Tour Around Blogland {Q&A About Blogging}

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Elizabeth from All Kinds of Things has invited me to join her in a tour around blog land. She has challenged me to answer a few questions and then nominate three other bloggers to do the same in their space and then continue the challenge!

Let the Q & A Begin…

1) What am I working on?

My blog: Mostly, I’m very focused on preparing posts for my 31 Days series. This means writing ahead, compiling posts by guest posters, creating graphics, updating the schedule, and then sharing via social media and email. There’s a lot involved. I am not normally one to work ahead as a blogger, but for this, I want to make sure that the content I am going to offer my readers is stellar and well thought-out.

Guest posting: I’m working on a guest post for Simple Beautiful Life. I’m going to be “going local” and sharing some specific things I love about the town and region I live in. And then, of course, writing every other week over at Wonderfully Made for Faithful Fitness Fridays. You can view all of the posts so far on the Faithful Fitness landing page – and the post going up this coming Friday is by far my favorite. So make sure to check back!

Admin and VA work: I’m so privileged to help out two friends with their monthly newsletters! It’s a great hobby and it helps them out. I love the partnership that I have with them.

2) How does my work differ from others in its genre?

This is a hard question to answer. I think the biggest difference between myself and other bloggers is in my level of vulnerability and ugly honesty with my readers. I don’t hold much back in my writing. I also have some fairly unique situations that I’m either currently going through or have been through (such as dealing with chronic fatigue, being the wife of a combat veteran, recovering from a fundamentalist religious background, and having some difficulties with our son) that give me perhaps a different perspective on life. The difference comes through my story.

3) Why do I write/create what I do?

I write mostly for myself. It is my therapy. It is how I process. How I think. How I become who I want to become.

Secondarily, I share my story with others, mainly – so they will know they are not alone.

To read a more indepth explanation of how I feel about my writing and how I write both for myself and for others, read this post, The WHY of blogging: my not-so-mission-y mission statement.

4) How does my writing/creating process work?

I get an idea. Usually, I sit down right away. Other times, I jot down the idea (generally in a title or phrase) in my blogging notebook.

Then, the writing.

9 times out of 10 I’m sitting on my couch. Within reach is always my Burt’s Bees and iPhone – generally a drink (coffee or juice). I normally have my Facebook tab open, and I’ll flip back and forth to check notifications as I write. When I’m done with the initial writing, I’ll go back through and edit. Fix permalink, social sharing, categories, tags, summary. Then publish and share on Facebook.

I’m not the kind of blogger who uses an editorial calendar, schedules posts, or has a ton of drafts sitting in my WordPress. I generally blog and then post all in one sitting. (Exception being my 31 Days series, which, as I mentioned above, I’m planning ahead.) I really tried to get out of this habit, as it’s one of the things I took away from my first blogging conference, but alas, I think it’s just how I am as a writer and blogger.

I generally don’t have music on when I write because I find it a distraction. Although, on a rare occasion, it can be therapeutic.

Often, Ezra is around – watching TV in the basement. Sometimes I have to stop mid-post to attend to this or that need. If I can blog during naptime or when he’s at school, that’s even better. I rarely blog in the evenings because that’s usually when I’m spending time with Russ. And I do feel like I write better in the morning.

As far as inspiration – my blog posts almost always come directly out of me living my life and the goings on at the time. I regularly have posts inspired by TV shows and songs (see So Small, One More Day, Fall, Home, I Just Call You Mine, Let It Go, Amazed, He’s Gonna Have All of Me, Breathe). I also love responding to Google search terms that land people on my blog – and some of those are my most-read posts.

So, that’s a little bit about me and my blog. I’d like to hear from Erica from Let Why Lead, Tove from Mama in the Now, and Katie from Wonderfully Made for your answers. Or not. That’s okay too.