5 minutes with Mara: celebrating 1 year of blogging with Fairytales

20 Oct 5 minutes with Mara: celebrating 1 year of blogging with Fairytales

This week I asked Mara some questions about her thoughts on reaching our first Blogiversary.

Jo: What has been the highlight of your journey with Fairytales The Blog?

Mara:  For me the highlight of my journey would be the exciting opportunity to write for OTHER blogs!  If it wasn’t for practising here with Fairytales we wouldn’t have had that opportunity.

Jo:  What was your favourite post from the past 12 months?

Mara:  I like all the picture heavy posts like ‘Processing a Party Invitation’ because as they say a picture tells a thousand words.  I also like the posts that prove popular with our audience as it gives me that warm glow of satisfaction that people like what we are doing.  Our most popular post by far was ‘Who is the best photo book supplier?’

Jo:  What is the most challenging thing about the blog?

Mara:  Like with much of what we do, finding TIME is a big challenge for me.  I have to schedule my time tightly to fit in everything that needs to be done to run a business (admin, marketing, networking, social media, advertising, the list goes on).  Often that means I have schedule time to blog when I don’t feel like writing which can be very challenging.

Jo:  Where do you find your inspiration?

Mara:  Ideas come to me at any time of the day or night, interestingly they come to me in the shower!  I read a lot of industry news and follow some great Instagram accounts with fantastic images that inspire me. Most often I just think about the services we provide and the benefits they provide to our clients and write about that.

Jo:  What tool do you find most helpful in creating your blog?

Mara:  I don’t want to call you a tool Jo but I couldn’t do it without you!  Whilst I might write most of the posts, I bounce ideas and collaborate with you for ideas and you provide all the groovy graphics to compliment my writing.

Jo:  How would someone describe your blog style?

Mara:  I hope they would say that it is helpful and conversational.

Jo:  Do you ever get bloggers block and how do you get out of it?

Mara:  As I mentioned earlier I often find myself writing at a time when I am not particularly inspired to do so.  Getting started is usually the hardest part, so if I can force myself through that initial reluctance I usually find the words come pretty naturally.  I would liken it to submerging into a cold pool on a warm day, initially you are hesitant but once you are in the water is refreshing and relaxing.  On the other hand being big on planning – Jo and I like to have our topics planned out well in advance – when I do sit down to write I am not searching for a topic.  You should see the LONG LIST of topics I have waiting to be writing and I am adding to that list every day.

Jo:  What dreams and ambitions do you have for Fairytales in it’s second year?

Mara:  I would love to see our readership increase and I would also love more people to be inspired to comment and interact via our blog posts.  I also hope to continue appearing on other blogs to spread the word about photo organising in particular.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from Mara, the tables will turn and I will be under the spotlight next week.  Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and you could win $120 to spend making a photo book with Momento Photo Books.

Jo