In this week’s article, we interview John Nemerovski, who writes about technological subjects for a non-technical audience. His online articles, and now podcasts, are filled with personal anecdotes, quirky observations and bits of his own life including activities with friends, family and his much-loved dog Butzie. John’s articles and reviews almost always take on aspects of the personal essay.

He invites others to contribute to his column occasionally. In our interview, there is a link to an essay in which his elderly father tells how computers have changed his relationship to his family. At the end of our interview, you’ll find an offer from John for advice on turning your passion into a writing and multimedia online career (or hobby).

Sheila
I am always interested in knowing how writing makes a difference in people’s lives. I know you write a regular column for an online magazine. Can you tell me about the column — when you started, how you found the opportunity, what keeps you going?

John
About ten years ago a publication I wrote for, MacSense, stopped publishing. I was looking for a place to post my idiosyncratic non-technical columns and reviews. A young collaborator who I had interviewed suggested MyMac Magazine, because he had just starting writing for it. Tim Robertson, MyMac’s publisher, was familiar with my writing, and invited me to join his staff.

Sheila
What had you been writing for MacSense? How did your interest in writing non-technical columns and reviews begin?

John
The general direction in MacSense was similar to what I’ve been doing in MyMac.com — diverse reviews and informed commentary. But my technical knowledge and experience was much less in those early years. Tim was a regular reader of my columns, giving me an easy intro. I had written for a photography publication, before computers became widespread, which is where I got started.

Sheila
Where are you in the writing today?

 John
Currently, I coordinate reviews for MyMac.com, create online and podcast reviews, and support our other reviewers. My namesake column, “Nemo Memo,” has occasional interviews, tutorials, and informed commentaries. I also post blogs on non-controversial topics, mostly consumer technology.

Sheila
How does the staff at MyMac.com approach reviewing?

John
When a staff member or I learn about a product we’d like to review, we contact the company and obtain the item. We work with the software or hardware until we’re comfortable as a user, then write from that personal experience. No pressure or deadlines, except good relationships with the companies who provide the gear. We are all self-assigned and self-motivated.

Sheila
I know you involved your dad in one exchange and have reported on the doings of friends in some articles. Why are you interested in personal information and adventure?

John
It’s crucial to my non-techie approach, Sheila. My peripheral vision as a writer is always on high alert, for subjects or collaborations out of the geeky mainstream.

Sheila
Can you give us the link to the essay that included your dad?

John
When you go to this long online page, it’s near the bottom.

Sheila
I just visited the link and reread the essay that I had remembered. Now I see it was by your dad and it certainly is a wonderful tribute to his agility and yours. I love this statement:

I resist change and I treat my computer as my enemy who can turn on me at any time. So I tread lightly.

And I also enjoy reading the way he describes getting the technology working for him:

Until recently, I was using a separate local Internet provider, Interaccess, with Netscape as my browser. But it was my son, and your columnist, John, who taught me last April 10 (which incidentally was our 52-year wedding anniversary) all the glories of AOL 3.0 and the Microsoft Explorer Browser, with the easy integration among email, the Web, Favorite Places replacing Bookmarks, and the wonders of the vastly improved AOL 3.0.

You who are Macgeniuses may be way ahead of me in these areas, but John was able to transfer his knowledge of the Mac to teach his old father how to make the transition to my new computer skills, and I have gotten more proficient…

…I have learned how to highlight a Web site address on incoming email, use the control-C to copy the URL, open up my Explorer window, use the control-V to paste that new site address, and “enter” to have the Web find the site for me; then to bookmark it with Favorite Places, and to make this whole sequence a piece of cake.

I write a weekly “family letter” to my three children and their spouses, and to my seven grandchildren. Our family is spread from coast to coast: Princeton, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; Tacoma and Olympia, Washington.

We have grandchildren working as a telecommunications facilitator, a hair stylist, three in college, and two in high school. I feel closer to my family with email than I could possibly get any other way. It is as if we all live in the same house, which we virtually do with our email.

My most recent discovery came from my email friend, Jim Coates, who writes a regular column for the Chicago Tribune, and who helped me solve the problem of my AOL constantly asking if I wanted to stay on line. Jim referred me to an Web address where I ordered my AOL AntiTimer. I now can stay on line all day, watching both for “You have mail” and the business news on my Personal Yahoo Page. I contacted <email address> and was very satisfied with that AOL AntiTimer. John says there is something called AlwaysOnLine for the Macintosh, but I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot mouse pad.

I will say goodbye for now. Thank you for letting me intrude my grey hair and my kindergarten level PC style upon all of you sophisticated Macgeniuses. I know that each of us would have it no other way.

Sheila
I adore the way your father weaves information about his technological life with the details about his family that show us why the access technology allows matters to him. I smile at how your passion for technology has informed your dad. And I realize once again, writing makes a difference– email is very important to your dad!

You are no longer working only with essays, I have heard, but creating podcasts as well. When, why and how did you begin podcasting? Is it like publishing essays and reviews or very different?

John
It’s like having my own little radio program where I’m the producer, writer, host, and engineer. A personal dream come true, especially now that I’m interviewing many of my publishing heroes in my segment, “Book Bytes Live!”

I contact authors either directly or via their publishers. I study the book(s) being discussed, and provide the authors with sample questions ahead of time. Our conversations are recorded live using Skype or iChat/AIM, plus Apple’s Garage Band and Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro, then edited and mixed using Rogue Amoeba’s Fission software. The entire experience adds a depth and range to my book reviewing that is immeasurable.

Sheila
Well, I’ll be clicking over there very soon to learn who your publishing heroes are. Do I need any special software and/or instructions to listen?

John
No. We now have a direct audio play button on our home page for each podcast. My segment is usually near the end, and each complete podcast runs roughly one hour. Book Bytes Live! lasts 10-15 minutes weekly.

Sheila
In what ways has doing your column and podcasts made a difference in your life? In the lives of your readers?

John
I think about MyMac.com frequently. I could write or podcast for it every day for a couple of hours, if I didn’t have to work and be a productive member of my family.

My association with MyMac.com gives me access to most computer and technology companies for interviews and reviews, expanding my knowledge and my worldview. I hope my lean, informative writing style assists readers to make informed decisions before they buy products or attempt to work with new technologies.

Sheila
Has your lifestyle changed as a result of working with technology so others can be more informed?

John
I’m much more adept in the digital domain, with a quicker absorption rate for new information. I have a lot more stuff around that I use and can recommend (or not) to clients and students.

Sheila
What is the most surprising approach you have taken in an article or series of articles, one perhaps where you worried about what your readers would think?

John
It’s when I began to do audio reviews for our weekly podcasts. My speaking voice and vocal delivery aren’t particularly pleasant, and I hoped listeners wouldn’t abandon us because of my presence.

Sheila
We’ve talked lots over the years. I like the conviction I hear in your voice! I am sure your listeners have appreciated you. Do they interact with you?

John
Yes, but not frequently, although I know they are reading and listening by the thousands. Tim, our publisher, keeps active statistics. Also, I get occasional, but not frequent, email from readers and listeners.

Sheila
How has your interest in digital photography informed your writing?

John
Huge! I could write or speak for another couple of hours daily on this topic alone. It is now my primary line of work, in my homegrown career as a computer tutor and digital photography / Photoshop instructor.

Sheila
Speaking of photos, this past summer. I saw you just after you’d posted a photo essay of which you were proud. The essay involved your car trip up the West Coast. Can we have the link?

John
With pleasure.

Sheila
When I look at the photo essay, I enjoy seeing starfish along the beach when the tide is low and fog over the Golden Gate I feel included in your trek west from Tucson. Gorgeous photos. I like the captions you have included — they are personal and make me feel like I am on your trip with you.

It was fortuitous that your interest in computers, your experience as a teacher and the mushrooming of the Internet and technology all combined and brought out the writer in you. Now the writer is flowering into a multimedia personality — something all good teachers are in the classroom.

John
Yes, but based more on internal drive than on external communication and relationships. My professional work as computer tutor and digital photo instructor brings all traits together.

Sheila
What directions do you see for your work in the future?

John
I want to return to writing “Nemo’s Ten Point Tutorials.” I enjoy them, and they can really make a difference to readers worldwide, especially beginners.

Sheila
Can you point us to the web link of one such?

John
Here’s one that discusses how to improve the relationship between shadows and highlights in most photos.

Sheila
I will find some time soon to get tutored. How generous of you to have instruction available. Here’s an idea — maybe you can write a Nemo Ten Point Tutorial on how to turn one’s passion or hobby interest into a an online publishing gig? It would be a pleasure to read that information!

John
And a challenge to write, Sheila. Check back with me in a couple of months, and we’ll link to it once I’ve completed your assignment. But I have a better idea. Readers might read a couple of features and blogs in MyMac.com every week for a month or two and then send me an email message with comments. I’ll discuss the options with correspondents on an individual basis.

Sheila
Thanks, John, you are certainly signing on for some mighty interaction. Writing It Real subscribers are an active, inquiring bunch and many of them are very interested in making online inroads with their writing.

On behalf of Writing It Real subscribers and myself, I thank you for your offer and for this interview. Your activity reaffirms for me the way writing makes an enormous difference in our lives — it allows us to put ourselves out there and connect to others for whom our experience matters and with whom we can continue to explore areas of great interest.