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This interview is part of a series on bloggers of all kinds, where we get to know a little more about these writers that are changing the world, one post at a time.

My friend Charlie Pabst is a newcomer to the blogging arena, but he brings some terrific experience in graphic design to the table. His blog, Ignite Living, is where we first became acquainted. Charlie even has a pretty inspirational e-book available (click here), A Human’s Guide to Freelance Living. I’ve read it, and I recommend it to all of my readers (besides, it’s free!).

I recently asked Charlie a few personal questions:

Where did you grow up?

I actually spent my early life in Montana in a log cabin my father built. It was just me, the folks and my older sister. No neighbors except some horses, coyotes and an occasional bear. When I was five and approaching the schooling years, my parents thought it might be best to find a place where the teachers didn’t chew on sprigs of wheat and wonder what it would be like to have a mouth full of teeth.

We packed it up and moved to the nearest metropolis, Spokane. I was there until I was 14, then went off alone to a boarding school in Oregon. I t wasn’t a disciplinary school. I wasn’t a bad kid and my parents didn’t hate me or anything. But I think they saw some potential that I was blind to and wanted some discipline in my life other than getting high score on Nintendo.

How did you get to where you are today? Can you tell us about your education?

My high school education was unreal. It was a total blast and is exactly the kind of place most freelancer-types would love. It was an organic, sort of do-it-yourself school. The first thing they do there is teach you how to study. You actually learn HOW to study. Not how to memorize but how to actually study and retain and USE the information you’re acquiring. It was phenomenal. And after that, you just teach yourself. You do courses on literature, history, religion, math, philosophy…the usual battery plus a lot more, but there are no teachers. There are supervisors standing by to help you if you hit the wall, but really you just do it all yourself.

After high school I went to university in Portland, Oregon. I studied architecture there. It was a fine school but after spending four years basically teaching myself everything, having to go to class and listen to people talking at me was brutal. Plus, as anyone who’s spent time in college knows, college is built for the lowest common denominator. Classes usually only go about as fast as the slowest student. I barely got out of there. In fact, I’m not sure I ever technically graduated. I needed some sort of Basic Stick Drawing 101 course and refused to take it because it was entirely inapplicable.

How about your work experience?

While in college I worked everywhere. I loaded UPS trucks, did roofing, was a delivery driver for a parcel service, did construction, did some day-trading on the NYSE. When I got out of school I worked as an engineer for a firm that designs exterior cladding/window systems for skyscrapers. I lasted a year there, and only that long because I’d heard that anything less than a year on a resume means you’re a loser. If I’d read Seth Godin’s The Dip back then, I’d have bailed within a month or two.

Do you have any special interests?

I’m really interested in everything. With the 24 hour days I’m stuck with, at the top of my list and in no particular order are clean code, reading, playing guitar, computers, writing, martial arts, rock climbing, learning and laughing and talking to people.

What are your hobbies, what do you do for fun?

I love to help people out, if that could be called a hobby. Going to disaster areas after tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, stuff like that. I wouldn’t say it’s fun, as there’s so much heartache that surrounds such things, but there’s nothing as rewarding. As for real hobbies, I play guitar, some piano, love rock climbing, love to draw and love love love to read.

You “love love love to read”? What was the last book that you read?
Fiction - The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse , by Robert Rankin and Jingo, by Terry Pratchett.
Non-fiction - A Brief History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson

What would you say is your most important accomplishment?

Wow, that is a great question. I don’t really think I’ve accomplished much yet, at least not in terms of big ripples. I’ve been in “empire building” mode for a while and that has mostly just consisted of me putting in long hours. Last year, I donated $35,000 to a charity I adore. That’s probably right up there as far as things I’ve done that weren’t completely and totally self-centered.

That kind of donation is quite an accomplishment! What is your next big goal?

First and foremost, even though I make most of my bread off design, I still consider myself a writer. So my next big goal, and I can’t say too much about it here, is to deliver extraordinary content that fulfills a need and is considered valuable. It’s sort of a teaching/consulting idea based around problem solving content. That probably sounds really nebulous, and it sort of is still even to me.

I’d also like to finish my writing project. It’s a fiction book that is nothing but fun for me. But I’d love to finish it, possibly illustrate it as well, and then see if I can sell it on my own through Lulu.com or somewhere. I’d also like to put together an album of acoustic guitar music and self publish that as well.

Guitar music? Well, in that case the next question is: Steve Vai or Eddie Van Halen?
Oh boy. Can I say both? [No! ed] How about a hybrid? Stevie Van Halen. He’d have Vai’s flawless technique and Eddie’s tone.

Charlie has some interesting goals, so I asked him about plans for the future:

You have quite a few irons in the fire, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I love Seattle, so it’s likely I’ll still live here. I’ll be much more well off and traveling more, both for fun and to consult as a writer, businessman and entrepreneur. I’d also love to get back into trading in the market.

And if in 5 years my book isn’t done and I haven’t recorded any music, I want you to please come and shoot me.

Well, I am not going to shoot you, but I will keep pestering you!

Who or what was your inspiration to start blogging?

Just learning that blogging existed was a big inspiration. As I said, I always considered myself a writer and learning that I could just write, hit “publish” and get my writing out there to millions of people hit me as a great idea. I think it was right around this time I discovered Darren Rowse at Problogger and thought, “I can do that, too! I’ll be making millions by the end of the weekend!” Obviously it takes much more work than that, but I didn’t know it at the time. Blogs were still brand new to me at the time. I figured there were maybe 3 or 4 of them out there and that I wouldn’t have much competition. But that was the beginning and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Thanks Charlie, we’ll be looking forward to that secret project of yours!

Thank you, Stephen! I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6rdl52. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen