Here's my interview from earlier this week with James Brooks. This is one of my first ever interview experiences and it was great: really fun to do and I'm proud of the result. I'm glad it wasn't too long-winded — I felt the questions were just the right length for me to answer fully, without rambling.

Read on to see what my desk looks like after it's been tidied (it's normally awful) and learn how I feel about flying.

Adam Haworth interviewed Jim Dalrymple of The Loop fame. Jim is one of the most prominent independent writers in the blogging world and I respect his views highly.

I enjoyed this interview more than most because Adam let Jim talk in an unrestricted and relaxed manner: the whole piece feels candid and off the record, in a good way. I feel I'm getting a secret, behind the scenes glimpse into Jim's mind.

As an independent writer myself, this interview gave me not only hope, but guidance: it's important to have your own voice. Jim explains:

“What I find really comes to the top are the people that have that voice. Like Gruber’s voice. When he says something, people will listen to him and when he makes a joke about a link, people will listen to that and laugh along with him. It’s not because he has a link blog, it’s because he’s John Gruber.”

This type of voice needs to grow over time and be carefully trained. It must be nurtured. I feel I'm still learning and understanding my own voice, but I can see how it's changed in the relatively short time I've been writing. I wonder where it'll take me next.