Interview With Christina Warren

An Interview by jeff

Christina Warren is a 25 year old blogger who is making a name for herself within the pop-culture community. Although she is knee deep in pop-culture, she is also a hardcore geek as well as a gadget junkie. She has written for USA Today and currently writes for TUAW.com, DownloadSquad.com and as of March 2008, Styledash.com. She also dabbles in video by co-hosting Squadcast, for Download Squad.

How long have you been a blogger?

I guess I started doing what we now define as “blogging” in April of 2001. I saw “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and decided to try my hand (again) at keeping a journal. I opted to do it online, and for the next six years or so, recorded my thoughts and opinions online. Over time, it evolved from a personal diary (that happened to be semi-public) to more of a traditional personal blog.

I got my first paying “blogging” job in February of 2007. I was a frequent commenter on some of the USA Today music blogs and USA Today’s music editor contacted me about contributing to USA Today’s American Idol blog and a corresponding weekly column that ran in the print edition of USA Today. I got the job — my first professional writing job — because I was a frequent and articulate commenter on the USA Today blog.

When did you realize that you could turn blogging into a full time job?

I’m still actually trying to figure out if I can make writing — whether it is through blogging or blogging and mixed media — my full-time job. It is the bulk of my job right now, but I also do freelance design work, tech support and I consult with businesses about social media presence and social marketing. Really, it wasn’t until I went to SXSW in 2008 that I saw and met people who do make their living off of blogging that I actually started to consider this as a viable career path.

Is their a difference between a blogger and a freelance writer?

There is and there is not. I approach any of my commercial writing, whether it is for a “blog” or a traditional publication the same way. As more and more newspapers and magazines start to expand their online divisions and coverage, the line between “blogger” and “freelance writer” can all but disappear. The difference, I think, is when you write for non-commercial publications. If you can monetize your own personal content, I don’t see that as exactly the same thing as freelance writing.

Have you been able to use your blog as an online resume for job positions?

Absolutely. I see my website as my visual face to the world. I’m actually designing a more professional site to highlight the different things that I do, but I always look at my personal site as a way to promote myself and my skills.

Why do you prefer to write from a Mac rather than a PC?

I was a long time PC user (and in college I worked as a PC and a Mac tech), but more and more, I found the transition of working on Macs for creative work at school, to my PC at home to be bothersome. For me, I write faster and can do more with my Mac than I could with my PC. Being a Mac user was also integral to me getting a job writing for TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog).

Between college, your writing gigs and Twitter, how do you end up managing your time?

I’ve actually finished school (I need to update my “About” page) — but I manage my time by trying to set goals for myself with my writing and also scheduling blocks for any other work that I have. I need to have a schedule, even if it is arbitrary, to get things done effectively. I’m not a huge GTD (Getting Things Done) follower, but I do use OmniFocus and does help me visualize and keep track of my schedules. When I was blogging a lot and still in school, I often wrote entries late at night or in-between classes.

I noticed you participated in BlogActionDay. What is your take on the goal of this organization?

I think any time technology can be used to galvanize individuals to help educate the public, it is positive. How ultimately successful campaigns like BlogActionDay will be is debatable, but I appreciate the idealism and am glad I participated.

What is it about pop-culture that has made you decide that it’s your passion?

In July of August of 1985, I saw my very first movie in the movie theater. I was about 2 and a half and it changed my life. Movies, television, books, music, magazines, technology — this is all our culture, both in the sense that it reflects our cultural and ideological trends, and it creates new trends. I love popular culture, both from the perspective of a viewer or voyeur and from the perspective of a critic. The meta level of popular culture discussions is one of my favorite areas of discussion.

You’ve obviously been through the rungs of writing for other people on their sites. Are their any annoyances you have come across?

With each site or publication, I have to adhere to their writing standards and practices, and sometimes that means editorial decisions that I might not make myself. If someone else is editing my work down for publication, I might not always be happy with the changes (but oftentimes, the changes are for the better). Some CMS systems are better than others. I have to say, I have been extremely fortunate to have supportive editors in all of my writing jobs; I have never felt compromised creatively.

I’ve notice you pop into various WordPress related conversations, what is it about WordPress that convinces you to use it for your own blog?

I remember when WordPress was first released, what, 5 years ago? I checked it out — but wasn’t overly impressed. I was still using a server-side journal service, but preferred stuff like MovableType for a hosted solution. In five years, WordPress has transformed itself into the defacto blogging platform. That’s pretty incredible. It is the easiest to get up and running and there is so much content, both in the information sense and in the plugin/theme sense, that it was the best choice for me when I decided to start my “pseudo-professional web space.” I do front-end design work and some back-end development work, and WordPress is popular there too. A designer friend and I were discussing the state of CMSs and web frameworks in general (we both like Expression Engine and are intrigued by Django), and we both agreed that even if WordPress doesn’t completely meet our needs for our personal sites, it is something that is extremely important and will continue to be important in the future of the web.

Last but not least, what is the future of blogging?

Microblogging (Twitter, Friendfeed, Tumbler, et. al.) is already changing personal sites and blogs — I think that will continue. I also think that blogs will continue to become more interactive, more immediate and that video will continue to grow in importance. I think the hard part about video is that for anyone wanting to do anything other than the stare at the webcam in bad lighting YouTube confessional, there are skills and techniques that are necessary to its success.

Mobile blogging and mobile communication is also certainly going to continue to take off. The iPhone has played a huge role in that and Google’s Android platform will help push that as well.

Special thanks to Christina for taking some time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions. You can check out her personal blog at ChristinaWarren.com

This Interview was published on October 22, 2008 at 5:00 am • Did you like it? Subscribe!
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