Internet Bard

Internet Bard is the weblog of Kat French: gen-x wife, mom, web marketer, writer, and follower of Christ.

I’ve been writing seriously since my early teens, and have written everything from radio commercials to 200 page technical proposals to build weapons simulators (odd, in retrospect, considering I’m a pacifist).

If you’re looking for my professional opinion on social media, you’re better off going here or here.

This blog is about the part of my life where I’m exploring transformation, the power of writing and stories, and what really connects people.

I’m happily married to my high school sweetheart.  We have two kids who are awesome enough to capture the heart of  even someone as self-absorbed as me.

We’re members of a gospel-centric Louisville church that promotes the arts, puts out Christian music that doesn’t suck, and does some pretty amazing urban renewal work in the community.

I don’t have any free time.  Quite frankly, I can’t remember when I last had some free time. But back when I did, I enjoyed participating in community theatre and doing crochet.  (I know.  Knitting is cooler/ more popular.  But I suck at knitting.)

We have pug named after Rocky Balboa. Also, I am indecently fond of my hammock swing.  I’m usually working in it on my laptop, but it feels more like relaxing if you do it in a hammock swing.

Why on earth is this blog called “internet bard”? What is an internet bard?

I answered this question first in an interview with Gab at SEOROI.

Going a little further back, my inspiration came from my husband’s and my renewed interest in role playing games (RPGs). I was reading the AD&D Player’s Handbook, and I realized that if I were a Dungeons & Dragon’s character, I’d be a Bard. (More specifically, I’d be a Gnome Bard, but that’s probably more than you really wanted to know, isn’t it?)

Which got me thinking about my evolving vocational role, and how it’s really sort of an updated, post-modern internet version of the ancient bards.

Bards were the first “mashup” artists, not only creating stories but collecting and remixing them. They were an early form of messenger service, delivering missives to and from the communities on their “route.” They inspired others to acts of heroism–but they did it in an entertaining, lighthearted way. And while they may have taken their roles and responsibilities seriously, they rarely took themselves too seriously.

Plus, I’m a huge admirer of the Bard, William Shakespeare, whose keen grasp of human nature and mastery of both comedy and tragedy is something to which I aspire.