Well today we are shifting gears a bit folks. We are leaving the world of ‘just bloggers’ and moving on to an author that happens to also be a blogger. Larry MacDonald is a former economist who now manages his own portfolio and writes on investment topics in books, magazines and his blog, Investment Ideas.
CD: You've written in books, magazines and your blog. What do you think blogs offer as a medium compared to other forms of writing?
LM: Blogs are a medium where you can develop a more personal relationship with readers compared to writing books and magazine articles. There is also a greater feeling of freedom in posting directly to your audience as opposed to submitting to an editor.
CD: I have to agree that bypassing an editor is nice, so what do you think your blog adds to the blog sphere?
LM: My blog offers the perspective of an economist who has knowledge of financial markets and over ten years of writing on investment topics. I also like to go beyond main stream media to get ideas and material that hopefully doesn’t repeat or rehash what the reader may already know.
CD: Out of your blog material, what is your favorite post on your blog?
LM: It’s hard to decide which post I like the best. Maybe it was the Jan.27, 2006 post-mortem on the last election entitled ‘Other Registered Parties in the Election.’ It illustrates how I try to add value by digging up material that can’t be found elsewhere yet is hopefully educational and/or entertaining.
CD: Now with all your writing work how many hours a week do you spend blogging as compared to your other writing?
LM: These days a lot of my time is spent looking after my two preschoolers. I write a couple hours in the morning before they wake up and during their nap in the afternoon, splitting my time about 50/50 between the blog and columns for Canadian Business Online and Investor’s Digest.
CD: Well Larry this has been an interesting interview, but to finish off I wanted to ask you when do you want to retire and what do you see yourself doing in retirement?
LM: I left my job as a government economist in 1999 to do what I wanted to do, which was to write books/columns, manage my own portfolio, and spend time with kids. I look on myself as retired already in the sense that I’m doing things I would choose to do in retirement.
CD: Thanks again for your time Larry and congratulations on being semi-retired and loving it. Tomorrow I turn the interview questions on myself, so if you have a question please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment