My dear friend Hil the Most Excellent Thriller Ever invited me to do this meme thing, which I don't have the headspace to do properly, but here goes on a version of it. I'm doing more questions than is decent, but you are welcome to ignore every last one of my answers and now that I have answered them, I would recommend this. Move along, nothing to see here.


What inspired you to begin blogging? Ironically, it was wanting a truly secret place to write, to work out some complicated feelings I had about people in my life, almost ten years ago now, in 2005. No one I knew had the faintest idea what a blog was so it seemed most unlikely that anyone would find it by chance.

Did you have any reservations about becoming a blogger? If so, what were they? Nope.

What have you found to be the most rewarding aspect of being a blogger? I was absolutely gob-smacked to get a reader! That hadn't occurred to me at all as a possibility - we still mostly don't know about personal blogging in the UK - and it has been really fucking fabulous to have made real life friends by blurting out shit on the internet. Awesome - I went to America to visit people I 'met' online - how amazing is that? Also, such massive help with my mental health, from witty's "Putting the fun in dysfunctional" being the very first suggestion that a person could be a bit mental and not hang their head in shame all the time, up to the support I receive on a daily basis through my current hard tome. Gawd bless you all.

What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of being a blogger? Being discreet about other people - honestly, the tales I could tell, but I don't. Sigh.

What motivates you to blog? I'm a writer, always have been, but I'm not an editor or a re-writer, and I don't have many ideas for fiction or anything. But once I start, I keep going and if I'm unable to write for some reason, a big blob of messiness starts to gather inside me. It was always on paper before, now it's here. Still a bit amazed that anyone wants to read it, but also not, as I'm nosy myself...

Have you connected with other WordPress bloggers? I did blog on wordpress for a while, having become frustrated with the technical inconsistencies of diaryland, but I struggled to understand how it worked. I'm finding journalscape pretty friendly, though it's also started to be a bit techno-glitchy. I'm double posting at the moment, god knows why, it's annanotbob2 at diaryland and annanotbob3 at journalscape, where anyone can leave a comment.

What is your go-to book or blog that you have found inspiring? I'm not inspired at the moment at all. Nothing sticks, it all floats past. I'm hanging on by the skin of my teeth, holding tight to my sanity with both hands (I read that last metaphor somewhere, didn't make it up, but it's perfect).

What are your 3 most favourite beauty items? Oh fuck off. I have a pot of red nail varnish that has lasted me almost fifteen years as some summers I paint my toenails. I used to brush my hair sometimes when it was long, but since I hacked it off it doesn't need it.

How would you describe your style? I wouldn't, but it's a style that causes my two younger children frequently to ask, "You're going out wearing that?"

What makes you smile like for real, for real? Nothing.

These are the questions Hil posed for her chosen bloggers:


1. I feel you can tell a lot about a person by what they eat for breakfast. What is your FAVORITE breakfast? It used to be what I called the breakfast of champions, a large espresso coffee and several roll-ups, but now I've had to stop smoking I'm currently in a favourite-free zone.

2. Who are the top three celebrities that want to sleep with you, but don’t know it yet? I shall have to ponder and come back to this one. I would describe myself as post-sexual these days, but don't be sad for me, I put it about like a professional in my youth - I've had more than my share.

3. Tell me about your favorite hiding spot as a kid, and your favorite hiding spot as an adult? Books. I was given this for Christmas when I was eight or nine and have been hiding in fiction ever since.

4. Do you feel that society is going to hell, or do you feel that we are improving, or staying the same? Oh God. I used to think we were improving, and I guess we are in some respects - gay marriage, moving in the right direction - but these are hard and vicious times to be poor, ill, black, disabled, unemployed, badly employed, even in some of the world's richest countries. We are ruled by governments so corrupt, so venal, there's not the least hint of an ethic to be seen. We are fed so many lies, materialism and greed are risking our childrens' futures...

5. Do you remember your dreams? Tell me the last nightmare you remember. No.

6. What’s in your pockets? A wrap of grass.

7. What are you interested in that no one else seems to care about? See q 4

8. Who is your childhood hero? I can't remember

9. Do you have a lucky talisman, a rabbit’s foot or a pair of lucky socks? Or something you always do for good luck? My friend SB gave me a beautiful silk scarf for my 60th birthday, printed in a design of 'Year of the Horse', which I have worn almost every day since - it already looks quite ratty and tatty, but I feel loved wearing it.

10. What do you like about HilTheThrill, and how can I improve? Well, where do I start? You are such a wonderful writer, using words so poetically, lyrically - aw man, awesome use of language! You have a heart the size of a small planet and the wisdom of the ages. But you could be infinitely improved by moving immediately to the south coast of England. Like, NOW.

Quite stoned now.