The Pakistani Spectator

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?

‘What Kate Did Next’ began last year.  I hoped to encourage people (like me!) juggling work, family and their writing.  If you have always wanted to write, there are daily prompts to help you start.  A lot of people feel they ‘have a novel in them’, but it can be difficult to know where to begin.  WKDN is a friendly and encouraging place to help people start writing.  It has really become more of a global writers’ group - we talk about books, family, current events, writing themes.

I worked for many years as an international art consultant, dealing with clients in Europe and the Middle East.  We dealt with antique and contemporary Islamic art from a gallery in Chelsea, and it was a glamorous and exciting job curating collections for palaces, embassies and corporations.  I was first published at 17, and I’ve always written, but the last nine years have been challenging - since leaving London our family has travelled round the world, lived overseas, and we have been blessed with two young children.  My husband is a pilot, so works away a great deal - now like a lot of working mothers I am juggling several roles.  Life isn’t so glamorous any more, but it is equally as challenging and fulfilling!  I have just signed with Curtis Brown literary agency in London, and my first novel ‘All the Lovely Ruined Things’ is being submitted to publishers, so it is an exciting time.

Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?

Definitely!  I am a big advocate of lifelong learning.  It’s what I love about writing - that sense of infinite possibility.  It is impossible for one human being to know and understand everything in a lifetime, but keeping an open mind and heart allows you to grow as a person spiritually and emotionally and your work will grow with you.  There are certain ‘tools’ you need as a writer - understanding the basics of grammar, spelling, the structure of story and plot, but once you have these your writing can grow in any direction you choose.  It’s important to me because growth is what life is all about - I would like to have a long career writing novels, and hope the stories will grow better and better as I learn more.

I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?

Blogging has been the greatest surprise to me.  I started out hoping there were other writers out there who might find WKDN an interesting place to exchange ideas.  Now a year on it is being read in 95 countries by thousands of people, and has a core band of subscribers and commenters.  That these little posts are being read on a daily basis around the world is incredible to me.  Blogging is a way of creating an intellectual network - relationships are built that are beyond physical boundaries.  There have been so many memorable experiences over the last year, but the most interesting was ‘Burning Lines’ a collaborative writing project several writers took part in last year.  An entire novella was written online with each writer picking up the story from the last post.

What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?

Blogging is all about the communication of ideas - I always respond to comments on WKDN, and feature favourite blogs in the blogroll on the site.  It’s a great way to quickly see what everyone else is writing about, connect with their sites and comment.

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?

I’m curious about the impact of networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and online video sites like Youtube.  There’s an immediacy about them - I compared Twitter to jungle drums the other day because news spreads like wildfire even before it reaches ‘regular’ media sites.

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?

I think they certainly make people feel more involved.  There is something very seductive and personal about online communication - whether it is a mental process, or the fact that your computer is ‘yours’ and in your home I’m not sure.  I think people let their boundaries down online, and that can have good and bad results.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?

WKDN is hopefully entertaining and useful.  I think when people turn up there they’re not quite sure what they are going to find to talk about that day!  We handle ‘big’ topics that affect everyone’s lives, but also comment on daily news, art, music, films - always relating it back to that day’s writing prompt.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

I have a picture in the kitchen ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ (it’s also on the site).  It’s a reproduction of an old wartime poster encouraging British people to keep going in the face of adversity, bombings and an uncertain future.  It’s probably my mantra these days!  That strength of character was instilled in me by my family and schoolteachers, and I’ve been very grateful for it.  Even in the worst situations if you search for understanding and look for the good, you can find the strength, grace and determination to grow and move forward.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

Happiest - the first time I saw my childrens’ faces, the day I married.  Gloomiest - there have been plenty of those, but I like Khalil Gibran’s attitude to suffering.  He said the more your heart is hollowed out by suffering, the greater its capacity to be filled by love and joy.  Perhaps in every lifetime your heart is broken - just try not to let it be broken down, but open.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

Only three?!  The more you travel, the more you want to see of the world.  At the moment I am longing to go to Bali, Venice and Cuba.
What is your favorite book and why?

I love Gaston Bachelard’s ‘Poetics of Space’.  It changed the way I think about everything - life and the beauty of the physical world around us.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?

Writers notice everything!

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?

No, but my seven year old tells me I have shocking handwriting.  Hers is very neat, mine’s loopy and she says I could do better …

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

I don’t know how useful advertising revenue is for small blogs - they are fairly miniscule amounts.  The ‘big’ blogs attract advertisers - and several of them have obtained publishing deals on the strength of their blogs.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?

That depends on your definition of success.  I think if you want to become a blog superstar (see above), you would need to treat your blog as a full time job marketing it and growing a huge audience.  Like all working parents I have very little free time - I write three or four posts each week and they take perhaps half an hour each out of my ‘real’ writing time.  WKDN has grown by word of mouth, and has exceeded my hopes - so to me it is successful.

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more friendlier and less hostile?

As we discussed earlier, blogging is a way of communicating without frontiers.  It’s an intellectual connection across countries, borders, race and religion and I hope that can only promote cross-cultural understanding.
Who are your top five favourite bloggers?

I have way more than five but Emma Kauffman, Misssy Martin and Scarlet Blue make me laugh on a daily basis.  They are all warm, witty and irreverent.  All the blogs listed as links on WKDN are brilliant and highly recommended.

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?

Of recent posts ‘Happily Ever After’ received the most comments.  I think it spoke to quite a few people.
What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?

I have been lucky to work with some great Pakistani artists and intellectuals like Sajeed Rizvi of the Eastern Art Report and Rasheed Butt the famous calligrapher.  Their intelligence, dignity and humanity are inspiring.  The world is an uncertain place for us all at the moment, and Pakistan is dealing with great problems, but I hope a brighter, peaceful future lies ahead.

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?

I have been stunned by the uniqueness of EVERY blogger.  Before starting WKDN I was a bit suspicious of blogging - it has a reputation as being ‘techy’ and nerdy but I think that is changing!  This year I have found myself constantly amazed by the hidden stories of people’s lives and the wealth of creative talent.

What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?

Poverty is the obvious answer.  Once you have experienced the genuine deprivation in developing countries it changes your perspective forever.  It makes you feel very humble and grateful for everything we take for granted in the West.  That’s why I am donating all the profits from the publication of WKDN’s first year in book format to War Child, a charity that helps children in war torn and developing nations.

What is the future of blogging?

The future is limitless - I think because of its flexibility and immediacy as a platform it will increasingly be embraced by mainstream media.

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?

Personally I have come into contact with some incredible people, and professionally it has given me a chance to share some of my ideas and experiences about writing.

What are your future plans?

Professionally, I hope WKDN will continue to grow, and that my novels will soon find a publisher.  Personally, everything is in limbo - our family may settle here, or may have to move overseas with my husband’s career.  Whatever happens I will ‘keep calm and carry on’!

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

Thank you for taking the time to read about WKDN, and if you are inspired to start writing, you are always welcome at the site:

What Kate Did Next
http://katelordbrown.blogspot.com/

www.katelordbrown.com

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