| What is a weblog? | A weblog (known as a blog) is an online webpage, usually ordered chronologically with the most recent entry at the top. Blogs can take many forms and are characterised by their abundance of links to other blogs and websites, forming what is known as the Blogosphere. |
Troubled Diva is up for a Bloggie in the Best Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered blog category. Mike is the writer of Troubled Diva and offers up his thoughts and details of his life on a daily basis for the entire world to read about. Although blogging is still in its infancy, this is the fifth year the Bloggies have been staged and the first time a Nottinghamian has been nominated. The Bloggies are open to blogs from all over the world and are the biggest and most important weblog awards and are voted for by the public. We caught up with Mike to find out what it's like to be an international blogging celebrity. When did you start your blog? I started in October 2001 without really realising it. I’d just discovered my first couple of blogs and became a regular reader, a cyber stalker almost. Then I realised that maybe it wasn’t so complicated to start one of my own, so I clicked on the little button and in about five minutes I had my own blog. My blog actually had the template of one of the other blogs that I read, so it was all a bit Single White Female…..
 | | Mike writes a blog post |
One day I did a post about how much I liked the other blog and then they linked back to me almost straight away. I then realised how easy it was to make connections and exchange links with people. Is there a regular time you write every day? I tend to write when I get home from work when my brain is fizzing to the right degree, but I don’t have a set time every day. Do you feel it an obligation to your readers to blog regularly? Yeah it can be, but I try not to let it as you’d just be blogging for the sake of it and people would realise. I went through a period of blogging every single day and then when I missed a day I got phone calls asking if I was alright! I thought that was a bit ridiculous as it should be up to me when I blog. So I don’t write as much as that these days. I should be entitled to have a day off when I want..... Is this the first time you’ve been nominated for a bloggie? | "I went through a period of blogging every single day and then when I missed a day I got phone calls asking if I was alright!" | | Mike, Troubled Diva |
I’ve made the longlist in a few categories before, but this is the first time I’ve made the shortlist How did you feel when you found out? I was delirious….for a few days I was insufferable, I went around telling my friends that I was a role model to millions! I was really surprised because I thought that you had to have thousands of readers to be nominated for these things. It’s great because it’s a validation of what I’ve been doing for the past three and a half years. I'm still pretty amazed that people like Troubled Diva and read it. You tend to write quite a bit about Nottingham in your blog don’t you? There’s around half a dozen other bloggers from Nottingham that I know of and some local readers, but I realise that many of my readers are from elsewhere so I don’t want to go into too much detail. Saying that, I did have a series called 'Nottingham, My Nottingham' a couple of years ago when I wrote about my favourite bars, shops and venues in the city. When I’m reading other blogs I love reading little details from people’s lives. You go into quite a lot of detail about your personal life. Do you ever worry about giving too much away?
 | | Screenshot from Toubled Diva |
It’s strange because when you are sitting in front of your computer, there is a tremendous urge to say the most deep and personal things. Heterosexual men tend to be the most shocked at some of my more outrageous posts, whereas gay men always say “Oh I love that bit!” Sometimes when I’m telling a good story people will stop me and say “I’ve already read it on your blog”. When I meet people for the first time it’s often not on an equal footing because they already know all about me… Do you expect to win your category? Will you be gutted if you don’t? Well I’ve studied the form and I reckon I’m third favourite behind a couple of other blogs who are more popular than mine. So I’m not expecting to win and I keep telling myself that, but who knows? Mike was nominated for Best Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered blog at the Bloggie Awards. Click on the link in the top right of the page to listen to Mike appearing on Karl Cooper's BBC Radio Nottingham breakfast show. | 
