Yes, folks, it’s that time of the week again. After a one week vacation to work on “various other stuff that will be talked about later”, Blog Wednesday returns~! This week is the first non-Austin blog we’ll be talking about, which should be exciting for everyone since my blog is mostly supposed to be about Adventures in Austin. Whatever people – bonus content.
Wonkette
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Two weeks ago, I wrote surprisingly old internet person Ken Layne, editor of Wonkette and basically said, “I really love your site. I wish to ask you questions and have you answer them.”
Hours later, much to my surprise, I actually got an e-mail back! It was something like this:
“Small person,
You may ask five questions. I shall reward you with some sort of response. Eventually.
Sincerely,
The Truth”
And so it was. I was so happy. Man, I was so happy. This is one of those days when Marie, having made brownies or done something especially nice for me, probably thought that the sole vehicle of my happiness was all of the hard work she puts in for us everyday. And while I love that, of course, this particular day had nothing to do with brownies. No, *Ken Layne* actually wrote back to me, you guys, which was totally unexpected. Why was it unexpected? Because Wonkette is some big super blog that — get this — has actual readers or something.
I’ve always been in awe. Of course, the fact that I even know who Ken Layne is, or that his response to my interview query would overwhelm me with joy makes me something. Not a nerd — we’ve already established that I am definitely one of those. No, this probably makes me a little bit pathetic (sorry Ken). Here I am, with a beautiful fiance, in the prime of our youth, in one of the best-weather cities in the states that is pretty nice looking in its own right, and the thing that makes me most happy on a random Thursday is when I hear back from the editor of a political humor site about possibly returning my interview questions, sometime eventually, maybe.
Well, two weeks have passed and Mr. Layne, busy as he might be, got back to me early this morning with his responses to my five (six, haha!) questions about political blogging, blogging in general, the internets, writing as a career, advice for bloggers, and when Alvin Greene is going to make us all his slaves.
I would give you the standard profile of Wonkette, but it would not do it justice. Like I said: Wonkette is a big blog, far more successful than anything I’ve worked on or would ever aspire/imagine LoneStarters to be. So unlike most of the profiles and interviews I do, this isn’t really about introducing you to a great new Austin read. Instead, this is mostly just to pick the brain of someone who has done the blogging thing for a long time and done it well. It’s also for my amusement, because Wonkette is, secretly, my favorite place on the world-wide-internets.
If you’ve never read Wonkette, what should you know? Well, Wonkette is a mostly liberal, mostly humorous political commentary about the various slimy creatures that exist in Washington. There are Bachman jokes, Palin jokes; sometimes Michael Steele even shows up and dances for you. When you type “Political Humor” into Google, Wonkette is not a first page result, and that is a little upsetting to me. Firstly, because Wonkette is easily one of the funnier political blogs on the net, but also because it is not straight satire — the stuff they post is almost always actual news, which makes the site a great one-stop resource.
Again, I want to thank Ken for taking the time to answer some questions, even if it meant I had to bang pots outside his house until he’d talk to me.
LS: LoneStarters
KL: Ken Layne, Wonkette
LS: Okay, background time. Give me a peek into the inner Ken Layne. Oh, gross. Let’s try the outer Ken Layne: How did you get involved with Wonkette? To what extent, if any, has it changed your life? Are you recognized more routinely now? Do you and David Gregory ever share your thoughts on the world over an ice cream?
There’s no traditional vs. new media now, just a mess of formats all fighting over the same dog food bowl. Nothing is guaranteed, that’s one new fact that media people are still struggling to understand. A fancy magazine with a million subscribers like Gourmet gets shut down by Conde Nast, Conan O’Brien works his whole life to get the Tonight Show and loses it a few months later because the broadcast advertising market is crazy, and you’ve got the Huffington Post and the Washington Post squeezing as much content as they can from unpaid bloggers.
I can’t guess the future, but just as bands are supposed to sell concert tickets and t-shirts to make up for the free music, a writer in the 2010s is going to need more than the ability to write and edit and report.
I is almost impossible to earn a living blogging. I do it for a hobby.