Someone I'd Like You to Meet: Lizzy from My Ice Cream Diary

I feel quite confident that should life ever allow this woman's path to cross my own that I'd love being her friend. Why? Well we have quite a bit in common She's married, I'm married; she's got four kids, I've got four kids; she even has hers in the same order as I do (a girl, two boys and a girl).

She loves Settlers of Catan as much as I do (to the point of memorializing the game in cupcakes), she loves ice cream and here I've been petitioning to have Ben and Jerry canonized as saints for years now. If for nothing else, the introduction of Caramel Sutra into my life qualifies them for sainthood.

Yes, the similarities are spooky--she likes Cheetos with her apple pie, I like Cheetos with my apple pie. Oops, no, strike that. She's on her own with that one.

But regardless, since I've started reading Lizzy's blog, My Ice Cream Diary, I've enjoyed her writing and her family and feel quite sure that we'd be good friends if our homes were just closer. (If our homes were closer I think I'd ask her to rent out her husband who could probably pick up some sweet cash moonlighting as an instructor for a "Learn How to Be the Kind of Husband That Makes All the Other Husbands Look Bad" course after his recent birthday performance--it's too good to recap, you'll have to read what he did for her birthday here).

Anyway, she homeschools two of her four children (check out her post Homeschooling and Socialization) and is expecting her fifth child, a boy, due at the end of June--though we're all pulling for him to arrive a week or two early. Isn't that every pregnant woman's dream? Just a short little week or two shaved off that 9-month period? That and to be able to fit into your skinny jeans a week after delivery.

After our busy Memorial Day weekend I had a few questions for Lizzy and she was kind enough to answer. Most of them are about blogging and after her fine performances in various editions of the Write-Away Contest I think she's eminently qualified to give advice on the topic.

I asked her if she felt any kind of responsibility towards her readers:

I do feel a responsibility to my readers. When I first started blogging it would really bother me when I would find a great blog and then suddenly they stopped blogging. It is a lot like having my favorite TV show canceled. At the very least, I think bloggers should have a grand finale, or at least say goodbye before they leave. I try to always let my readers know when to expect me back if I'm going to stop posting for more than 2-3 days.

Which makes me then ask who she blogs for--herself or her audience?

Who do I post for? I post for myself because this really is the only diary/journal I have going and I think it is important that I have a record of myself for my children. Though I post for myself, I write for my readers. Before I write any story or idea I try to think about how to make it more understandable and enjoyable for those reading. I have always tried to blog this way because, and I fully admit this, I blog for the comments. I love the feedback and the communication that comes from blogging. If you want comments you have to write in a way that encourages comments.

Fair enough. I asked Lizzy about blogging mistakes and if there were mistakes that she saw beginning bloggers making and she said:

Not posting regularly. If you post sporadically people get annoyed with the time they've wasted coming back, or they just forget to stop by. Also, not leaving comments on blogs you read. How will people know you are out there with your own great blog if you don't say "Hi?"

Any last advice for beginning bloggers out there? Words of wisdom or that sort?

Read what you want to write. Great writers throughout history, and even today, have all been great readers. When you saturate yourself with great writing you can't help but improve your own. I am always searching for successful and well written blogs to study in order to improve my own.

The other thing a writer needs to do is to have a purpose. What is the purpose of your blog, your story, or your essay? Without a purpose, moral, or priority, most writing is disposable and forgettable.

If you haven't yet visited My Ice Cream Diary stop on by and tell Lizzy Hi for me--see what flavors she's got going today.

Technorati tags: interviews, blogging, motherhood