Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger, Lauren from Think Spin who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I’ve been married for twenty-five years, accumulatively, to the same man, have a twenty-one year old son in college, as well as two dogs, and a cat (not in college but they are street smart). We live on the east coast of the U.S. in Ridgefield, Connecticut (about an hour from NYC) on top of a mountain with very few streetlights and no public sewage or water system. We have a well and a septic tank. Luckily, everything runs downhill.

My humorous essays have been published online and in several earthly publications, two of which have folded. I swear I had nothing to do with their demise. I also had a dark short story published in Shroud Magazine. Bottom line, I love to write.

LaurenQ: So tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I started Think Spin in May 2009 several months after I was laid off. While looking for work, I found that blogging kept me somewhat sane but that’s still debatable. Writing humor made me feel great.

The name Think Spin is based on the way my mind works. It’s always spinning and never stops. The original tag line was “caught in the gravitational pull of the mind.” I’ve since changed it because I felt it didn’t provide readers with an overview of the blog’s content, which includes satirical posts on life, culture, and society.

When choosing a name for my blog, I felt two points were important.

1. It had to be a name that was easy to remember and
2. The domain had to be short and simple.

As soon as I created Think Spin on Blogspot, I registered the domain. I think that’s important. I should also mention that I first checked to see if the domain was available.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Yes, blogging does take up a lot of my time, at least two hours plus a day when I’m not working. One hour a day when I am working. I am a freelance writer.

I also think blogging needs to be broken down into two sections.

1. Responding to comments, commenting at other blogging sites, and self-promotion.

2. Writing and guest posting.

Time spent on writing and commenting can be balanced somehow, although I haven’t figured it out yet. : )

It takes me several hours to write a blog post. After I’ve completed a draft, I let it sit for a while and then edit it.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Most of the traffic comes from sites I comment on, Google, Sites that carry my blog on their blogroll, Bloggers.com, Sites where I Guest Post.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: I use Networked Blogs on Facebook and Twitter automatically tweets a post every time I publish. I just started using Stumble and Digg.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Never give up, get listed in blog directories, i.e., Bloggers.com, BlogCatalog.com, get a Feedburner account or other similar service, write guest posts, and make as many blog friends as possible by visiting their sites regularly (whenever you have time) and commenting. Also, try to pace yourself and manage your time online, as I’ve been unsuccessful at both.

Thanks Lauren.

You can check out Lauren at @thinkspin and her blog Think Spin..

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

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