This post is part of a series of interviews highlighting Fuelmyblog bloggers and their blogs, a great way to find out who are the bloggers part of the Fuelmyblog community. If you would like to feature in this series add your name in the comment box or email sylvie(at)fuelmyblog.com
- What’s your name?
It shouldn’t be, but it’s a tricky question because when I began this journey, it was important to keep my identity close to the vest. There were people out there in the .tv world that were causing problems for people that released personal data. After 15 months of blogging and a year of broadcasting almost nightly, I’ve got this online persona, this “brand” called Justopia. My real first name has gotten out so although no one calls me Fran, that’s my first name. To the Justopia readers and viewers … it’s Justopia. And it’s about … well, about Just being. Just being in Utopia. Which is what Justin.tv was. I was in a Justin.tv induced Utopia during the months after a layoff.
- What’s the name of your blog?
Living the Justopian Life
- What’s the URL of your blog?
- How old is your blog?
15.5 months old
- If you’re willing to share, how many visitors per day do you have to your blog?
I’ve got a small, but consistent following of 200 people/day. Many of the readers are viewers of the justopia.com nightly cooking show.
- How much time do you spend blogging every week?
With rare exception, I spend from 20 – 30 hours a week blogging, which is a significant decrease from a year ago when I spent most of my day writing.
- Is it the creative process or the editing process which take you longest when writing a post?
It is the editing process that takes me the longest. Uploading and posting photos, creating captions and when I am in the mood, recording the post is all very time consuming.
- What inspired you to first start writing a blog?
Looking back, it all seems weirdly crazy. I tuned into Justin.tv and from the very first day something got under my skin and I began writing about it on a .mac iweb site I’d created a few years earlier. I was using it as a personal journal, a place to vent, to let off steam about what I was seeing and hearing around Justin.tv.
Being older than the college grads that launched this startup made me think I knew more than they did and that somehow my former career gave me some kind of magical insight about launching a .tv network that they were “too young” to know how to pull off competently, even though they hailed from the halls of Yale and MIT, had the gumption and drive to get it done.
Once I began publishing my musings on Wordpress and JTV viewers and the principals of the startup began “reading me,” it gave me more drive to let it all fall from my fingertips to the keyboard everyday.
One afternoon, their CEO let me know that their VC was reading me and, well, that just added fuel to the fire. There was no way I wasn’t going to write each day.
- What do you do to get inspired to write?
Passion. Something gets under my skin and the only way I can handle it. I’ve been doing this my whole life. I have the beginning of countless books. Once the “thing” is not nagging at me any longer it’s over. Just like that, thus the reason I have no middle or end to any of the projects I’ve begun.
- Is there anything that you simply refuse to blog about?
Yes, I won’t blog about really personal issues. I’ve tried, but there is an invisible line I won’t cross. I have mentioned family members and given vague details, but nothing that could pinpoint their whereabouts. There’s no reason to draw them into this crazy world I’ve entered without invitation, so I’ve been very careful.
I danced around politics, but I don’t dive deeply, I’m an expert.
And while I have made very pointed comments on Justin and his team, I won’t attack anyone personally. Driving home points about how they are running the business was one thing, chipping away at their personalities or personal lives is not my business.
And this is why the blog has grown and moved on to become a food blog. Once I began broadcasting my nightly meal preparation, I made sure to stop pointing out what, in my opinion, I felt were flaws in what was being broadcast on JTV and how the company was being managed, because I knew I was fair game once the camera was pointed in my direction.
Although I do make it clear how I feel about pirated television and movies when I run into them on the network.
- If you went for a job interview and were told that you’d have to close your blog in order to get the job, how would you react/feel about it?
I’d have to understand what the objection was to a benign, friendly, photo-centric blog before I’d form an opinion on the request. I suppose if I were interviewing with a food network there could be good reason for it, but if I were looking at a prospective employer that had nothing at all to do with food or the .tv world, I’d be curious to know what the resistance was all about.
- Do you talk about your blog with your relatives and friends or do you avoid mentioning it?
I only just told my parents and my sister about the blog and the broadcast one month ago! They are all into food and my sister and father are big blog readers, but I was worried that they’d send the men with the straight jackets to my door if they knew I was spending my severance package behind a computer monitor with my fingers on the keyboard typing out over 700,000 words (at this point) in a blog and broadcasting my nightly meals to strangers across the country and to far off lands.
- What is the biggest mistake you made when starting your blog?
Feeling as though I could not go to bed if I did not publish a blog post so I would often stay up all night and not go to bed. It was a sleepless 5 months.
- Any tips for aspiring bloggers?
While it’s probably not necessary to publish a post each and every day, being consistent, so your readers know when to expect you is important. Write about something that you feel passionate about; something that makes you itchy, that makes you move and it will make others feel the same way.
- Who are the bloggers that you look up to the most?
I can’t go without checking in on thepioneerwoman.com and smittenkitchen.com daily and I check all the blogs in my blogroll at least 5 times a week as well.
- Do you still see yourself blogging in 5 years time?
I do. I hope it’s a companion blog to a published, successful book. 
You’ve got to have dreams ya know!
Cool blog. I like the links too.
Justopia:
I watch your “show” on justopia.com and enjoy it when I can. An intelligent, worldly (travel wise) person like you needs some great exposure. You’re right on the money about being careful what you say about Justin.tv. Knowing ones boundaries professionally and otherwise (even with your viewers) is very important. I do not spend time on justin.tv. I tried it, saw what it was and decided it was not a venue I wanted to be a part of….no further comment about that.
Having listened to your experiences since you did work for the one of the biggest internet companies in the world, I’d think somewhere some company would recognize your talent and perhaps prospect you for consideration for becoming a part of their team. I guess I’ll continue to watch, I may not always have comment, but I will learn something. Thank you for sharing your experiences and connecting..the company works both ways!
Nice job on the 200 visits a day. I imagine that feels almost as good writing to that number of people than that elusive book would. I like your dream, don’t lose it.
Thanks Annie and Damien!
Thank for your post .I like it and Bookmark your blog for my next visit.