Interview with Indie
His Blog: The Synchronicity of Indeterminacy
URL: indeterminacy.blogspot.com
Location: Europe
Genre: Writer/Photo Blog
First post: Friday, August 13, 2004
His audience: persons from all walks of life who like to read quality fiction–bloggers, high school and college students, people in the creative arts (artists, writers, stand-up comics, musicians, designers) and people who work with language every day (lawyers, therapists, professors, teachers, editors, company CEO’s)–his blogroll reflects his audience
Thing to note when you visit: the interactivity; the connection between Indie and his readers; the quality of the content; the special features and unique ideas

Meet Indie.

Indie’s an American blogger, living in Europe. He’s the first interview because his blog shows how quality, creativity, and attention to readers can turn a basic template into a memorable blog. Indie gives his audience a flash fiction story five days a week. He also has made the writer’s blog interactive.

It’s hard to miss the sense of community on this blog. The folks who hang out here are having fun. Indie has both a factual and an intuitive sense of who his readers are and he clearly connects with them. It comes across in their comments and his responses. His writing voice is authentic and engaging. Just listen to his answer to my first question.

Indie, how would you define a successful blog?

Since you selected me as a “successful blog,” I had hoped that you would tell me what the definition would be. . . .

In my case, I call my blog a success because it fulfills my personal feeling for aesthetic and expression. The stories are all short, which gives me time to read and correct them until everything sounds “just right” to me. My feel for what is “good writing” is probably a composite of my years of voracious reading. I never posted anything that I did not think was up to my standard of quality. In this respect I can call my blog a success.

About six weeks into my blogging I received a flattering comment to one of my stories from Anonymous which describes, by process of elimination, that person’s idea of a successful blog. The comment left me stunned and . . . I hope I deserved it.

“That’s great! All of your stories are good. I get so sick of the intellectual web people who think they’re the next … some one…. They love to attack gods and people and things. They like cynicism for the sake of cynicism. They usually have some Japanese sounding name, and a Nietzsche quote in their signature. They want desperately to be “thinkers” and “uber” and different and cool, but there is something fundamental that they just don’t get. I find 95% of blogs and stuff on the web to be like that, 95% of the stories and fiction to be entwined with some bitter little agenda.”

Three of my stories have been included in the quarterly E-zine Practically Creative which is another sign for me that I am on the right track.

Indie proves that success has many definitions. We’ll be talking with him all this week. If you haven’t experienced his blog, I encourage you to. There’s a great chance you’ll find something that sparks an idea that works for you.

Have questions or comments for Indie about his definition of success or what you’ve seen on his blog? Feel free to leave it for him here. He’ll be stopping by all week to join the conversation.

Tomorrow–Indie’s Audience–why they come, what they like, how they find him, ideas for interactivity, and more . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss