BlogMe, Baby Brings You... Dawn!

I'm thrilled to be participating in the BlogMe, Baby online mixer that was brain farted by the beautiful and talented Mocha Momma and explained so wonderfully by the awesome and powerful BlogHerita Lisa Stone.

And now I present to you... Dawn of I am doing the best I can, The Gimlet Eye, and True Wife Confessions. Yes, Dawn writes three blogs, people. Three!

But wait, there's more!

When did you start blogging and why? Or Talk about your blog. What can I learn about you in under 5 minutes?
I started blogging in August 2005 as I realized I was in a clinical depression (numbah 2). My blog was a way to get the shit out of my head that was rattling around.

Under five minutes? I am weirdly smart, and have a host of useless information tucked into my brain. I am also a bossy, smart ass chick. I like to eat good food and drink alcohol. I am an introvert. I don't like most people, but I fake it well. Being a mother kicks my ass - every day. I have an odd sense of humor. I like to laugh.

How do you use blogging to build friendships?
I was amazed that there were people out there who "got" me, and vice versa. That was a revelation.

Who do you read every day, rain or shine?
Me?

No, I try to get through my Blogroll every day. Some days, life is shaking me up and I don't...but I try.

Why did you choose to share that piece of yourself in a photograph?
I am trying to embrace a new culture. Montreal is slower than the US - but in a very good way. People linger over coffee, sit and think. This is one of the first times in my life that I have had the time to stop and sit with myself. Plus, it has been such a leap of faith to move here. I am growing and it is both scary and thrilling at the same time.

How would you describe your writing style?
Crazy talk with educated academia thrown in. It is the soundtrack inside my brain - laugh track included.

If you could spend time with one person (other than your spouse, because really, let's not rack up the suck up points here) who would it be?
Oh dear. It wouldn't have been my spouse, anyway. Me. I like being with me. And my cohort from Grad school - The original Phi Delta Badass.

What don't you write about? Anything considered a no-no in your book?
I write about everything. Even when it gets me in trouble. There are only a few - very few - posts that did not make it up on air. A very bad fight I had with my husband - in detail - and a piece about my father that I am still processing. Other than that, I let it fly.

How do you feel about meeting bloggers in real life? Are you nervous? Will you have great expectations? What do you home to take away from the BlogHer experience?
I am wildly excited to be a part of Blogher. I'm not nervous yet, but will be when I am on the plane.

I think one of the things that so thrills me about this is the community we are building - as women writers. This community does not depend on geography. Yet it is as real a community as the local bridge club.

As to take away, I hope to learn some more about the technical side of the Internet. I am woefully undereducated in that facet. And scandalous pictures. Lots of them.

So soon we're going to meet each other at BlogHer. Important question. How do you party?
Like it's 1999. Actually, I enjoy hanging out and having a few drinks. Maybe more than a few. I can't wait to have belly laughs with so many friends. Important Dawn fact - when I announce that Captain Morgan and Coke is a good idea for the next round - cut me off. I'm going to be sick soon.

What is your favorite thing that you wrote? What got a strong reaction from readers? Links please?
Oooooh. Hard to say. Each piece, even the off the cuff ones feel good when I write them. I like when I am funny - the gnomes, Vlad, the fake ads, or Friday Fun With Toys... These things amuse me to no end.

As to strong reactions, talking about my depression seemed to touched many other women. As have the posts about anger and truth and the cult of motherhood - many of which led into the development True Wife Confessions. I have not had many trolls of I am doing the best I can, but True Wife seems to send some people over the edge.

Have you written anything controversial? Is blogging controversial?
I expected some of the race pieces I have written to be more controversial, but I never get a negative response.

The most controversial thing I have done so far, seems to be True Wife Confessions. It seems to have touched a real nerve among women across lots of backgrounds. Of course, in that it has also sparked a lot of less than positive comments into my inbox.

As to "is blogging controversial?" - I think so. In so much as women expressing themselves in such an upfront and honest way - telling the world that this is hard and we don't have all the answers all the time. That we want to be good mothers and wives, but that we are lonely, or scared, or depressed...or exhausted. That we were told we could have it all, but we can't...and that pisses us off. My sense is that we are only beginning to see the kernel of what blogging will become in the future.

Are you and your blogging persona the same person?
Hell to the yiz-eah. Friends tell me that reading the blog is like talking with me.

Have you ever anonymously posted on a site to flame them?
No. I feel strongly about owning my own words. Plus, if I don't like a site, I just move on. The only caveat to that may be if I thought someone was advocating something that was dangerous or harmful to others.

If you had a super power, what would it be?
I would be "Supreme Inner Peace Woman."

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