Watch Out, Babs: An Interview

The delightful (and patient) Painted Maypole has been interviewing bloggers around the blogosphere. I'm posting her interview here today.

1) You spend a lot of time in your car. What one super feature do you wish it had?

Auto-pilot

I can only imagine how much more multi-tasking I would get done if I could just tell my car (like Kit in NightRider) “Get us to soccer practice” and then I could sit back and get the bills paid, or change the festering diaper, or supervise homework. Or drink heavily.

2) What prompted you to start blogging? Has it been everything you dreamed it would be?

I wanted to flex my writing muscle everyday. I had no idea about the community of blogging, the connections I would make, none of that. I honestly thought I would post chapter vignettes each day as I worked toward finishing a book or project. Now I’m really enjoying the community aspect, and I signed up for National Novel Writing Month in November to get me going with the other stuff. There’s no way I would post that stuff on a blog – hello! Copyrights!

3) You started Philanthropy Thursdays over a month ago. How has your doing this and the participation of other bloggers changed or inspired you?

Sometimes I wish every post was dedicated to Philanthropy Thursday. I love how it makes me feel to do something meaningful, and it fills a gap for me left by my not working as a social worker now that I’m a stay-at-home mom. I am both inspired and troubled by the blogger response. People just knock my socks off with the amazing things they do in this world and I love to read about it. On the other hand, I wonder when a post about Playboy gets me nearly 50 comments yet it seems people shy away from commenting on Philanthropy Thursdays. I hope it’s not because they think they HAVE to do something in order to comment. I just want to get the dialogue started about being aware that we can all do small things to change lives.


4) Your posts make me laugh out loud! (are you this funny in person, because I'm dying to have a drink with you!) What is, in your opinion, your funniest post? Also, is there something you've tried to write about humorously, and found you couldn't?

It amazes me that people think I’m funny, because it always seems like when I’m trying to be funny it falls flat, but when I’m venting from a dark place or angry I get a lot of positive feedback. I would love to have a drink with you, too! Although the jury’s out on whether you’d still find me funny. Dorky and wanting to dance to old Duran Duran songs, yes. I guess I have to go back to the Playboy post as one of my favorites. That came from a lot of self-loathing over the drastic changes that occur when allowing four children to eat from your body for nearly a year each. I would love to blog more about some of the husband/wife dynamics in my house but Bob feels like that is crossing a line. So I don't. For now (evil laugh).

5) You've won lots of blog awards. What award do you wish someone would give you for your real life, and what would you say in your acceptance speech?

This is a hard one. I guess I would love for all of my kids to someday win an award and do the “Thanks, mom” bit as they accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Which boils down to the biggest reward for me being the ultimate happiness and success of each of my kids. I’m really praying for no parole hearings in our future. I don’t want to be thanked for early furlough release.