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" Q: You&amp;#039;ve been blogging for quite some time. How and why did you get started?  A: I was working for a Fortune 500 HMO when I started Dad Gone Mad, and I started it because I needed a receptacle for what little sanity I had left. After long days writing variations on the theme &amp;quot;No, we won&amp;#039;t cover your perfectly reasonable medical procedures because one of our stakeholders needs a new yacht,&amp;quot; I needed something for me. Something that reminded me I was human despite having sold out to Corporate America. Q: When do you write most of your blog entries? Set the scene for us. A: My most productive time is between 9-11 a.m., and I write the vast majority of my entries at my office (but keep that between us, OK?). In most cases I have seen or experienced something blogworthy in the past 24 hours. For example, yesterday I inadvertently farted on a three-year-old, so I wrote about that. In many cases, I have no idea how a story is going to turn out before I get started; I just sit down and start typing and trust that my warped, sociopathic little brain will get the story to an appropriate ending (and I use the term &amp;quot;appropriate&amp;quot; very loosely).  Q: Have you ever regretted a post? A: Every single one. Q: You have two kids, but we don&amp;#039;t ever see photos of them on the site. Why? A: I&amp;#039;ve seen too many instances when a parenting blogger has posted photos of his/her kid only to have those images pirated and reused in abominable ways. My number-one job on this planet is to protect my kids, and that responsibility has relevance online, too. Q: What does your family do to celebrate Father&amp;#039;s Day? Any big plans this year? A: If given my druthers, I&amp;#039;d spend the whole day lying on the floor of my living room watching sports in my underwear. But the more likely scenario is actually spending time with the kids in a more socially appropriate and respectable way. (I know: odd.) Q: Okay, we&amp;#039;re dying to know: How did you meet Hot Wife? A: In the summer of 1993, right after I graduated from college, I agreed to return to the summer camp where I went as a kid, this time as a counselor. I met Hot Wife the day I arrived (when I tried to introduce her to someone she already knew). They don&amp;#039;t make women as cool and kind and gorgeous as she was (IS!) anymore. After about three weeks, I was pretty sure she was going to spend the rest of her life suffering under the moniker of Mrs. Evans.  Q: How did you propose to her? A: I took her to our favorite beach at sundown under the guise that we&amp;#039;d just be taking a walk. I was trying to tell her this heartfelt story about an elderly married couple I&amp;#039;d seen holding hands earlier in the week \u2014 but she just would not pay attention. She stopped to pet a dog and interrupted to remind me that I needed to get my brakes fixed, and by then I was starting to get annoyed. Right at sunset, I stopped her in her tracks, took a knee, and asked. She said yes, I popped the ring on her finger, hugged for a sec. Then she had to race back to the car to look at the ring under the dome light in my Honda, just to see if I had come through with an acceptable rock. Women... Q: What blogs and Websites do you visit every day (besides Goodhousekeeping.com, of course)? A: There are so many talented writers whose talents are undersold by the term &amp;quot;mommyblogger&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;daddyblogger.&amp;quot; I read a lot of them, but I have lately taken a shine to:  BabyShrink Boobs, Injuries &amp;amp;amp; Dr. Pepper Girl&amp;#039;s Gone Child Baby on Bored Jennsylvania The Random Muse  Q: What&amp;#039;s your favorite book of all time, or a favorite book you&amp;#039;ve read recently? A: I just finished Candy Girl by Diablo Cody, who also wrote the screenplay for Juno. She&amp;#039;s such a talented writer, and very funny. The book is a memoir of the year she worked as a stripper in Minnesota. I&amp;#039;ve just started reading Look Me in the Eye, by John Elder Robinson, a memoir about growing up with Asperger&amp;#039;s. Robinson is the brother of Augusten Burroughs, another favorite of mine. Q: What&amp;#039;s the latest on your own book? A: Not telling. (I&amp;#039;m superstitious.) Q: What tips do you have for bloggers just getting started? A: I get a lot of e-mail from new bloggers who want to know how they can turn a profit with their blogs. I tell all of them that if you&amp;#039;re getting into blogging just to make money, you&amp;#039;ll be sorely disappointed. There&amp;#039;s not a lot of money in it. If you truly want to a blog to grow into something (whatever that means), I recommend two things:   Be patient. Spend the first several months just writing, as opposed to worrying about ads or traffic or being linked on other sites. If I think about the blogs of which I have been a loyal follower for the past several years, each of them has a unique voice or differentiable hook that makes it stand out from the masses. Look at the authors of Dooce, Finslippy, Amalah \u2014 the real heavy hitters in the parent blog community \u2014 and it&amp;#039;s clear that each has taken the time to develop her voice and the quality of her writing. Only after you&amp;#039;ve done that can you realistically expect the dollars (as in three, maybe four) to roll in.  Make yourself visible. Read lots of blogs. Leave comments \u2014 REAL comments, not &amp;quot;OMG!!!! LOL!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!&amp;quot; Add something relevant and interesting to the issues other bloggers raise on their sites. When you do so, that site&amp;#039;s readers will see what you&amp;#039;ve written in the comment section and will want to learn more about the person who wrote that funny, poignant, well-written, insightful comment. Next stop: your blog.  Danny Evans&amp;#039;s blog Dad Gone Mad is featured in Good Housekeeping&amp;#039;s June issue, on stands now. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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