Now and then you'll have to write a biography to go along with an article, book, or something else you publish. It's tough to figure out what you want to say about yourself in just a few lines. Of course, you consider what you want to share with the faceless masses as well as what information will show you in the best light. You want to make yourself look like an authority on the subject of your article.

The following is something I almost deleted without re-reading tonight. It's in the stacks of ancient webmail from the years I wrote a newsletter about ASCII art for a website called WZ.com. The site is long gone and I don't think anyone will mind sharing the information which was once shared with me. Thanks to Sissi, wherever you are. Hope you're writing and doing great.

Not only do we want to know who you are, your visitors do, too. They'll be looking for the person behind their interests. A bio that's interesting and catchy will help you to develop loyalty and a personal touch with your subscribers.

To help you develop your bio, I've included a short list of questions, in interview format, below. Answer the ones you think are appropriate, and make sure you include some info on the different Realms you cover.

Oh, and be sure to compile all of the answers to the questions into one flowing bio rather than submitting nine separate answers to me.

Pay special attention to question #9 --

1. You're about to be interviewed by Charlie Rose. In ten seconds or less, how does he introduce you?

2. When did you get interested in your topic? How long ago, how old were you?

3. Was there something going on that led you to it, or were you naturally attracted to it for some reason?

4. What about it grabbed you? What do you find most interesting or appealing about it?

5. What's your favorite story about your hobby or interest?

6. What unusual things have you done in pursuit of it?

7. How have these things led to your becoming an expert in your area of interest?

8. How has it affected your life, or the lives of others?

9. How will being a WZ-ard help you share this with others? How do you hope to affect the lives of your subscribers?

Sissi concluded by telling everyone not to forget to add links to their newsletters. You should do the same, include any relevant URLs you'd like to promote to your readers.

I emailed about writing for BlogTO and they emailed back, interested. They asked what sort of posts I would contribute to the site. I could have come up with more but this is the reply I sent this afternoon. Posting it here just to amuse you.

I have a lot of interests in art, history and culture. I have been taking photos of abandoned farmhouses but I really like old buildings in general. I'm looking forward to getting pictures of old buildings in Toronto, derelict, run down or not. Union Station is high on my list. I have some of the photos I have done on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatgrrl/ Most urban explorers want to get inside tunnels and such but I prefer the outside of the building. Besides, it is too dangerous to go into ruined farmhouses where the floor has partially caved in.

I have been looking at local (Toronto) groups for my personal interests, as well as the urban explorations groups I have found groups for postcard collectors, crochet and crafters, illustrators and others which I can't think of right now. I'm also interested in women in small or home businesses. I attempted to begin one myself last year but plans fell through, mainly a money thing. I like history, inventive and odd art forms. I'm not into music other than whatever comes on the radio. I really like small publishing. I attended CanZine in October even though I arrived far too early. (I thought it would take me a lot longer to get there).

Other than that I don't know what will come along. I'm not a heavy duty planner. I am writing a bit about technology and creativity for LockerGnome. I have a personal blog which is more like a scrapbook of junk with scattered journal posts. I like to meet people and hope to get out doing something each week. I'm job hunting right now so it has to be freebie events for now. :) I enjoy cultural events and now that I am down here I will find more along the lines of the German Xmas thing which I know is coming up soon.

Hope I fit in somewhere. I would really like to be a part of BlogTO. It would be a great way for me to get to know the city and not let myself be too shy about getting out socially. I can blab with anyone but at times I am a bookworm at heart.

A bold (risky) step for Creative Fat Grrls everywhere.

Note: It's so new I haven't even done more than login and make a first post. I am likely to change the theme and see if I can do something about that huge Google ad taking up most of the real estate on the top of the blog.

Would really like comments, optimistic only. You pessimistic fat-bashing types can piss off. :P Don't make me sit on you.

"When we lose twenty pounds we may be losing the best twenty pounds that we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty"--Woody Allen

"If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush." --Dawn French

I don't want to bash skinny grrls but that was pretty funny.

Faboo gifts and apparel for the forgotten woman. Amy's saucy, voluptuous diva designs prove that beauty comes in all sizes, not just a size 5.

Amy Flynn is a professional illustrator who has been designing greeting cards, childrens' books and the like for far too long. After painting one too many little skinny women for her clients, she created "DiVaVaVoom" for her friends both big and small.

-- Creative Fat Grrls are creative women who happen to be plus sized. The blog will be about hobbies, crafts, art, businesses and any other topics which creative women are interested in. There will not be a focus on diet, exercise or weight loss. Body image is more important than appearances. This blog is about showcasing plump, chubby, fat, obese women not limiting them.

-- May, 26, 2008 - Bringing Creative Fat Grrl Back to Life?

Thinking to bring the LockerGnome blog back to life. But it will need a new name and some planning on just what topic and theme it's going to be. Or do I even want to take on another project.

I'm not quite brave or bold enough to be a true urban explorer. Maybe if I wasn't always alone and wearing open shoes (Croc knock-offs) I would venture inside places. But, I'm not someone who looks for confrontations and I don't lie well at all. Besides, what I really love are the outsides of buildings. I love the architecture, the carved stone and the natural bricks. I love window trims, leaded panes and stained glass. I love the fancy bits and the broken and old bits best of all. Everything I can see from outside is what I like best of all.

No one minds if you stand outside and take pictures. Even if you tresspass, you're still just outside, out in the open, not infiltrating the dark and derelict places where anyone or any creature could be hiding or just relaxing after a good night out hunting prey. I think if you go inside you're more of a threat. You're invading what was or is private space. I don't think people feel the same about excursions around the outside of a building.

Even if someone does mention my picture taking they don't seem aggressive in asking their questions, mainly curious. Then, they ask if they can see my pictures. Of course, I just say my camera doesn't have a review feature. I can lie about some things. My camera is private, for my fingers only. Strange isn't it that someone who keeps so private and self contained as I am feels ok about tresspassing, or at least invading the outside space of someone else.

But, you see, I must get those pictures. The buildings and places haunt me. I'm not sure if I just need to document their existence or if I want to treasure something old and permanent, something broken yet still dependable. Still there after all these years and a lot of weathering.

I've just moved to Toronto now. The city has so many broken and mouldering buildings. I took the streetcar down Queen Street on Sunday and was amazed at all the places I could have stopped and swung out my camera. Now that I have rechargeable batteries and the extra 512 MB chip I have unlimited picture taking ability. I can take pictures till my fingers go numb from the cold. I do try to remember to keep the camera strap on my wrist, so far no accidents but likely it's just a matter of time. That will be a day of suspense. I get lucky with things quite often though. Like the time I accidentally knocked a glass of water on my husband's computer monitor. After a day or two of rest it started right back up as if it never had a shower at all.

Anyway, I went to CanZine on Sunday. That was my reason to ride the rails, not just being a gawky tourist. Being new to the city and having no idea where I was going or if I would ever actually get there (ignoring the whole getting back thing) I over compensated and arrived at CanZine at least an hour early. Many of the tables were not yet set up. I browsed and felt very conspicuous, being one of the only fat grrls there. I knew moving to Toronto was going to be tough on my self esteem but I felt so out of place there. It was all in my own head, no one said "please move your enormous ass". I tried not to be embarrassed even though I felt like a whale in a goldfish tank. I wasn't even dressed trendy or fashiionably. My hair was just it's usual mess and I think my pants were too short.

Don't misunderstand, I did enjoy CanZine and I'm glad I went. I do regret that I was too early to see the set up for the Torontoist table. Maybe TOBlog was there too, I didn't notice a tag saying that on any table though. It is my plan to write for one of those Toronto blogs. Maybe people would like to hear from someone new to the city, someone born in Toronto and vagabonding all over Ontario and farther, now back to Toronto. I grew up mainly in the Rouge, part of Scarborough for those who have never been farther east than Jarvis or so.

I can hear the streetcar going by from my place, the new place without windows. I don't know how I will adjust to living in a basement. I like seeing the daylight or even something of the sky at night. I miss that after living far outside of the city for so many years. The shower here doesn't seem to get very hot and all my stuff is still flopped around, lazily, just expecting me to organize and put it all away. If ever there was a time for one of those good fairies... But, we all know there are no such thing. Still, I can't quite stop a stray hope.

I met Liz of Infiltration at CanZine. That was a real highlight for me. She may not see herself as a star but she was for me. I bought Ninjalicious's book and two of the zines. Even though his idea of urban exploration is much bolder (dirtier and dustier too) than mine, I still admire and enjoy reading about his adventures. Did you know Pickering is right next to the Rouge? He grew up very near to where I grew up. Kind of a that feeling of 'home boy does good'. It's really too bad he had so little time. Yet he did a lot with his time. I'm already older than he was and I feel I've done so very little. Maybe it's wrong to keep running list in your mind of all the things you want to do. I just end up flogging myself with them all.

Anyway, Liz was interested in seeing my urban exploration photos. I guess they would be rural exploration to be accurate. Abandoned and derelict farmhouses, to be specific. I have quite a lot of them up on the Flickr site. Some of them didn't turn out great, I was a digital amateur. I had a few lucky shots. The content of the photos made it easier to get a good picture. I think it must be hard to take a really boring photo of an abandoned building. The drama is all there for the pixels to absorb. It would take real effort to blunder badly.

So that's my babble today. It's coming up to mid-morning now and I set myself the goal of assembling my bookshelves today. If I get all my books loaded on there that will be a lot of the clutter disappeared. It is truly awe inspiring how many books I have. Even though at least two boxes full have disappeared during my vagabonding in the past few years. It's sad, but I'm not even sure which ones are gone, though I have some feeling of missing something, not anything specific.

I applied (last night) to write for Suite101 again. I used to write a couple of topics there and copyedit a section of other writers and I headed up the Writers Community section for a short time. I left due to a lot of changes on the site, mainly how they placed the Google ads. They let Google ads take over the content. You had to scroll down just to find the written content under the ads. That wasn't good for their site or the writers, I'm not surprised they changed the layout. They also changed a lot of the look of the sites and pages, even the colours.

Anyway, I applied to write two topics: Webmaster Resources and Resources for Writers.

They pay a little, very little. But, I want to get back to writing weekly again. I wrote a lot more when I had a weekly schedule to stick to. Funny how you tend to get more done when you are really too busy. Then, when you have time you putter around and get very little done.