Blog Book Tour: Dawn Maria

Dawn Maria asks:

1. You've managed to create a very successful blog without major ads and pop-ups distracting your readers. So, how did you get noticed by a publisher without Google AdSense?em>

Candidly, you get noticed because you are a former child actor. I follow all sorts of bloggers who should have had a book deal before I did, but selling the book begins at the moment of conception and Marketing believes there is selling value in "Where are they now?" Not fair, not just, but there you are.

2. Most emerging writers are bombarded with advice about self-promotion, branding and the all-important platform. What do you think about all that?

I think it's a no-win situation by this point. You can't not shout, because everyone is shouting to be noticed and if you don't shout you'll slip quietly under the waves and drown. But since everyone is shouting, statistically there's a snowball's chance your shout will be heard. I know that if I write about anything which doesn't matter to me, my writing is hollow. I think if you write about what's important to you, people will respond to the passion, even if it isn't their passion. Writers build an audience by clearly saying "This is important and here's why." I can't imagine faking a stance for attention ultimately does any good.

3. What kind of writing schedule do you follow?

Schedule? What is this thing you call a schedule? Seriously, I try to put up a new blog every Tuesday. For the first two years, I wrote a blog every other day but it started to compromise my promise to keep the kid's life reasonably untainted. Sometimes I do something idiotic and the blog writes itself. Sometimes, I remember something idiotic and the blog writes itself. If I've somehow managed to avoid doing something stupid, sometimes I think up a sentence I like and then I wait around to see if it draws a few more sentences. If it grows into a paragraph, then there's a decent chance it's a blog, if I sit there long enough. Those are dark weeks for the family. But at least I do every single monotonous chore in the house to avoid writing.

4. Who are your favorite writers?

Bill Bryson, Anne Lamott, Jean Kerr, Sarah Vowell, David Sedaris, David Rackoff, whoever wrote the last book I read. Eighteen people I'll think of just as soon as I put this answer on line.

5. What has been the most surprising aspect of blogging?>

The pleasure I take in people writing in and saying "OMG, I thought I was the only one!" You're not. I'm not. We may be an unsightly group, but there are quite a few of us.