I swiped this mercilessly from Angel at home. Tagged readers and freinds at the end (if you’re not tagged, do it and let me know, I’ll know to tag you next time )

How long have you been blogging?

Uhm. I’ve been blogging since around November 2002 (officially, on Livejournal)) and before that I kept a Ujournal that dated back to around August of 2002. Before THAT, I kept an updated page on what I was up to, and had done since around 1999.

Why did you start blogging?

I liked the idea of building a circle of freinds online, reading thier blogs, and having them read my stuff (LJ for the win!) and then later, I was one of the first proponents of buisiness blogging (boy, wish I’d followed up on that one slightly better) on Ryze, in 2004. I had my own blog network early 2004, and started learning WordPress mid 2004. Haven’t looked back. Kaiberie.com, the predecessor of this blog ran as a personal blog from 2004 to early 2009.

What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?

Show me something that isn’t a benifit. I’ve encountered and gotten to share opinions, my writing in public has improved, I’ve made contacts and met amazing people.

How many times a week do you post an entry?

Most blogs I keep (about a dozen) update once a week. Some have a more regular schedule, some less.

How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?

I’ve lost count. Got a feed of my faves in my email – then another couple of dozen handfuls in my feed-reader. I guess I read about 150 blogs regularly.

Do you comment on other people’s blogs?

Not really – I comment when I can add something – I’m not always as confident in expressing my views on other people’s blogs, so if I see something I want to talk about, I link back and do it at my own place.

Do you keep track of how many visitors you’ve had?

WordPress lets me track visitors, but it’s not important.

Do you ever regret a post that you wrote?

Yeah, all the time. I get angry, I respond, then I regret. I’ve gotten into a habit of making sure I’ve always got a couple of spare posts in draft on my bigger blogs, so if I’m off on a tear, I can write it, post one of the others, and if it’s still valid the next day, I edit it and then post it.

Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?

That’s a hard one – my partner says he barely knows bits about me sometimes, and I do keep a lot of what goes on (for various reasons) away from the public eye.

Do you blog under your real name?

Everyone knows me as Kai – so yeah, technically. It’s not my ‘real’ name in the sense that it’s on my birth certificate though. One of the biggies with our family is it’s easy to see who I am, if you’ve got a little technical knowhow, because my information is in public, so my name isn’t a big deal, but I don’t share a last name with my fiancee or kids, so they’re protected.

Are there topics you would never blog about?

I don’t blog about a couple of things, because people get upset. I’ve got a blog for mental health, so sucide isn’t a taboo, but talking about it in personal terms IS because people don’t understand why that’s a part of how I cope. I don’t talk about how difficult my daughter is sometimes in absolute terms because she’s got a disorder, and just as I expect people to respect that my behaviour isn’t always in my control, I accept that of her. It’s hard though, I think some of the stuff we’re going through would be good to put ‘out there’ but I’m still trying to find blameless language for it.

I don’t blog about books in progress, non fiction ones anyway, because I’ve had concepts taken off me before. I talk about my fiction ones, a lot, because the ideas are just too dammed cool.

I don’t talk about my deepest relationships unless I need to vent because it’s not my way – my beloved and I don’t talk about a lot of things in public, but he’s more private than me, and I respect that.

What is the theme/ topic of your blog?

This new one is a mommyblogger blog, because it was needed (wyrdmom), and my LJ is a catchall for my freinds to keep up with me. No topic or theme though, just wierdness

Do you have more than one blog? If so, why?

Uhm. Hell yeah. Don’t have space to list them all either, but they amalgamate at http://kai-o-9-tales.com .

As for why? because I can? not a good enough answer?
I keep seperate blogs because I believe firmly in ‘long tail’. If you niche down, you’ll find the group of people you’re looking for, instead of being ‘broadscale’ if that makes sense

Have you ever deleted a comment from your blog?

Yeah – and I don’t approve comments that are attacks on me or my other commenters. I believe in free speech, but I don’t like spam and I don’t see the point of slagging matches. I’ve deleted comments on LJ for much the same reason, or because the person making the comment has asked me to because they made a mistake.

Kai

Kai is a writer, author and avid reader.  A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.