We are Fuelmyblog is talking with Nathan Edward Pralle the blogger behind Philosyphia. Check his world and read on the interview to find out how blogging is for Nathan.
What’s your name?
My name is Nathan Edward Pralle, usually known to my friends as just, “Pralle”, sometimes online as “Tarsi210″, although I tend to use my real name more often these days.
What’s the name of your blog?
PhilosYphia — it’s somewhat of a mashup of the word “Philosophy” with its Greek roots of “philo” and “sophia”.
What’s the URL of your blog?
How old is your blog?
PhilosYphia is 4 years, 354 days old as of this writing, so we’re almost due for an anniversary. Bring cake.
If you’re willing to share, how many visitors per day do you have to your blog?
Right now, it looks like I’m getting about 441 visits per day and about 90 of those are through feed readers. This is assuming my stats are correct, and you always have to wonder about that. 
How much time do you spend blogging every week?
Too much and not enough, all at the same time! Normally I spend around 2 or maybe 3 hours a week, but lately I’ve gotten a good streak going and am spending upwards of 8 to 10 hours a week. But it is an addiction, and I spend far too much time brooding over it.
Is it the creative process or the editing process which take you longest when writing a post?
For me, it’s both — I don’t allow myself to get too messy when creating so I’m constantly editing while slapping something new down, although I’m getting better at creating new drafts with just a title and a one-liner for an idea, then coming back to flesh it out later. I’m a stickler when it comes to the editing, though, so I’d probably say I spend more time editing it so it’s *just right* and getting photos and so forth inserted and looking good.
What inspired you to first start writing a blog?
I think it was the plethora of interesting blogs out there and my ever-present desire to write; I’ve never been good at a journal or a diary, but I’ve always *wanted* to have one, and the combination of technology with writing seemed a good fit. I just started it casually and, well, here we are.
What do you do to get inspired to write?
Sometimes I use music to get in the mood (and sometimes I have to shut it off to concentrate, depending on my topic and the complexity), but a lot of times I’m either “on” or I’m not. I try to sit down when I have the muse in me, but if I don’t, I lose it. That’s why I’m getting better at jotting down what I was thinking, exactly, and maybe a brief outline so when I’m *not* inspired later but have time to write, I can pick it up again and get back in that frame of mind.
How do you market your blog?
That’s something I’m always struggling with — you can add yourself to one of the 10 million blog catalogs out there, or buy advertising if you have the clams for it, but I’ve found that you really get audiences in two ways — 1) being interactive in the community, commenting on other people’s blogs, big and small, and generally making friends and 2) churning out regular, quality content. RENTENTION of users is more important (to me, at least) than getting sheer pageviews.
What are the blogging tools you cannot do without?
Wordpress powers my blog, and that’s got tons of great tools, but a Paintshop Pro for photo editing, EditPlus for text editing, and a trusty pen for scribbles.
Is there anything that you simply refuse to blog about?
Almost without exception I stay away from family politics and anything at all to do with my job. I’m not out to be another Dooce, and my job deals with sensitive information, so it’s only smart. Talking about family politics, problems, or other dirty laundry is just inviting someone to stop by and cause an all-out war. I try to be smart and save myself the trouble.
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?
Considering that my blog doesn’t mention job-related items and is done in my off-hours, I’d be pretty offended and would have to think about it for awhile. I would want to know WHY they thought I needed to close it and see if it made sense. I would have to balance the desire for the job with that, too. But ultimately, I’m pretty offended by any company who thinks that the things I do in my personal life (as long as they don’t cross ethical borders) have anything at all to do with my job performance. For the record, my current employment not only knows I blog but read it before hiring me (I was watching the statistics) and they have no issue with it.
Do you talk about your blog with your relatives and friends or do you avoid mentioning it?
Somewhat. I mention it in passing, but I have some friends that don’t approve of blogging and most of my family doesn’t “get it”, so it’s kinda moot to mention in anything but casual conversation right now. I know some family members and friends read my blog and that’s cool — I wish more would. I present sides of myself there that I don’t otherwise.
What is the biggest mistake you made when starting your blog?
The biggest mistake I have made (and make all the time) is to change something when I have found a good formula. If you find a way of writing that works and it just flows, don’t change it. If you find a method of getting and retaining users, don’t change it. I had a desire at the start to change things all the time and, frankly, people like consistency, and we all work better from habit. So take time to find your style, but once you find it, stick to it so you don’t compromise the good thing you have going.
Any tips for aspiring bloggers?
TONS! But the biggest tip I’ll offer here is this: if you really want to stand out, you *must* find a unique “catch” all of your own. There’s 10 billion people out there talking about their cat yakking up its dinner and what they did on the weekend, but yours has to be *unique* in all that huge mess of noise. Maybe it’s your writing style, maybe it’s dry humor, maybe it’s your way with words — whatever it is, find your catch and exploit it to the end. High-end bloggers all have a particular way of being “their own blogger” and you have to find that, too.
Who are the bloggers that you look up to the most?
There’s a lot of bloggers that I take ideas from, both on stylistic elements as well as subject material, and I admire a lot of them for simply having the readership that they do. When Tara Met Blog, Dooce, Alyndabear, Love Is Blonde…my entire blogroll if you will! All these are great bloggers and command a lot of respect for keeping their thoughtstreams going.
Do you still see yourself blogging in 5 years time?
I certainly hope I am still around, and I hope PhilosYphia is, too. I think I have a good thing going here and expressing myself is both fun and educational; I learn more about myself by blogging than anything else. The visitors are just the sweet frosting. :)
One Comment
Those are some impressive stats. I liked your advice to new bloggers as well. Nice interview, very inspiring.
One Trackback
[...] from there — poke around a bit, see what you think! For my regular readers, you can click here to read my interview and see how I did. Check out FMB, they’re a pretty neat site with lots of interviews and [...]