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Text: Maytina
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Photos: Carolina Smart
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Carolina Smart is a busy gal. She created the website Shebytches.com out of the need for and frustration for not being able to find a site that offered her a place to express herself the way she wanted to. She is also in the midst of writing her first book, as well as a book of short stories with Anna Fletcher and Viki Ackland, and she's working with Anna Fletcher on a site/documentary about death called Two Creepy Girls, and if that wasn't enough she's also creating some gear to go with her alter-ego, Lizzie Violet. Whew. It's amazing she sat still long enough to answer my questions, she did an email interview with me in June/06.
Your untitled book of short stories, who are you working on it with and how did that connection happen?
Carolina: I am writing the book of short stories with two other women writers, Viki Ackland and Anna Fletcher. Both of these women are also part of my website Shebytches.com. Anna is the Editor and Viki the Assistant Editor. I have know both of these women for over 2 years and know their writing style and work ethics. They are two very unique and strong writers with very interesting voices and I knew that the three of us writing a book together would be an amazing experience with a one of a kind final outcome.
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Lizzie Violet
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Your in-the-works cookbook, Vegagorey, what spurred the idea for a book on 'unusual food in unusual places'?
Carolina: For Vegagorey I am once again working with Viki Ackland. What spurred the idea is we are both cookbook fanatics and are completely bored with what bookstores have to offer so we came up with our own version of a cookbook that will have fantastic photography, stories, and yummy recipes - there will be nothing else like it out there!
The Melancholy of Me, due out this fall, is this a more personal project?
Carolina: This is a very personal project indeed. It's a compilation of stories and poems of all the things that make me, me. Things that go on in my bizarre little head. I am hoping to have the manuscript completed by fall and then shipped out to publishers for consideration shortly thereafter.
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What's going on with the online store? What sort of stuff are you carrying?
Carolina: The online store is a combination of books from our writers, Shebytches merchandise and Lizzie Violet merchandise. At some point we will expand the store to include more items, including a larger selection of Lizzie Violet.
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Carolina on her upcoming book, The Melancholy of Me
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'This is a very personal project indeed. It's a compilation of stories and poems of all the things that make me, me. Things that go on in my bizarre little head.'
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How important is it to you to be hands on about promoting your work?
Carolina: It's very important for me to be involved in the day to day workings of Shebytches.com and my other writing. Shebytches itself is a project that I have nurtured from it's birth and it gives me so much joy to see how much she has grown from day one. We get 250,000 hits a month and have viewer-ship from around the world, some countries I have never even heard of. Plus being part of promoting allows me to get out and meet new and talent writers.
Tell me about your project, Shebythes.com
Carolina: [I am going to include a story I wrote about the creation of Shebytches.com for Digital Eve. Please feel free to use all of anything that is applicable.]
A few years ago, I was looking for a web site where I could freely express myself through writing, without being censored. I stumbled upon sites such as Chick Click and Hellfire, which were close to what I was looking for, but they didn't survive the influx of other heavily advertised female oriented sites. After researching many other web sites, I quickly became frustrated and discouraged.
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I was beginning to feel I wouldn't find an arena where I could express myself. The Internet is such a vast universe of information: chat rooms, discussion boards, etc. and yet nothing seemed to satisfy my need and want for a creative outlet. After many hours of searching, I abandoned my mission and decided to create my own web site. A place where I could write, vent and express myself on my own terms. Alas, Shebytches.com was born.
Before the creation of Shebytches.com, I had no web design experience. In order to make the dream of developing such a site a reality, I needed to learn how to build a web site. With a credit card in hand, I headed to the nearest computer store. I purchased a copy of Front Page and a book on how to build a web site in forty-eight hours. Of course, it took me more than forty-eight hours to read through the manual. It seems sleep, eating and having to use the washroom cut back on my reading time! Nonetheless, within a week I had learned basic HTML coding and had created my first web page. After that, there was no turning back.
In the beginning, Shebytches.com was a personal venting ground for me, but that wasn't about to last. Once my best friend saw what I was doing, she decided she wanted to be part of it. Together we began to tell the world, or at least our regular readers, what was happening in our lives, what made us tick and what was making us angry. After a few months of writing, we decided we couldn't keep this site to ourselves and registered with every search engine possible. It's amazing what happens when you are listed in Google - within six months we were getting hits from places like Japan, Saudi Arabia, France and Belgium. Today we get hits from countries all over the world. Many times I need to look them up in the atlas because I don't recognise some of the names. I am still in amazed each time a new country shows up in our statistics.
Since creating Shebytches.com, I have made revisions to the site more than once. I have also moved from a PC to a Mac and use software called Dreamweaver. My next update to Shebytches.com will involve adding more functionality and usability, such as Flash, Java, discussion boards, and mini movies. Until now, I was more concerned with building content rather than making the site visually exciting. Shebytches.com now has eight regular writers on staff, including two international writers.
I am very proud that Shebytches.com has become a venue for women to express themselves through writing and art. I have given them a community to find others who share their experiences, dreams, nightmares, milestones and desires. I am both humbled and flattered each time I receive a letter from someone thanking me for creating Shebytches.com or letting us know they have just read something that has helped them. Shebytches.com has allowed me to grow, over the years, as a writer and web page designer and I am glad I followed my dream to create it.
What are you reading now?
Carolina: I am reading The Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Virgin Spy by Krista Bridge
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The Playlist
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Carolina's Playlist
1. Blondie - Good Boys
2. Metric - Dead Disco
3. The Sounds - Hope You're Happy Now
4. Fiona Apple - Fast as you Can
5. Rayna - Unnamed Angel
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