Trying to Earn Global Online from the Philippines: Basking In The Spotlight

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Des of The Talking Fingers On The Web tagged me for this meme called “In The Spotlight.”

It seems appropriate to do as I start another year in my life. You see, answering questions like the ones in this meme can be a way of assessing one’s self. Apart from that, it can also be just a lot of fun! :D

Created by Christy of Christy’s Coffee Break, this meme contains 12 questions. You may answer all of them, or just pick the ones you like. The rules and complete list of questions are available at Christy’s site.

I purposely left out those questions that overlap with another meme that I have been tagged for, and which I intend to do soon after this.

So let’s turn on the spotlight! Here goes…

When did you start blogging?

I only began my personal blogging in the last week of March 2007. About a year before that, I wrote a business communication blog professionally for several months.

Personal blogging – even to make money – is so different from being paid to write an impersonal business blog. I much prefer writing for my own blogs even if there are no immediate returns yet. This is also why I consider March 2007 as the official start of my blogging life.

What makes your blog unique?

Myself. I think each and every personal blog is made unique by the fact that each blogger is unique.

When we bring ourselves into our blogging, we make each of our blogs different – marked by our personalities – even if we tackle the same topics. We each have our own writing style, sense of humor – or lack of it, idiosyncracies, personal stories, strengths and weaknesses.

This is why we love to read each other’s blogs.

Do your moral values affect the way that you blog, and if yes, how?

Yes, my moral values always influence everything I am involved in, and that includes blogging.

When I write about anything at all, my opinion reflects who I am and what I believe in. There is no other way to write. Actually, even when I write fiction, it ultimately reflects my own moral values. More so my blogs, which are non-fiction.

Are you a spiritual person?

Yes, although I am not religious.

When working freelance, where there is no financial safety net, one can survive only by having deep, abiding faith that All Is Well and We Are Loved Always.

What are your feelings on the "blog popularity" issue?

What is the issue? Don’t we all want our blogs to be popular? What is the point of writing a blog when no one reads it? You might as well write in a secret diary.

As to the angle of gaining enough blog popularity to be able to monetize a blog, I’m all for it, too. Advertising copywriters, magazine writers and publishers are being legitimately paid to write and publish promotional materials, so why not bloggers, too?

What is your best quality?

Like Des, I believe I am a loving and thoughtful person.

Oops – I need to qualify “thoughtful” because I am also a very forgetful person. I can’t keep track of dates and birthdays so I often miss greeting relatives and friends (except my immediate family, of course.)

Still, I would say I am thoughtful in that I love making others happy even in the smallest and simplest ways.

What is your worst quality?

Again, I have an uncanny similarity with Des. I am also a workaholic, bookaholic and blogaholic. But are these really worst qualities? :D

Even worse, I think is my being too sensitive and emotional at times. So when an emotional crisis hits, I’m a wreck. Fortunately, my husband and children know me so well and are always there to help me get my act together again.

What's your favorite childhood memory?

Just sitting on the beach of Saranggani Bay with my Mom and Dad, back when it was pristine and everything was simpler.

If you were stranded on a deserted island what three things would you want to have with you?

Assuming that the island provides fresh water, fresh food, and some form of shelter, I would rather have people with me rather than things: my family and a community of good people to live with.

I can live without things, but not without my family; and a family also needs a community.

That sums it up. Spotlight off.

I now tag:

Amgine of Changing of Seasons
Cynthia Blue of Luna Tail
Gibo of Quick and Random
EmmyRose of Pieces of Me
AnitoKid of AnitoKid Chronikos

I can't wait to read what you have to say while you're "In The Spotlight"!!! :D