Abaminds

Raivyn is a 22-year-old American musician and blogger.

I first met her via MyBlogLog. Her experiences are rather different from those reported by other bloggers in the meta-blogging niche, as she applies problogging techniques to a personal, freely hosted blog. This fact plus her cool MyBlogLog profile made me curious about her and soon I realised she would be a great interviewee. Refreshing points of view, a deep love for music and a pleasant friendliness are among the traits that make Raivyn a person who deserves to become more known.

Her main blogs are Idiot’s Guide to Blogging (meta-blogging) and Kaleidoscopic Reverie (personal). She also keeps a profile at MySpace.

IMPORTANT: Raivyn invites you all to visit Rock Against Domestic Abuse of NY. And so do I.

Now, onto the interview:

INSPIRATION

- Where do your ideas come from?

Everything! I have a very active mind, so something as simple as washing dishes can inspire a song or insightful blog post.

- “Kaleidoscopic Reverie” and “Idiot’s Guide to Blogging” are cool blog names. Where did you take them from?

Kaleidoscopic Reverie came from a weird dream I had in which I was trapped in a room full of mirrors, and then everything just kind of melted together. That dream inspired a lot of my creations.

Idiot’s Guide to Blogging was a little more straight-forward. I received an email a few months back from a new blogger who called himself “an idiot when it comes to blogging” and was looking for advice. You can figure it out from there.

- At Kaleidoscopic Reverie you sometimes respond to memes like Manic Monday and Friday Fill-Ins. Are you easily inspired by those? Or do you use them just as fillers when you can’t (or don’t want to) write about anything else?

Both. I think memes are a great way to start off the day and get the mind working, and yes, when lacking inspiration. They’re also a great way to connect with bloggers I would not have met anywhere else.

BLOGGING

- How hard is it to find the time and inspiration needed to update all of your blogs?

Inspiration is fairly easy to come by, but time is a big problem. I’ve lost count of the number of times I had to write a post in advance so I could do everything else I had planned for the week. Posting can be a heavy burden some days, but I love to blog and don’t dare give it up.

- How do off-line issues affect your online activities?

It can be rough sometimes.. I don’t always have the time or energy to log on for days, even weeks. Lately I’ve been wrapped up in the music thing- my boys consume a LOT of my time!

- What’s your favourite blog platform: Blogger, MySpace or TypePad?

A lot of people will disagree with me, but I’d say it’s a toss-up between Blogger and TypePad.. I love the versatility of Blogger, but TypePad has the little extras I prefer for an informative blog. It depends on the type of blog, really.

- What is it like to be part of a group blog like 99 Bloggers?

I’m honored to have been invited to join a group blog like this. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to contribute lately because of my current jobs and projects, but that will be changing soon enough. I can’t wait to get posting.

- Kaleidoscopic Reverie is a personal blog. However, it contains features that are more typical of pro and semi-pro blogs (e. g. ads, links to directories, subscriptions powered by FeedBurner). Why?

One day I found that my blog had a pretty high page rank for being a personal diary, so why not profit from that feat? If I can get paid for just being myself, I’ll take that opportunity.

- Could Idiot’s Guide to Blogging be viewed as a consequence of your problogging experiments at Kaleidoscopic Reverie?

Definitely, I learned a lot from KR.

- What are your plans for Idiot’s Guide to Blogging? Would you like to become one of the big players in the meta-blogging niche?

Right now, I’m just trying to create a helpful resource for bloggers. While it would be cool to be a popular blogger in my niche, I’m not going to spend all my days typing away at the computer when I’ve got several other dreams to chase. A career in the music industry is number one on my list, blogging comes second. It’s all about priorities.

- You’ve been trying several traffic generation methods, such as traffic exchanges, blog communities (like MyBlogLog) and even webrings. By your experience, what are the most — and the least — effective ones?

The most effective by far would be the blog communities. There is so much potential in social media websites like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog. I believe that anyone with a great blog and networking skills can use those sites to quickly become a top blogger in his or her niche.

The least effective would definitely be the traffic exchanges. They are a great way for new bloggers to generate traffic and get their names out there in the blogosphere, but they don’t guarantee repeat visits and prove to be useless later on down the road for anything other than a link in the blog directory. Traffic exchanges are also a Terms of Service violation for several affiliate programs, including Google AdSense.

- Many probloggers and wannabes have a strong prejudice against personal blogs. Owning 3 blogs that fall under the “personal” category, how do you feel about that?

Honestly, I don’t care. They are entitled to their opinions and I’m entitled to mine. I’m just doing what I find to be fun, and judging by the outcome, I must be doing something right.

MUSIC

- You’re a huge music lover. Do you listen to music while writing your blog posts?

Always. Times when I’m not listening to music are pretty rare.

- When will you have a blog entirely devoted to music?

This is something that has been on my mind for the past couple years now.. I’m not sure why I never went through with it. As of right now, I don’t really have the time to take on another project like that, but you just never know what the future holds..

- Have you ever thought about writing and/or performing theme songs for your blogs?

No, but that’s an interesting idea.

LIFE

- You are involved in Rock Against Domestic Abuse: New York. How important is this event to you? What are the staff’s perspectives regarding expansion and future outcomes?

Rock Against Domestic Abuse: New York holds a very special place in my heart, as I’ve dealt with a lot of hardships as a child and young adult. As a member of the team, I hope to inspire those who are in situations that seem hopeless and maybe even save a few lives in the process. This is about reaching out to those who need help. As for the future, I’m not sure about what’s to come.. Right now we’re focused on planning this first event, and then once it’s over we’ll see where we can take it from there. Like with blogging, putting together such an event and building it takes time- you have to present your best, grow your contact list, get feedback, and improve on it.

- On your MyBlogLog profile you state that “there are more than enough sheep in this world.” How hard (or easy) was it for you to learn this?

It was very easy for me to learn. I have a supportive mother who taught me to be myself and follow my heart, despite what everyone else is doing. Over the years I found how important it is to lead your own life instead of following the crowd.. you’re not only happier, but you’re also in touch with who you really are and where you stand in life.

- On the same profile you say you are a philosopher. If you ever wrote a book about your own philosophical doctrine, how would it be like?

Pure contradiction. There are no set rules in life, only guidelines. Everything contradicts itself, there is always an exception to the rule, and anything is possible. Life is full of mind games, and in order to live to our full potential, we need to overcome the physical roadblocks and learn to think outside the box. We must live through others, but we must also live our own lives and learn from our mistakes. It’s kind of complicated, but simple to understand once you see the entire picture.

- Suppose you had a device that would allow you to be heard by 1/3 of the world’s population for 3 minutes. What would you say to all those people?

There will always be someone out there who wants to kick you down and trash talk you, and it’s your choice whether or not to let that affect your performance and outlook on life. Stay true to yourself and others, and follow your heart. It’s human nature to want to do good; it’s those who are insecure that show us otherwise. Do what’s right. This can apply to anything- daily life, politics, etc.

Posted on January 25th, 2008 by Karen Zara
Filed under: Interviews