking about being a minion this year but I thought I'd take a break all-together from blogging for the month of April this year.

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  20. Hey Chrys,

    Well done on interviewing yourself. It must have been fascinating swapping from chair to chair. Good stuff.

    Now then, how about this. Two dogs, Sir Poops and Hair Ball, interviewed my dog, Penny the Jack Russell dog. Something about pawblishing.

    Thank you for not doing that idiotic monstrosity that is the alphabet challenge! Make it go away! Of course, me being the official "Anti-A to Z Challenge" spokesman, as dubbed by Arlee Bird, I'm bound to say that.

    Oops, I started talking about me. Back to you and well done.

    Gary :)

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    1. Oh, but I do love the A to Z Challenge. And you might not be too happy about my A-Z themed posts I'll be doing all year. :\

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    2. Oops, okay, I reread that part of your post. Oh well, I was hoping you might help me with my anti-A to Z posts. Then again, I guess that would be rather ironic.

      I'm going now.....

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    3. Hopefully I won't annoy you too much with my Wednesday posts. :)

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  21. Interviewing yourself... Now, that's an idea. I might have to steal it.

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    1. Go ahead! I could've made it more funny by doing banter back and forth but I thought that would be too weird. Maybe I'll do is another time. ;)

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  22. Hey, that's an amazing interview. :)
    Happy 2016!

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  23. I don't A - Z. I don't have time. Your interviewing skills are excellent, and you chose a great person to interview.

    Love,
    Janie

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  24. I've done the A to Z a few times but I don't currently have plans to participate this year.

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    1. It seems that a few of us aren't participating this year.

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  25. What a great post! I loved your interview with yourself. I started my blog for the same reason- my agent at the time told me to do it, so I did. It has definitely grown and changed over time and I am so glad I took the advice because I love blogging and connecting with all the bloggers I have met. :)

    ~Jess

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    1. I love blogging too! I don't know if I'll be doing this in five years but I love it right now and that's what counts. :)

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  26. Great self-interview and I enjoy your posts on writing. I stopped doing A to Z because I did it once on a release month and it was too much. I miss it though, since I had done it for a few years before that.

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    1. Last year I had a release during A-Z. It was tough to manage.

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  27. Looking forward to hearing more about part II of your disaster crime series, Chrys! I like how you'll be introducing it on Wednesdays in April. I enjoyed learning more about you. Happy New Year!

    Julie

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    1. Oh no, it's not just going to be in April...every Wednesday starting next week will be an A-Z post about my series. :)

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  28. Hi Chrys. I think most of us have no idea what we're doing when we start blogging, much like our earlier writing pales beside our recent efforts (or I hope it does!) But we develop as we go. It is our blog so if we make some bad decisions, so be it. The blogging community is very forgiving, I've found.

    Love the idea of a 'selfie'. I enjoy your writing posts. Thank you.

    Denise :-)

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    1. Having an idea is important though so we don't struggle. Changing it as we go is fine and necessary.

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  29. Oh and I never missed the A-Z once upon a time, but soon realised what a time suck it is with all the planning, visiting, commenting...time could be put to better use. I usually just shut down for April and visit any post that looks interesting as time permits. Last year I wrote 20,000 words of a novel instead of A-Z-ing. That felt good!!

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    1. It is a time suck. I will be taking a break during April too. I can't wait to write while everyone is A-Zing.

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  30. I started my blog after a friend suggested it to me. At first it was a diary of my life. I was bored with what I had to say, so, over the years it has covered just about everything. I do it for my own satisfaction. I am not a writer - no patience for that.

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    1. Doing it for your own satisfaction is great. :)

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  31. I started my blog when I was belatedly getting back into the querying game, and in the recent aftermath of losing my old Angelfire site. It took me a long time to find the perfect post length, and no longer routinely have posts going 1,500 words or more on average! I've been moving towards a more eclectic range of topics on my blog, to stand out from all the other writing blogs.

    I'd like to know how far in advance you usually schedule your blog posts, how you choose the topics, and how much time you spend writing and editing each post.

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    1. Shorter posts are definitely better. Eclectic topics is a great way to stand out.

      I schedule my posts usually one or two months ahead of time, but I have almost half the years posts written. I choose the topics by things I learn or written about. I don't time myself but I can write four posts in a single night. I edit when I type them and again when I schedule the posts.

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  32. Interviewing yourself :P

    Aw, too bad you're not doing the A-Z thing this year! I was too late last year for it and have been looking forward to doing it this year!

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    1. Why not? ;)

      I'll try my best to catch as many of your posts as I can.

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  33. Your blog is really helpful, thanks for telling us a little more about how you started :) I'm sad you won't be doing the A to Z, but your weekly idea does sound fun!

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth! I hope you enjoy my Wednesday posts. :)

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