Women who blog: Anna Pickard
Linda Jones continues our weekly look at women who blog, with Little Red Boat in the hotseat.
Name: Anna Pickard
Occupation: Writer
Blog: Little Red Boat
Blogging since: 2001
I'm a relative newcomer to the must-read Little Red Boat."God she's good. What's even better is she's good for reasons nobody else is." That's what Gaping Void had to say about Anna Pickard, and there can't be many out there who disagree.
On a scale of one to ten, how much fun is blogging, and why?
It should be almost always a ten, surely - or what's the point? There would clearly be no reason to do it if it was a chore, it's a hobby, after all (well, it is for most of us, for you I realise it's more of a work thing) - and when I get to do it at the moment, it IS 8, 9, 10. When I can find the time and energy, which is being a bit hard. THAT's a 1. Booooo.
Please tell us all about some of the most marvellous and unexpected opportunities that have come your way because of your blog.
Too many to count. Seriously. In the almost six years I've been doing this, having a blog has changed the direction of my life, over and over again. In good ways. The city I live in, the person I live with, the job I do have all been affected by - or come about because of - my site. Other things too; I was involved in a Comic Relief fundraising book this year - Shaggy Blog Stories, in which a book was collated, edited and delivered to blog publishers Lulu within a week. That was fun. And last weekend I put a substantial bet on the Grand National, having been told to by readers. And won. Blogging. It's a marvellous thing.
Please tell us about all the lovely friends you have made through blogging...and any you have lost?
On a daily basis I probably talk to more people that I've met through blogging than anyone else. And it's funny when I think about it that way, because I don't think of them as 'internet friends' or virtual people. They're just my mates now. I just happen to have met them this way.
I don't think I've ever lost a friend through blogging. Oh, no, hang on, I have. Someone I used to know who had a habit of sending those 'send these emails on to fifteen people and good things will happen to you! If you break the chain bad luck will befall you!' type emails. I railed about how much I hated those chain things at length, with swearing, and I'm not sure we've spoken since. I'm not very sad about that one, though, because at least I don't get those emails anymore. Ow, I've just burnt my tongue.
Do people actually donate through your tip jar - or are they too tight?
It's not a question of tight. A tip jar is there for just that, and people are under no obligation whatsoever to use it. I was very much in two minds about putting a donatey button there at all - I've always resisted having adverts, hate adverts on blogs, not because they're not in the spirit of the thing as much as because they're so damned ugly - but when I think of it as busker's hat, really. Even the shittest busker puts a hat out, just in case, don't they?
When I was moving house - that's when I put a paypal button up there. And I got enough money for a nice chair and a footstool from Ikea, which I now sit in to do my blogging, which seems fitting.
What's your favourite post, like ever, and why?
Hm. I like some of my cataclysmically bad poetry. Probably something from 2002-2003. I did far more blogging than schoolwork during my masters degree, so anything from there is a pretty good vintage.
How many people read your blog and how many of them have you a) Met b) Met secretly c) Drunkenly snogged d) Made a voodoo doll of?
How many read? I don't know. Not enough and too many, depending on my mood.
How many have I met? Again, I don't know. I know that people I work with have read occasionally, and I've met all of them, obv. And people beyond that at blogmeets and things, dozens. Piles. Loads. Um, 68? That's a guess. I have no idea.
Met secretly?! Why on EARTH would I do that?
Drunkenly snogged? None, sorry, unless you count the one I've been living with for the last four years.
And voodoo dolls, again, you've lost me. I mean, great idea in theory, but they just don't work in practice, do they?
Do you believe, like Kevin Costner, that "If you build it, they will come"? How did your readership find you?
Um. I know I'm slightly dull with the old 'I don't know' thing, but honestly, I don't. The same way as they find all personal blogs, I'm guessing - links from people they read already, lists of UK blogs and aggregators and things, and some through nominations for stuff. I don't know. I think you would have to ask them, no?
How easy is it to write to make people laugh, and did you know you would be making them laugh? Has blogging become easier over the years and has your attitude towards your blog changed?
It's very easy to make people laugh. Just shout 'testicles' in a quiet moment of your next Shiny Media weekly marketing meeting, you will soon discover how easy. (Note from Linda - I have tried this with 'bum' - it works, but unfortunately this is going too far..)
I think a lot about how some words are funnier than others, and some phrasing more amusing, but I don't think it's a thing you can analyse too much, otherwise you lose the funny. It is a delicate flower, the funny-flower.
Has blogging become easier over the years?
No, just the opposite. I didn't have any expectations of myself when I started, and I didn't feel that other people had expectations of me either. Now I do. Also, I'm much busier than I used to be - with freelance writing and things mainly, which is ace, but still makes it harder.
Over time, the subject matter I can write about has diminished, too. When no one read it, I didn't care what I talked about - now I make it a rule never to talk about work, about my relationship (much) about my family, or friends, or anything that could potentially upset or damage me or anyone else. What the hell does THAT leave you with?
Do you think you'll still be blogging in two years time?
Yes.
Why can't you blog about how gorgeous and talented Girls Aloud/Shane Richie are (I love them)?
I don't know, why can't I? Of course I can. I probably won't have done, but if the thought arose I probably would. I've certainly blogged about how I threw up on Shane Richie's shoes, once.
Ah, happy times…
Linda Jones is the director of Midlands features and PR agency, Passionate Media. When not washing her mouth out with soap, she blogs at Twitterati, You've got your hands full and , Freelancewritingtips.com.
