Blogger Spotlight: Over, Under and Through

This week, we have Christine from Over, Under and Through taking part in the Blogger Spotlight interview.

If you would like to take part, and your blog is under six months old, or has been re-launched in the last six months, please email me randommusings29@gmail.com

1 Firstly, tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Christine Buyce and I was born and raised in Upstate New York in a small town. I had big dreams and most of them came true as I attended college in Boston, travelled to Europe and worked in Los Angeles back in the 90’s TV era.  I came home after the Northridge Earthquake and my father’s suicide to get married, have a son, get divorced and die a few times with heart issues.

My motto is “there is always an upside.”  Words to live and write by which I have been doing for a while wanting to leave my words for my son in case I was not here. Our long car rides to school have now been immortalized in a book I just finished on our trip to Switzerland and France this Summer, yes during the tragedy in Nice.  We were near Geneva and safe, but early that day was spent at the United Nations and Red Cross Museum ending in tragedy.  We felt very far from home.

2 What is your blog’s name and what is it about?

 My blog is Over, Under and Through.  

It is about all that life has thrown at me and my family that we have overcome, been thrown under and worked through to keep moving forward in our lives, as everyone does.  We just tend to laugh and travel as we go.  My son and I live with my mom who lived with us prior to divorce which makes for mountains of material. We also happen to live in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York which adds to the Over and Under as daily living out in an old hunting camp in the woods with a New York City born mother is beyond entertaining.

3 Why did you decide to start a blog?

I read a book about being a writer and to get your work out there is key.  You have to be open to the feedback and not be afraid.  It spoke to me as our writing does not have to be perfect and finished.  It has to be seen to make those next goals of having followers and getting published happen.  

Also, my son announced a forgotten sleep over and I had an afternoon to myself this led to YouTube videos of how to start a blog and within hours my first post was up.  I had over three hundred views and was hooked.  

4 Do you have any goals for your blog?

The goal for my blog is to build a following of readers to understand what they react to and to help focus my work for publishing in the near future.  I have self-published, academically published and a current essay is in a new book out now on Amazon.  I want to work towards magazines and newspapers publishing my essays leading then to an agent to get my just finished book published.  It is an exciting time learning social media. I just jumped off the social media cliff this spring and am loving learning the ropes.

5 Tell us one random fact about you

A random fact about me would be that I have a piece of the Berlin Wall in my bathroom.  I was in college in Holland just after the wall came down. We took the train out of Cologne to Berlin.  They allowed you to rent pick axes and take pieces of it.  I have meant to put it in a clear box with a label for the last twenty-six years, maybe it’s time.

6 What is the best piece of blog related advice you have received so far?

The best piece of advice I have gotten from a follower about blogging is to not let your audience go too long without hearing from you or they will move on.  The next would be to listen to what they react to and write with that in mind as you continue to develop your blog.

7 What is your favourite thing about blogging?

My favourite thing about blogging is the focus it has brought to my writing, and seeing my style of writing is taken as intended, “conversational,” as one follower commented.  “I am fluent in Christine,” another one stated.  My readers see me and my experiences through their own lens from my perspective inviting them to think about their own.

8 Is there anything you would do differently if you were starting over knowing what you know now?

Knowing what I know now, I would make it easier for my readers to follow me.  I am learning as I go and hope to improve that experience for my new followers. 

9 Anything else you’d like to share with us?

Know that you too can create a free blog on WordPress, that you too can get your writing out there to be seen. It is ok to dream big and go for what you really want out of life, love and happiness. It is ok to want more, if you are willing to work towards it each day.  It builds you up and those around you.  When my readers tell me they write or have written and get excited to take it up again, that is a win for me.  

10 Where can we find you? (blog link and links to any social media)

Over, Under and Through:  that is how we do!                                                    

https://christinebuyce.wordpress.com

You can connect with me on Facebook

Instagram christinebuyce

Twitter @BuyceCbuyce