merkal2005: Hi Mark, please tell us about your life and your background. When did you start catching the brainwaves?

MarkDykeman: I have lived in Canada all of my life. I have a bachelor's degree in business adminstration and I work in an information technology department for a food manufacturer. I've been with the same company for over 16 years, straight out of university. I'm married with two young children and I live in a quiet little town near the border between the province of New Brunswick (Canada) and the state of Maine (the USA).

I've always been a big fan of science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. I've dabbled in creative writing since I was an adolescent, although I underwent a significant creative hiatus during my time at university until about two years ago - I was focusing on other things. I've tried different kinds of writing over the past couple of years and my main writing focus is my blog at the moment.


merkal2005: When did you start blogging? Do you like writing in general?

MarkDykeman: I started blogging earlier this year, probably about July. I don't just like writing, I LOVE IT! Writing is the only way that I'll ever see all of the stories that I want to read. My long term goal is to be a professional author of either fiction (probably science-fiction and/or humor) or selected areas of non-fiction (media, opinion, creativity, idea generation, the nature of work, etc.)


merkal2005: If you describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

MarkDykeman: Analytical. I mentally take things apart and occasionally put them back together. I like to find answers to the question "why".


merkal2005: what was the idea behind your blog ? Do you think you achieved your targets with that blog ? How is the reaction of your readers to your posts ? What are your 2008 goals?

MarkDykeman: I wanted to write an entertaining blog where I discussed different concepts and ideas about how and why things work. I wanted to stimulate thoughts and ideas. At the same time, I wanted a means to help promote some of my other writing.

It's a bit hard to tell at this early stage, but I think I've reached at least a couple of people, so that's a start. I don't get a huge amount of reader reaction, but what I do get is positive. I have to laugh, though, because I did receive an incredibly rude but amusing comment a few weeks ago and I was so happy that I felt like framing it! It was like, damn, that provoked a reaction!

My 2008 goals, ill defined at this point, are to increase the readership of my two blogs, make new contacts, stimulate new discussions, and establish myself as a credible and respected author within the blogosphere.


merkal2005: If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

MarkDykeman: I'm guessing 7.5 degrees?