People and Blogs: Robert Kingett

Let's start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?

I'm a totally blind, gay, writer of fiction and nonfiction. I work in the audio description space as a writer and Blind Quality Control specialist/editor, but I also write fiction podcast scripts as well as novellas and novels. I publish books, and I'm a vibrant advocate for digital accessibility with regards to blind access.

My main love is writing. I love writing fiction stories because I believe it's the best kind of education.

As for the types of fiction I write, I write romance. Diverse romance, specifically. I've dabbled in erotica, but my work leans more towards the romance side of the coin with not a lot of smut. I do write about people like me, awkward, but empathetic people and their love journeys. Others have also said I'm a great humor writer, but I don't consider myself gut busting funny, but others would disagree!

Lastly, I write screenplays and TV show seasons, but my main writing love has always been writing romance books and novellas and fiction podcast scripts.

I'm also an accessibility consultant. Trust me, I don't love the accessibility consulting, but I'm passionate about accessibility and accessible design because it's how I can access the web.

As for my hobbies? I read a lot of books, consume a lot of fiction podcasts, and eat a lot of cookies. I'm a digital nomad so I work entirely remotely.

What's the story behind your blog?

I knew that I always wanted my own website. I didn't want to be beholden to any tech corporation hosting my content, let alone censor me because people find sex gross but somehow find hateful opinions to be just fine and dandy. My blog is all over the place. Blind readers will get tutorials on how to use something with a screen reader. Publishing people will get thoughts and opinions about disability representation in the industry and the media published by various publishers. Other people will find snapshots of experiences and how I feel about them. My blog isn't one thing. It's a mix mash of things.

I always wanted a space of my own to just dump thoughts and stories and otherwise onto the internet without having a corporation control what I can say or who sees it. With an RSS feed, my writings aren't controlled by an algorithm or someone paying to drown out my post with their latest sponsored content.

I didn't like where WordPress was headed with their Gutenberg editor at all, so I went looking for a static site generator I could use. I know how to read code, and I know how to write in some internet languages, but I really didn't want to host my own site. I wanted to pay someone to host my stuff but also let me to exact control sometimes. Also, I needed a platform that was going to be screen reader accessible from the beginning. Very few publishing platforms are screen reader accessible, so my options are limited, but I didn't want to do Micro Blogging. I like writing long content because lengthy writing lends itself to more introspection and thought.

I knew I didn't want to narrow down my blog to a particular theme. I knew it was going to be me. It was going to be a platform to promote my work, for me to tell stories, and for me to talk to other people. I finally found a web host that was willing to host my blog for a fee.

What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?

If I am doing a nonfiction piece, I gather up all links and references in a text editor and just keep a running list of references and links until I'm done with that post. I write to old boy bands like Simple Plan and similar. I also write to environmental sounds, or I have a playlist of mood songs and use that when I want to really lean into a fiction scene. When I write novels, I write all the best/most interesting scenes first, then I go back and write what happens before and after the most interesting scenes. Same for screenplays and fiction podcast scripts.

Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?

I always write at a desk with a full keyboard. I never write on my phone unless I have a Bluetooth keyboard with me. If I write in public, I always people watch and eavesdrop on random conversations because that's fantastic ways to study people and how they interact with others. I write a lot in libraries because I don't have to buy anything, and I can reserve rooms all day if I want to write away from home, all for free.

A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?

The blog is currently a CMS called ClassicPress hosted by Project Army. As for how I write, if I write in HTML or similar, I then write in Markdown or a similar fashion in a plain text editor. I write all my novels in plain text and or Markdown then convert them later. I write all my screenplays and fiction podcast scripts in Fountain. Those are all plain text solutions. After I'm all done, I convert the plain text screenplay or novel into a formatted book or formatted screenplay using open-source tools like Pandoc.

Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?

If I had to start over, I’d go with a static site generator first because it will have better longevity than a CMS database. I wouldn't change anything else. The title, content, anything.

Financial question since the Web is obsessed with money: how much does it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost, or does it generate some revenue? And what's your position on people monetizing personal blogs?

I pay about $200 biannually for my blog to be hosted. I rely entirely on donations and a shared funding model where people financially sponsor my hosts and otherwise to keep me online. I'm fully reader supported, and the blog doesn’t make a profit. I'm not intending to sell people’s data or have ads on my blog. That's just a poor reader experience. I often joke that if you want to take me offline, just stop donating to me, because that will be the day I finally just let the blog go.

Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?

I highly recommend the podcast/blog Reid my Mind radio. I also think you should check out Jonathan Mosen blog. I listen to more podcasts than I read any particular blog, which is ironic because I have over 100 RSS feeds, but I don't have any particular blog recommendations. I do recommend people read some fanfiction on Archive of Our Own, though!

Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?

Because I'm such a fiction podcast guru, I’d highly recommend checking out the Fiction Podcast the Bright Sessions or the Two Princes. I’d also suggest the best place, I think, to find fiction podcasts is https://www.theend.fyi/ but I also recommend watching any movie with audio description enabled and not looking at the screen. You can find movies with audio description at https://adp.acb.org/masterad.html