What is your name and where are you from?
My name is Tammy Powley and I am from Florida's Treasure Coast.

What are you doing for CW? Since when?
Since August 2005, I have been writing The Jewelry Weblog, though (fingers crossed) I may start writing on another topic soon.

What would you like to tell about yourself?
I'm a freelance writer, working out of my home, and I also work part-time in a library doing reference work. My goal is to eventually work for myself full-time. I've lived in Florida most of my life, and I'm getting ready to celebrate 18 years of marriage with my college sweetheart, Michael.

How did you discover the blogoshpere ? Why do you like to blog?
I discovered weblogging by just surfing around like I usually do. Between my web-writing work and research work, I spend a huge amount of time on-line. I just started reading other people's blogs, and I realized this was a great vehicle for writing. I usually prefer a more conversational writing tone, and blogging is well-suited for that. Plus, like most people, I have a wide area of interests. So I feel blogging is a good fit for me.

How did you become a blogger for CW?
Since I already wrote on-line about making jewelry for About.com and was getting to know the blogosphere in general, I started looking for jewelry related weblogs and that is how I found CW. The site was up but needed a blogger, so I applied.

What experiences did you have with CW?
Before I started writing for them? None really. I have to admit that I was pretty new to blogging still even though, like I said, I'd been writing on-line for many years. The idea that there were networks of blogs was still a new concept for me.

Do you like working with CW?
I have actually been somewhat surprised by CW. I have written for a number of groups on-line over the years. Some have been great experiences and others have not (which of course is the nature of any writing gig), but CW has been one of the experiences that has fallen into my "great" category. There are new blogging networks popping up all over the web, but CW really has its act together. They are professional but not so stuffy that I can't ask for help or voice my opinion.

What are you doing when you are not blogging?
When I'm not blogging, I'm busy writing in other mediums. Of course, there is my Jewelry Making site at About.com, but I also write books and magazine articles. Right now, I'm working on my fourth book for Rockport Publishers on mixed media jewelry. I'm also writing my dissertation for a degree in Text and Technology from the University of Central Florida. When I'm not writing, I'm designing jewelry or just hanging out with my two dogs, four cats, and one husband.

What would you like to get or do ?
Wow! That is a loaded question. I am always thinking "big." If I had to pick one thing that I'm not already doing, then the first that comes to mind is writing a novel and getting it published. Now, I write primarily non-fiction, but the main reason I became a writer was because of my love of literature. However, I write for a living, so it is difficult for me to allow myself the leisure of writing much fiction since I have so many other obligations that actually pay me. I always seem to have a novel in the works, but I find it difficult to justify the time to work on it because I don't have any assurance that it will literally "pay off" for me.

What opinion have other people about you? Give a quotation, please ...
I think most people's opinion of me is that I have too much going on and I am always working. One of my friends recently called me "a renaissance woman," so I thought that was a nice way to put it.

Are they right?
Yes, they probably are right. I always say I'm going to simplify my life, but then I am the type of person that enjoys keeping busy. The more I do - the more I do - if that makes any sense. It does seem that I am always working, but I like my work, so that's okay.

Do you like to make a final remark?
I hope my readers enjoy my blogging as much as I do. One of the great things about blogging is getting a chance to bring across your passion, as well as knowledge, about a subject, but I also enjoy the feedback from readers via comments. I like to know what they think about what I write. While you get that to some degree when writing other mediums, like a book, it's not as immediate as it can be with weblogs.