Travelling with Ana
travellingwithana.wordpress.com
Current city: Brisbane
No. of kids: One gorgeous little girl, Ana Lucia.
What’s your blog all about?
Travelling with Ana is told from the perspective of my little girl, Ana. It’s about the big things; (such as trips to visit overseas family) and the little things; (walks, coffees and the little moments at home) fun things; (like swim school and mummy and me yoga) and the milestones (immunisations, sitting up and starting solids). We also share books we like and talk about local places and businesses we like and about being a bilingual family.
Travel:India is that-a-way
Little moments:My kingdom
Activities:Just like a duck in water, Baby Yogini
Milestones:I’m 5 today. Months that is!, Yum num num num
Books: Where is the Green Sheep?
Businesses:I wanna have what he’s having
Being bilingual: Smiling Spanish students
Why did you start blogging:
When Ana was about 6 weeks old I was getting bored of the mundane part of child raising: feed, nappy change, settle her to sleep, feed, nappy change, settle her to sleep… so I decided to start a blog about financial trading. Even from the beginning it was a struggle. Starting with not being able to register any of the names I wanted. I had thought about doing a personal blog about Ana (as a way to show pictures and stories to family) and so I typed in ‘Travelling with Ana’ and unlike all my well thought out trading blog names, it wasn’t taken. This blog was born! The financial trading one did get started but continues to be a struggle (studying in this area is time consuming enough and I find more interesting than writing about it). On the contrary ‘Travelling with Ana’ has been a pleasure to create. I love reflecting on something positive Ana and I have done during the day. It motivates me to get out and active with her and now I always have a camera on hand. An added bonus has been the surprising number of people reading it. Not just Mum (although she is the number one fan!)
What is your favourite part about blogging?
I love the enjoyment my family and friends are getting from it (particular Mum who is in Hamilton, and my husband who travels overseas for work a lot) but prior to starting a blog myself I was unaware of the amazing blogging community out there. It’s such a thrill when you get nice comments from people you don’t know and fun to connect with people from all over the world. I also like that each and every day I’m celebrating my daughter’s life and I hope that she might like to look back on the blog when she is older and enjoy reading about these early years of her life.
How do you manage juggling family life with blogging?
I committed to myself to blog every day and I think making that decision meant it has become a habitual part of my day and not a chore I keep putting off “until tomorrow”. I also keep my posts quite short and so they don’t take too long to do (I think it’s nicer for the reader too). Since the blog is just about what we’re doing the content is readily available from our day. Some days I scratch my head a bit to think of something news worthy – but sometimes those days end up being some of my best posts. When Ana is at day care and I’m in the office coming up with the content might become a bit more challenging. Also, when we’re travelling it can be harder to publish because getting access every day can be an issue. Our trip through Argentina in August might be a challenge!
Any advice to new/other bloggers?
- Proofread! Consider writing the post in word first. Read it and re-read it. Edit it. Check the spelling and grammar. Read it and edit it again and then when you’re happy, copy, paste and publish.
- There might be bloggers that disagree with this one – but keep it short!
- Keep a regular schedule to posting. It doesn’t matter if it is daily or weekly – whatever suits you, but then stick to it. And if you do miss a post, don’t write a big post of excuses and apologies on why you haven’t posted. I’ve lost count of how many posts like that I’ve read and they’re boring – just get back into it.
- Be authentic.
- Keep the tone consistent. My blog is positive and innocent. I don’t want to use it as an outlet to rant about what is annoying me (even though it is tempting sometimes!). It doesn’t matter how you want to speak in your blog, but whatever it is, stick with it.
Favourite posts from your blog?
This is really hard! I’ve used my favourites that aren’t in the examples above:
I’m 5 today. Months that is!
Vamos Argentina
Hola Papi
Lessons from Auntie VJ
Bells on my toes & shorty pants
The art of teleportation
Me and the giant custard apple
Favourite blogs you love to read?
www.kiwimummyblogs.blogspot.com
Seriously! A great site to look at a variety of blogs and there are some from there that I visit quite regularly. I also go to ‘Top Baby Blogs’ quite a bit but I prefer the kiwi flavour of Kiwi Mummy Blogs and that the most recent posts are central to the blog.
www.funandvjs.blogspot.com
This is about a Queenslander being renovated and other quirky family stories.
semicrunchymama.wordpress.com
Good writing and beautiful photos from a Mum talking about her little boy, Shane.
www.raisin-hell.com
When I need a health kick
