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For the amount of time she’s been blogging about books, words, and the particular perils of growing up in Florida and living in Brooklyn, we’re a little scandalized by how few interviews of Maud Newton there are on the Web. We aim to rectify that situation.

Since starting her site in 2002, Maud’s credits have bloomed. Her journey from blog to being featured in The New Yorker or writing book reviews in the New York Times, among other outlets, has been a inspirational testament to the power of personal publishing.

According to the MaudNewton.com legacy, this is how you make a lit-blog: build credibility by posting frequently and sanely about books you love, writers you respect, issues you are passionate about; prove that what ultimately makes the reading experience, and dare we say a literary community, is revealing the human being behind the blog. Maud does that in a way we have yet to see anywhere else, with modesty and honesty. Sincerity may be her trademark, and it loops us back to pay attention to the books she loves.

Sure, we love the interviews with writers, and the scoop on the latest fires burning in the land of literary fiction. But what keeps us coming back are the Ruminations on Writing (oh, that 10-year-novel), the Weekend Ancestry, her obsession with Mark Twain, and whatever future fascinations lie ahead.

As further testimony on Maud’s appeal: Maud was once asked by another interviewer, “Where do you summer?” In response, she was heard to say:

I can tell you’re not paying off student loans. “Summering” to me means a cold beer, sunglasses, a grill, and a hot breeze blowing over the factory and into my Brooklyn backyard.

This is why we love Maud.

When did you decide to start your site?

Back in the late spring of 2002. My ADD tendencies are so pronounced, I figured I’d soon get tired of it, but the medium is as well-suited to people with short attention spans as its detractors say.

We would applaud you for not having comments on your site, but our regular readers may hate us for it. Still, can you explain your position on blogging and comments.

I shut down comments in 2003 when my criticism of the Iraq War (and the run-up to it) set off attacks that I didn’t feel like dealing with on my own site. People are free to criticize and disagree with my opinions in email or on their own blogs or, really, anywhere else. But my actual site is a dictatorship, not a democracy.

How would you sum up the effect of lit-blogging in the world of traditional publishing and writing?

I don’t think it’s possible to generalize about the effect of book blogs. They’re a different, more immediate, more flexible medium for discussion about books, with all the positives and negatives inherent in that kind of immediacy and flexibility.

What has surprised you most about maudnewton.com? Any regrets or disappointments?

Honestly, I’m most surprised that I’ve stuck with it this long, given the way my interests are always evolving.

Do you have any plans for new things on the site? Any expansion of the Maud Newton empire?

I’ve been running readers’ love letters to independent bookstores lately, and I have some related ideas. Also, when I finish the latest draft of my novel, I’d like to get back to some longer-form interviews and more considered, research-oriented posts. In a way this question speaks to the one prior: I stick with the blog because the form is inherently flexible, allowing me to pursue my interests wherever they lead.

What type of content or features do you consciously avoid?

Anything that doesn’t interest me. The endless debates about the unprofessionalism/superficialitity/decivilizing nature of blogs, for instance. The fact that I have maintained one for more than five years speaks for itself, I think; readers are free to criticize or enjoy or deplore what they find there. The grading of local book reviews was another trend I was happy to skip. I work an unrelated day job and am trying to finish a book. I’m not going to spend what little free time I have on debates and publications that don’t get me fired up.

There is a plethora of lit blogs out there. Where do you place yourself on that map?

I don’t. I don’t compare my site to the other book blogs I like—The Elegant Variation, Laila Lalami, About Last Night, Bookslut, The Literary Saloon, Scott McLemee, Cup of Tea & A Wheat Penny, etc., etc., Amen—but leave that to readers.

What advice do you have for the budding writer-slash-lit-blogger?

Follow your passions. Writing about things to curry favor or get attention ultimately is a zero-sum game.

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