Getting to know your writers: Courtney Kaz

Courtney, the founder and main writer for The OddNotes goes up for a role reversal when it comes to what she does best. This 17-year-old almost Positive Goddess had some things to tell us.

She’s been using The OddNotes since October 4, 2007, and her inspiration for the blog started when she was in a journalism class, where she was told to stop writing entertainment pieces, “ I really couldn't care about news (it was too boring).” Unfortunately, she had to get out of school early and had to stop writing for the paper. However, her writing endeavors don’t end there. Over the summer of 2007, she decided that she could use The OddNotes for what she couldn’t in school, writing about up and coming bands, artists, people. When it comes to the name of her blog, The OddNotes, she says that it came from a coffee shop that she wanted to open up, one that sold books and music, and of course, coffee. Courtney is also hoping that the blog will spin off into a magazine some day, “The one [direction] that takes me to good places. I'd love to see it spinoff into a magazine someday. Maybe a different name, though.”

On the subject of interviewing people, she says that she’d love to interview authors Diablo Cody, Augusten Burroughs, and Chris Gutierrez along with Jack’s Mannequin singer Andrew McMahon. As she gets older, she hopes that she won’t hold back in interviews and that they will get better. When asked about holding back in interviews, she responded, “I try to avoid pushing buttons or making anyone feel uncomfortable.”

I asked her more about the direction that the blog is taking and she said that the help that she’s getting is “cool,” and that there are some “really frickin’ sweet” interviews coming up and that readers should definitely keep looking at the page for more and spread the word.

Her personal life is almost an entirely different, yet intertwined world with her blog. She reads a book every other day and loves music. She’s been through what some kids hope they never have to face at her age, cancer. She said that it wasn’t too bad, and that when people use their illness as an excue after so long, it gets annoying. When asked about the kind of music she’s listening to right now, she responded, “ Whatever genre Panic at the Disco uses to describe themselves. I love Pretty.Odd so much. The new Death Cab is pretty good, too. Also, I've been listening to the song Handlebars by Flobots religiously.” She recommends Cloud Cult and Empires for music and The Beautiful Miscellaneous by Dominic Smith.

We got on to the topic of society today and how negative it can be, but she says that she tries to stay positive with her outlook on life. In the presidential race of 2008, she wants to vote for Obama, but she’s not quite old enough to do that in November. The $4 per gallon gas prices are making her feel broke,”I just kind of feel sucked dry. I even asked my parents if I could get a new bike. They laughed,” she said.

This summer, she’ll be spending her vacation at home, babysitting for three kids. However, she will make the venture to Warped Tour and to Chicago this July.

-Sara