13 Questions With… This Glorious Life

Next up in the ’13 Questions With…’ series is Madeline from This Glorious Life.

1. When did you start up your blog and why? I started my blog, This Glorious Life, in January 2015.  I took voluntary redundancy from my job in admin at the end of 2014 and wanted to start something new to mark the end of that time in my life (I’d been working at that job for about 7 years).  I also wanted to start making some use of my degree, which was in Philosophy and Psychology, which is why my blog often features snippets of psychology that we can use to make our lives more glorious!
2. What is the most important thing you’ve learned since you started blogging and what advice would you give to a newbie blogger? I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to get social and put yourself out there.  The blogging community is amazing and you need to just dive in and get involved!  I would advise a newbie blogger to start looking at linkys to join in with, they’re a great way to find more blogs to read and to get your blog seen by other people.
3. Which has been your most popular blog post? I think my most popular blog post was the one I wrote about breastfeeding – 13 things I wish I’d known about breastfeeding.  I feel very strongly that we need to keep talking about breastfeeding and being honest about how it may be the most natural thing in the world but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be easy.
4. Do you blog as a hobby or as a job?  At the moment my blog is a hobby but I’ve always had in mind that I would like to turn it into a business.  I have various ideas for ebooks running through my head, waiting to be put out in the world!
5. What do you do to stop getting blogging burn out? I don’t post every day, because I think that would lead me to burn out.  And I only write posts that I really want to write, rather than posting for the sake of posting.  That way I stay, for the most part, inspired and not burnt out!
6. Who are your favourite bloggers to read and vloggers to watch on YouTube? I don’t actually follow anyone on YouTube, I think I need to start checking out some vloggers if anyone has any recommendations!  There are loads of blogs that I love reading, but among my favourites are What Katy said, What the redhead said, Brummy mummy of 2 and Mr and Mrs T plus 3.
7. What are your blogging pet peeves? The only thing I’ve really come across that bothers me is blogs that make it hard to leave a comment!  I want to be able to write my comment, fill in my name and url and go.  I don’t want to have to decipher a hidden code, or even have to log in to google+ or blogger, sorry!
8. What’s your biggest aspiration for your blog in 2016? I would love to get an ebook written and for it to be a success!  Other than that I would just love to build up my audience a bit more and get more involved in the blogging community.
9. What were your career aspirations when you were at school? I don’t remember really having career aspirations as a child!  Apparently when asked what I wanted to be my answer would be ‘a Mummy’.  So I’m pretty pleased with how things have worked out so far, haha!
10. Do you find balancing work/blog/family/life a struggle? I do find balancing everything a struggle, but I think a lot of that is down to me not being organised enough.  I need to put more systems in place to keep track of everything and get things done.
11. How do you get exposure for your blog and what is your favourite social media site? The main way I get exposure for my blog is through linkys.  I link up to several every week and find that really helps with reaching new readers, and I really love the sense of community you get with them.  At the moment my favourite social media site is Instagram.  I love scrolling through my feed and seeing the gorgeous photos and snippets of people’s lives!
12. If you had £1000 to spend on yourself, what would you buy? I would either get a new full-frame dslr camera, or a really great quality new lens (or 2).  I absolutely love photography and would love to have some shiny new equipment to play with!
13. Which 3 famous people (dead or alive) would you invite to a dinner party? Ok, I’m going for entertainment value here; I would invite Nathan Fillion and Ryan Reynolds because in my mind they’re still Johnny and Berg from two guys and a girl and so would just be great fun!  And to balance things out a bit I would also invite Victoria Wood because she was just bloody brilliant.

Thank you Madeline for these fab answers! I can’t believe I’ve found another fan of Two Guys and A Girl (or 2 Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place as it was originally called!) After watching this show as a young girl I totally fell in love with Ryan Reynolds and he’s still No.1 on my list!

Check out Madeline’s blog This Glorious Life or find her on social media 🙂

~A~