Watchdog finished 2017 with a few answers, now Watchdog will start 2018 with a few more answers, and then the race begins this weekend with Watchdog’s posting “City of Naperville, The Year Ahead, Issues To Resolve.
How do you choose what you are going to write about?
Simply something that grabs my attention, typically from Naperville city council meetings. In the beginning I would attend meetings, but now I watch on TV and record the meetings. Sometimes I will have a number of timely topics I want to write about, and at other times, I have no idea what I am going to write about. Most of the writing happens after midnight. That either confirms or rebukes former councilman Bob Fieseler’s saying that “nothing good happens after midnight”. My best thinking time for content is in the shower. A good 10-minute shower creates the posting.
Other than embeds from the meetings, do you come up with the ‘funny’ embeds?
No, I wish I was that creative. A young fellow (Guard-dog) who is the most tech savvy person I have ever known, does that. He has a photographic memory for every movie and commercial he has ever seen, and can pull up those funny clips for the embeds.
How wide-range are your readers?
All 50-states and amazingly 138 countries out of the 195 countries that exist. Never did I ever think it would reach that level. I’m guessing most readers are former residents of Naperville, folks thinking about moving to Naperville, Watchdog-wanna-be’s in their own area, hackers (with no success), or just plain inquisitive people.
Where are most of your readers located?
In Illinois, the top five cities are:
Naperville (68%)
Chicago
Wheaton
Lisle
Aurora
and 1 reader from Mossville
In the United States the top 5 states are:
Illinois (83%)
California
Texas
New York
Florida
with the fewest from North Dakota
In the world, the top 5 countries are:
United States (94%)
Canada
United Kingdom
Brazil
Russia
and not one person from North Korea
What annoys you most about writing Watchdog?
Ending sentences with a preposition. As Winston Churchill said, “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.”