Giants Are Really Honest!
Meet lensmaster xtnshun, my 1st interview in announcing the Giant Squids of 07-2008! Make sure to click any of the links to learn more about this really honest fellow!
Why do you write on Squidoo?
Apart from being a little addicted I now Do the Squidoo for interest. Yes, I can make money and in the long run I hope it will be significant, but I (now) use Squidoo to find out things about people and subjects I don’t know about. I know you’re supposed to write about something you are interested in, and I’ve done that, but I’ve had the most satisfaction from things like learning about Marlee Matlin and how she doesn’t let her deafness stop her, or working out the scoring system on Dancing with the Stars (still working on that one!)
If you had to choose your top three lenses what would they be? How bout 50words or less as to why?
Jokes My Daughter Finds Funny - This really is a list of jokes my 12 year old daughter likes. She has stopped sending them to me at the moment (it’s now boring) but I’m sure she’ll start again. I’m actually glad they are relatively innocent!
Dancing with the Stars - This was the first lens I really applied myself to and it really enhanced the enjoyment of watching the show. I did 12 SquidWho lenses on the contestants and learned things about them that are really interesting. I had a spotty teenager girl accuse me of being “gay” because a 40-something man wrote a page about Sabrina Bryan. We became friends though. I also found it fascinating that I got 1200 hits on one day wanting to know if Helio Castroneves was married!
The Backyardigans - I started this because I got frustrated finding out which episode was on what DVD. I actually enjoy the show and it grew into a resource for people wanting to find out about the Backyardigans. I’m particularly proud of the little pen pictures of each of the characters.
It looks like you have great ideas about gift giving. Give us some thoughts about how you got started.
I found Squidoo through an article on how to get backlinks to your website. I actually found it confusing and simply had a lens with mainly links to my gift site and articles I had written. I now have a full time job (darn it) so haven’t been able to keep up with the gift side, but I plan to return to it, plus it always perks up nicely at Christmas.
You have over 50 lenses on Squidoo and several blogs…how do you keep track of all your projects?
Badly. I’m not the most organized person. What I do is monitor the blogs and sites through my iPod Touch - you can’t do lots of writing on it, but you can start lenses pretty easily and tweak tags and title just fine. Some of my blogs have fallen behind because of work, and some were actually experiments (normally failed ones!).
Besides Squidoo, where else can we find you on the web?
I am xtnshun everywhere you go. If people follow me then I look at their profile and usually follow back. It’s sometimes quite hard to give those sites the attention they deserve.
Any finishing thoughts about making Giant Squid, being a lensmaster, blogging, family life, etc?
I make a lot of crap lenses. If I see something interesting, I produce a basic lens with the full intent of returning to it when I have time to make it better. I am slowly achieving that but don’t be surprised if there is a bare-bones lens near the bottom of my list! On that subject, I’m actually anti-anti-spam. I think a lot of spam is actually people who aren’t very good at it, and they need help and encouragement. However if they are ramming something down our throat, are cheating, then they are fair game to get whacked! Squidoo can be a very frustrating place, but it’s a wonderful tool and the people are really nice as well as being pretty darn good when it comes to building pages. I’m proud to be a Giant Squid and will try to live utp to the standard that has been set by the other Giants.
**Please see We Are Giants for more information**
Tags: Blog, blogging, clouda9, giant squid, giant squid interview, interveiw with a giant squid, lensmasters, squidoo, xtnshun
August 1st, 2008 at 12:37 am
Great first interview. I think xtnshun isn’t alone in seeing this more as a hobby than a job…
August 1st, 2008 at 3:51 am
Yes, and it is fun and you ‘meet’ such great people!
August 1st, 2008 at 6:44 am
Nice interview. I like the format and technique.
Good job
August 1st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks for choosing me Clouda9. I found it really interesting to answer the questions. The format was useful - otherwise I’d have been all over the place!
August 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I love it…”I make a lot of crap lenses”…I disagree but I know the feeling well. I have 50% crap all of which have potential if I can get back to them eventually. I like the comment too about encouraging people versus what seems to be our tendency to shoot at first sight when something is a little borderline spam or whatever. Assume innocence (or ignorance) until proven otherwise.
August 1st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I enjoyed reading the interview and am glad to know I’m not the only one who has trouble maintaining a lot of lenses and blogs!
September 13th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Excellent interview. I to have some lenses that are loved, but several that are sadly neglected:)