Interview with Blogger Mike Knight

By The Pakistani Spectator • Aug 28th, 2008 • Category: Interviews • One Response

I am 28, I was born in Oxford, and I still live locally. I work in local government in education. I am married to a wonderful woman.

My site URL is http://mek1980.wordpress.com

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

Sure. My name is Mike, I live and work in Oxfordshire in England. My site is The Odd Blog, located at http://mek1980.wordpress.com. I use it as a repository for everything that happens to pass through my brain on a daily basis. This ranges from serious political analysis and film criticism to lolcats and other stupidities. I’m a contradictory sort of person.

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

I think so. I find it easier now to write than previously, which I think is as much down to forcing myself to do it as anything else; it doesn’t come that easily to me. Often it’s a rather tortuous and unpleasant process.

I think growth in writing is important simply because writing represents the use of the imagination and the mind in full flight; it’s all too easy to get into a rut and write the same story over and over again. People like John Grisham and Stephen King may be successful beyond my wildest imagining, but all of their discovery is behind them; they’re basically treading the same paths over again most of the time.

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

I guess my most memorable experience of blogging has been actually discovering it. When blogging was first talked about a few years ago, the packages for doing it easily didn’t exist, and then what did exist was clunky and difficult to use. Now, though, it’s easy to blog, and that gives a tremendous sense of freedom; you can communicate with the whole world, all at once!

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

I’m a member of a writers’ group called Idiosyncratica (http://idiosyncratica.wordpress.com). We set ourselves monthly challenges, which hopefully inspire us and stretch our abilities in new directions. I also comment frequently on other blogs which cover subjects of interest to me.

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

Probably the way that the “new internet”(by which I mean blogs, YouTube etc) have opened up criticism and journalism to the people as a whole. No longer is criticism or political clout limited to lobbyists and journalists: blogs and the like have returned the fourth estate to the citizenry at large. All you need is a computer and a free account, and you’re suddenly theoretically capable of reaching as many people or more as the editor of the New York Times, say.

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

Absolutely! There’s no doubt about it – the new wave of blogging has made news reporting and commentary a fluid and effective medium. Just look at the fact that nobody questions that there is a “Meet the Candidates” feature on YouTube; the news media has become a bigger and simultaneously more flexible beast.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?

My utter genius. No, but seriously, the fact that I’m writing it. My views and writing are unique, within a sea of unique bloggers. It’s a situation never seen before.

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

Probably inventiveness and the ability to be interested by almost anything.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

The happiest moment was getting married. I think that will always be the best moment of my life. I suppose the gloomiest must be the day I heard that my grandmother had died; I was overseas at the time, and I suppose the guilt from not being there only compounded my grief.

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?

Wow, that’s a tough one. I suppose Rome would in there; I know it’s a little clichéd, but I’d like to see the Colliseum. Berlin, for the remains of the Wall and similar. Machu Picchu.

What is your favorite book and why?

All of them. I honestly couldn’t choose; I’ve read probably on the order of ten thousand books, and I couldn’t pick a single favourite. I could probably pick a good few that I’d never read again, though.

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

In physical terms, probably height. It probably registers with me because I’m quite tall. In terms of personality, I suppose conversational combativeness and the ability to engage in banter; like a lot of writers, I take a lot of pleasure in wordplay for the sake of it.

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

Luckily, no. Most of the time, my attempts were ignored rather than sabotaged.

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

Well, I know a few of them have written books on the back of blogging fame (and infamy), plus there’s the old stand-by measures of being an Amazon Associate, using CafePress and having advertising. I imagine that if you really tried hard, you might make enough to pay a week’s food bills…

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

Absolutely not. It’s just a question of making time for it, not having time for it.

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

Be nice… I guess promote peaceable and progressive politics alongside not being divisive jerks. That’s probably a big one right there.

Who are your top five favourite bloggers?

My wife, Lottie (http://lottierambleson.wordpress.com)

Gary MUrning (http://garymurning.wordpress.com)

P.Z. Myers of Pharyngula (http://www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula)
Ed Darrell of Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub (http://timpanogos.wordpress.com)

The Bad Idea Blog (http://badidea.wordpress.com)

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

Yeah, a post I wrote calling Ben Stein a big fat idiot prior to the release of Expelled!. I basically spent an entire post mocking him. To date, it’s my most-viewed post.

What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?

Well, the little contact I’ve had with Pakistanis has been with immigrants to the UK, but I’ve always been impressed with their work ethic and willingness to adapt to the new communities they find themselves in while maintaining a character uniqueto their homeland.

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

Well, I see every blogger as unique and potentially interesting, so I’m constantly impressed.

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

Infrastructure. More developed countries previously had certain natural advantages such as dumb luck or access to resources which enabled them to build powerful systems of infrastructure and government, which they only exported to their colonies or overseas trade partners as far as was convenient or useful. In effect, the struggle now for undeveloped countries is to build that kind of bedrock infrastructure.

What is the future of blogging?

I think it will become more video-oriented and interactive. As to its larger future, I see it becoming ever more firmly embedded into people’s lives and thus business and politics.

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

My professional life? Not at all, to be honest. As far as personally, I will be starting a new blog on the 1st September called the 30 Day Experiment, in which I will make a major life change and live with it for a month. It’s also given my wife and me something else to talk about J

What are your future plans?

To get very serious about writing fiction; to finish the novel which has been sitting on my hard drive for years. I’d like to write some non-fiction for magazines and other websites, too.

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

Thanks for reading. I hope I’ve been entertaining.