The Sunday Roast

At Last We Have A Teacher Who Can Teach Eddie A Lesson

Well fancy that! We'd all recognise you anywhere wearing that snorkel, wouldn't we? LOL

Let's try another photo of you but this time on dry land

Geepers! . . . why didn't you let the dog take the snap? Now wait a minute I recognise that dog! let's take another look

Well shiver me timbers I still don't recogise the shadow but I can see this photo is a well known comments calling card in BlogLand . . . . . . yes!

This week's interview is with Pseudo
who writes the blog, Winds of Change


Thank you for the interview Pseudo


A very warm welcome to you and your followers

Here's the first of the standard questions. Why do you blog?

I started blogging because my sister on her blog Shaunnas Soliloquies was blogging and she convinced me it would be a good outlet to get me writing (and enjoying writing) again.

I guess that I continue to blog for several reasons.
One, I do like writing again and blogging gives me a fun place to experiment.
Two, I like connecting with people. Blogging is so instantaneous and I learned that it did not matter if two people read a post or 50 people read it. I liked that connection of readers and writers.
Finally, I keep blogging because of the relationships we make through blogging. I have friends all over who I have never met in person, yet knowing them has enriched my life.

What's the story behind your blog name?

Perfect timing. Gives me an opportunity to explain the recent changing of the blog name. I started off as Pseudonymous High School Teacher because I thought the writing would be more about teaching and for teachers, and I definitely needed to be anonymous. The Department of Education (and parents) can get pretty weird about what teachers say and do publicly. I wanted to write whatever and however. Plus, it was an experiment. I thought if I liked it, I would close it down and start a new blog with a better name. So I went into blogger one day and opened it on a whim. I think I wrote two or three posts and forgot about it, went back later, back and forth , slowly but surely, inching my way to blogdom. By the time I was hooked, I had made friends, I had a few followers, and I barely had time to keep up with my new hobby.


The intention to redo and rename the blog has been on my to-do list forever. Especially this summer. Your asking me for an interview lit the fire under my ass and got me moving.

(As a roast host I specialise in lighting fires under people's asses! LOL)

I had asked a few blogger friends for advice, a few friends IRL, and my sister. I went through a slew of blog names and let them percolate all summer and I’d been waiting for something to rise to the top of the heap. Winds of Change was never one of the blog names during this process. I was going to go with something that reflected the book I am working on, but as soon as I put that title up, I freaked out and wasn’t feeling it. Winds of Change was part of the description following the blog title, and that’s where I came up with it on the spur of the moment. I have been through many changes in my life, and especially this last year. The blog title reflects this. And there you go.

(Very interesting how blogs and blog names develop and change in accordance with new situations)


What is the best thing about being a blogger?

I have to say the best thing is the community and friends that you make, but a close second is the feedback you get on your writing. It is not direct feedback, like a writer’s group; but if you read between the lines in the comment thread, you can get a good idea what readers connect to in your writing.

(Yes it's all great fun)

What key advice would you give to a newbie blogger?


Read blogs for awhile before you get started! I didn’t and I learned a lot of things the hard way.

Be sincere. I think we all connect when the writing is honest; no matter if it’s humor, narrative, opinion, or any combination of writing genres.

Know why you are blogging. There’s an undercurrent in some of the parts of the blogging world that’s a little too much like a high school popularity contest. Me, I try and stay away from that energy. I would advice newbies to not get caught up in that frenetic melee.

Join a weekly blog event. I started with Wordless Wednesdays and have moved on to include Random Tuesdays and the Spin Cycle. I have met a lot of bloggers through these weekly themes.


Don’t pay too much attention to unwritten “rules.” What I enjoy the most is that there are no rules. I can blog frequently or infrequently, depending on what else is going on in my life.

What is the most significant blog post you've ever read?

After two years, and now following over 200 blogs, I’ve read so many posts that have moved me and I wish I could recall more by post name and blogger. But the one I will always remember is Fall Away Day. This blogger has moved to a more anonymous site titled Bad Words , but that post was one of those epiphanies where I felt she had written it for me personally. I had a fall away day (weeks, months) last year that my readers only know as the unbloggable. But it was a tough year and that post really hit home for me.

What is the most significant blog post you've ever written?

I guess that would depend on what you mean by significance… I’d say that one of my first posts Sometimes There are Worse Things Than Nipplage , was my most well received. I wrote it before I learned that blog posts are supposed to be short and the post was a narrative essay that I actually revised and put some writing muscle into. It’s a bit about struggling with self image a few months out of breast cancer treatments and I think it manages to be both funny and poignant. That post was picked up by and run on the Mid Life Blogger’s website and also won a creative writing award and $25 from a writing contest. WOO HOOO! So, yeah, I would say it has been my most significant post. Other posts that went over well with readers or I feel are my most well written are listed in my sidebar.


I run a Travel post every Thursday and put up a Mr. Linky so others can link up and join in. This weekly post is my favorite as I am living on an island in the middle of the ocean and only have funds to get off the rock every few years. I love seeing other places virtually. My favorites have been the linked posts from across the country of where people go that is close to home. I know of great haunts in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconson, Maine, Vermont… the list is endless. All thanks to other bloggers. Sometimes I get a blogger who lives abroad linking up.

Which two blogs would you recommend for roasting?

Two? Only two? That is so hard. I’m going to double down and list four. (I figure it goes saying here that the blogger who wrote the most significant post I ever read would be a great interview).


There are two bloggers who run weekly link-in fun. Both are fun and witty writers. I credit them with connecting me to a lot of my bloggie buds.

Jen at Sprite’s Keeper who runs the Spin Cycle titled Sprites Keeper.

Keely at the UnMom’s who runs Random Tuesdays.


Two other bloggers that I have been reading forever and would be great interviews is Captain Dumbass from Us and Them , and Jan from Jan’s Sushi Bar .
I’d describe how much fun they are and why I like their blogs so much that I keep going back – but I’ll let your readers go discover them for themselves.

The list could go on and on…

(Thanks for your recommendations - I will contact them soon)

Pick three things you can't live without.

Chips, dips, and a certain amount of quiet time each day.

(Good choices - I do believe in some quiet time to oneself whilst muching some goodies of course)

If we were to make a movie about BlogLand, what would it be and who would you cast in the leading roles?


If I were to make a movie about BlogLand, it would be about a retreat to The Women’s Colony and all my women blog friends would get to go for real (or kind of real, like filming a movie real, which is only a bit more real than this virtual land). It would revive The Women’s Colony in all its wonderfullness. It would be a satiric documentary where it was half real and half not. Maybe something even more fun, along the lines of Curb Your Enthusiasm. An outline and we improv the rest. Male blog buds would have to fill in for the servant rolls, but only if Johnny Depp and other middle age hunks of movie stardom were unavailable. During the movie we would drink lots of cocktails and lounge around while the males made us decadent meals and snacks and gave us massages. Conversation would run the gamut.

For those of you who missed the Women’s Colony website while it was up, it was brilliant.

If you could live your life again who would you be, and why?

For better or worse I figure I am me for a reason. And even if I could live my life over again as a wiser me and could make better choices, I don’t think I’d do that either. Where I have been has led me here….

You have been given a wonderful talent from above. This causes you to make your mark on humanity and be world famous. In which area would prefer: a best selling novelist, a brilliant artist, a gifted musician, a fantastic singer, a charismatic leader, anything you choose, and why?

Novelist. Writer. Hands down. Wouldn’t even have to be best selling, just an honest living; more than a public school teacher’s salary would be nice. I would not be comfortable with celebrity and prefer a quiet life. I also wouldn’t mind being a brilliant artist (who would?) My dream life would be a house in the country and being able to stay home and create and make a living off my creations.


If you were an ice cream cone, which flavor would you prefer and who would you most want to lick you?


Did you get this question from Liar? I guess I would be chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups inside and I’m guessing it would be my hubs licking me since it is both of our favorite ice cream this summer.

(No surprisingly, not from Fragrant Liar - she inspired me to ask my final question though LOL)


Describe in one sentence your perfect day.

A day at the beach with either a snorkel and mask and no waves, or a body board and some zip zoomy waves; followed by a relaxing walk with my dog, and then a stretch in a chair to read a good book and end with a refreshing beverage and an awesome sunset.

(Sounds great - want some company?)

If you were a fiction writer which one would you be and why?

A lot of my favorite women writers have had tortured lives. Or committed suicide. So I’ll stick with me and hope I get published someday. Beyond the blog.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

Over the years I’ve had many, to be sure. But I am getting to an age where I don’t embarrass that much. I guess I don’t take myself too seriously. Also, teaching teens is very humbling. They love a good laugh at (with?) the teacher. I suppose what used to be rather embarrassing (but I have gotten used to it) is that although I am an English teacher, I am not the best at spelling. I blame it on taking French in HS, but who knows. However, the students just LOVE when their English teacher spells a word wrong on the dry erase board for all to see.

. . . . . and to finish . . . . . for the really brave
If you woke up and found you had changed gender what would be the first thing you would do, and the second thing.


I suppose the first thing I would do is check out my penis. Then I’d find something to do with it before I changed back.

(Hope it meets up to all your expectations LOL)

Your turn to ask me a question if you wish.


Eddie- how did you come up with the idea of personification for your feet in the feet sagas? I just love it.

How interesting you asked me this! - no doubt others will wonder also. Like all my ideas it came in a flash, out of the blue.  I needed a vehicle to explain certain aspects of Eddie's rather eccentric personality - without it a shrink most certainly would be knocking on my door! LOL. What better vehicle than Eddie's own feet, recently so badly treated by their demanding and inconsiderate owner. I made the feet display entirely different behavioural characteristics, always at odds with each other but eventually having to settle their differences and uniting together against their common foe, Eddie himself! LOL.  In that way the door was open for them to display Eddie's often 'wayward behaviour' in a way not otherwise possible. This idea will be extended in the next sequence when some other body parts gang up on their owner, only to unite and fight together with Eddie against a deadly common foe LOL. Watch this space!

Eddie, thanks for asking me to your roasting spit, it was a lot of fun reflecting on all this.

The pleasure is mine Pseudo and I really enjoyed working with you.

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Today's Sunday Roast with Pseudo from Winds of Change is the 130th

in a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world. _____________________________________________________

This interview will feature in The Roll of Honour

for all published Roasts. To view press HERE

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