Brenda Barron – Hosting Expert and Technical Writer

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Getting to Know Brenda

Brenda has a BA in English Literature and likes to think she uses that degree in her daily life. The college experience was positive so she naturally moved toward a career in writing. But more than anything else, it was the need for moola to pay for her tuition and books sparked her freelance writing career. She paid for college with the occasional article in now defunct print magazines (Except for Cat Fancy – you keep being you!) and SEO-focused keyword articles.

From there, she wrote in innumerable niches including, but not limited to, pregnancy, health and fitness, and mesothelioma. Product descriptions, too. Finally, in early 2013, she settled in the business and technology niche. Her primary focus these days is WordPress but she writes regularly about social media, marketing, as well as general business management.

Our Interview with Brenda

We asked Brenda about her life as a freelancer and just about life in general.

How long have you been active online?

Since my family got our first computer for Christmas in 1997. It was like a whole new world opened up to me. I was about 13 years old and immediately developed an interest in building websites. I tried, on several occasions, to create sites using Word. Nope; I’m not joking.

What was your first website about?

Irish step dancing. I was a competitive dancer in my early teens and grew quite obsessed. My site had animated GIFs before they were hipster cool and a MIDI song playing the background. Yup, I was that person.

Do you still have websites? If so, what are they?

I do! I currently run two websites but I’m terrible about updating them. My writing portfolio site is Digital Inkwell. There, you can find all my latest work, a semi-regularly updated blog about the business and craft of writing, and other odds and ends about me. I also run WPThemeRoundups.com, which is a curated WordPress theme collection site.

What hosting provider(s) do you rely on?

I use two: HostGator for my writing site and Bluehost for the other two. I’ve had positive experiences with both in terms of customer service and uptime.

How do you handle that whole freelance/home life balance thing?

Eh, what’s that? In all seriousness, it can be very challenging to separate work and my home life. Since I work out of my home, it requires establishing boundaries, like not working after a certain hour and not checking email in the middle of the night. To be honest, I don’t always succeed. It has to be a very conscious thing.

What is your favorite unplugged activity?

Knitting. It’s meditative. I also like going on walks with my kids, enjoying time outside, and binge watching TV shows on Netflix.

Do you have a favorite sci-fi or fantasy series?

Several, actually. Back to the Future is one of my all-time favorites. I have to watch the Lord of the Rings movies every year around Christmas. And don’t get me started on Doctor Who.

What are your favorite books?

I love The Hobbit. Vivid storytelling and world building there. I also enjoyed Slaughterhouse Five. Stephen King has been particularly influential in my life. His writing instruction manual and memoir, On Writing is wonderful. Other favorites by him and others include:

  • The Dark Tower series

  • I Am Legend

  • Anything by David Sedaris.

Selected WhoIsHostingThis Writing

Brenda has been a major writer at WhoIsHostingThis.com over the years. Here’s a few articles she and her team have worked on:

Elsewhere on the Web

Brenda can be found elsewhere on the web:

Learn more about the WhoIsHostingThis authors and editors here.

Brenda Barrow
Brenda Barron
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