Thanks for all of your pro-introvert comments yesterday. Phew. I’m normal! Bwa ha ha!
And I didn’t actually read your questions until after the interview was over. It went well. It helps that I really like the writer fellow. We talked about a lot of different things, and the interview itself wasn’t nearly as intense as the first one.
Part of my concern is that I want to be portrayed Like The Type of Person I Really Am. And how can I possibly convey all of ME in two measly interviews, each about 90 minutes long?
I had the same issue when our living room was being redone a couple years ago. I remember taking the design team on a tour of my house, anxiously pointing out my stuff and explaining it all, hoping they wouldn’t misinterpret anything they saw. For example I didn’t want them to look at my horrible dining room chandelier and think that I actually LIKE IT and that it’s my style. (We just haven’t found a good replacement, really!)
When it comes down to it, we are all very much reflected in the things we choose to have around us. That’s why photos of inspiration boards, the insides of our purses and even peeks at craft rooms can be so interesting… they are very revealing, aren’t they?
So now I have to supply the writer with a photo of myself. *sigh* Have I mentioned I hate having my picture taken?
A couple of you posted questions, but I didn’t have a chance to read them and think about it before the interview. I wasn’t really going to answer them, but why the heck not?
Lex had a good one (drawn for a recent experience!):
You are sitting at a cafe. You chat briefly with a woman at a nearby table who’s there with her 2 kids. How do you handle realizing you referred to her child as “your daughter” when you realized the kid dressed in the pink tutu and carrying a gold clutch purse is a little boy? The child heard you. What do you do? Apologize? Let it slide?
Ha ha. If I knew the boy heard me I would turn to him and ask him his name (to make sure he was a boy, you know) and then I would say something like “I love your tutu, it’s great, but you know what, I didn’t take a close look at you and didn’t realize you were a little boy. Do you have matching ballet slippers as well?”
Dani asked:
If I were interviewing you, I’d want to know if you ever regretted anything that you said on your blog, or if upon reflection there is something you would have done or said differently.
A timely question. I have been thinking about this very thing. First, a bit of backstory. Last week I had an interview for a potential writing gig. I can’t reveal the who/what/where, but I will say that I was really excited going into it BUT didn’t end up taking the job.
At one point during the interview the topic of my blog came up. I wasn’t going to mention it, but it came up. Interviewer Guy/Big Boss looked down at my resume, to see if I had mentioned it.
“You didn’t, list it here,” he said.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not relevant to this job.”
“Of course it is, it’s your writing.”
“Yeeeah, but the kind of writing I’m doing on my blog consists of unedited posts and photography that are personal in nature.”
“Ok. So what do you write about? Do you write on a theme?”
That that’s where I drew a blank. I stammered something about my projects and my kids and my photos. I really need a clever 30-second descriptor. (Care to help me craft one?) I spoke to Mark about it later. He said that I should have told him it was about “the minutia of my life,” but I have to say, the word minutia sounds like I’m writing about what kind of toilet bowl cleaner I use and what I had for breakfast (HEY!).
ANYWAY, it got me thinking whether or not I should be putting more effort into crafting more posts and ramping up the intelligence quotient around here. After all, it could be read by potential clients and employers, right? But it would mean less posting, because each post would require more thinking/writing time. Gah.
The stuff that you read here is skimmed right off the top of my brain. But I do err on the side of caution when it comes to the topics I write about, or the people I write about. I don’t think there has been anything I regretted writing about. My internal “right v. wrong” gauge is pretty good. Too good, sometimes. My blogging policy is to only write about the kinds of things I’d be able to say to someone in person. And thankfully (knock on wood) I don’t get very many nasty comments or anything like that.
I feel very fortunate that all of you folks (*insert sweeping arm motion*) are so cool. I see this blogging thing like a giant water cooler, where we gather and chat, and I get to share my thoughts and projects with an audience … an audience that keeps growing. (I had 500+ unique visitors yesterday!)
I like you. And I like that you come back time and time again, AND I like your comments too. I’m not a comment snob. I’ve read about some bloggers who don’t like readers who post two word comments like “great post!” Frankly, I am pretty thrilled when someone takes the time to put two words together. As parent I know how difficult that can be sometimes!
The interactivity is probably the best part of blogging, don’t you think?
Okay, back to work.
