The last time I told you about my early beginnings as a blogger, and shared my insights and experiences about running Bunny got Blog, I got a lot of great feedback. So I thought I’d go out and ask a few of my blogging friends: How do you blog? And today, I am very excited to have Katie from Making This Home be my guest and answer the 12 questions.

Where to begin to tell you about with this wonderful, adventurous woman? Katie Clemons has written many articles about her life’s journey. At one glance, you will see the All-American girl, then you find this woman has the best of both worlds. Wife, world traveler and airplane pilot. Yes, Katie received her pilot license this past summer when she was in the States.

Katie opens up her home and gives you a crash course on how to utilize every inch of her small German apartment. She compares cultures and traditions. She thinks green. She is so exciting! I just love her.

I find sometimes her life is running parallel with mine. Whether we are on the same continent at the same time or not. It is funny to compare stories. Like our husbands are both German.

So here goes: enjoy Katie’s 12 on Blogging!

1. The story behind Making This Home

My husband and I had just moved to Germany, and we were remodeling our kitchen. It was 36 square feet and needed a serious overhaul. I missed sharing ideas and projects with my family the way we all used to when my husband, Martin, and I were back in the US. So I started writing.

2. How did you find your niche?

I knew I wanted to write about home and green choices because those are two important things to me. It wasn’t until I was writing that I got interested in sharing our ideas for a simpler life. Germans work, on average, 400 hours less every year than Americans, and everything closes on Sundays. We were forced to relax.

3. What was your first article?

My first was a “coming soon” article because my brother was giving me grief about not posting anything right away. I started actually writing about four days later when we finished designing my header.

4. What are your best sources of inspiration for your articles?

As an expat, I’m always learning. My problem isn’t so much, “What should I write?” It’s more like, “Is this relevant to my theme?” For example, I spent the summer back in the United States learning how to fly an airplane. It has nothing to do with my site’s theme, but it’s hugely important to me and the people in my home. My husband was my instructor, and it took us the entire summer to accomplish. But on September 2, I finished. I became a pilot.

5. Are there any special things you like to do, or add, when writing your blog?

I like to challenge readers to think about life differently. Our apartment is 450 square feet. It makes me think about what’s important to keep in my home and in my life. So we simplify and urge others to try similar things. One of my favorite topics is a series on a Green Christmas.

6. What do you do if you are unhappy with a draft?

I have a pile of half-done pieces of writing – some because I didn’t like where they were going, others because they need to be edited.

7. Do you have friends that inspire you or help you with your blog?

Martin is my technical editor. Meaning if I say “herbicide” instead of “pesticide”, he helps me out. Otherwise, I do it on my own. To be writing so often, I think it’s important to do that. You don’t want others to feel pressured to have to check things before you publish, and it’s important to build the confidence that what you’re saying is okay and it does matter.

8. What do you do to get your blog noticed?

To be honest, I haven’t been working in this area at all over the last few months. I know I should. But I’d much rather be writing about what it’s like trying to get Germans excited about chocolate chip cookies (and sharing a recipe) or simplifying and greening our home… a home which seems to be changing every couple of months. We lived in a house made of tires over the summer in the United States when we weren’t living in Germany. Perhaps my answer is probably best said that my life is pretty unusual, and I share a lot of it. That gets noticed.

9. What things do or do not freak you out about blogging?

I love getting an email or note on my Twitter from someone who got something out of my work – like three people emailed me over the weekend about the super simple cider recipe I posted on Friday. They had all tried it! I love that about blogging, and I love learning from other bloggers, too.

10. How do you keep your blog fresh and interesting?

I’m not really sure! I just write about what interests me and what I’m doing. And all the things I’m doing – learning to fly, living in Berlin… – well they’re not exactly typical.

11. Do you have a favorite article that you have written?

Being an American married to a German, a lot of people are naturally interested in our wedding and how we became a family. The idea launched a whole series of international weddings that readers and friends of ours shared over the summer.

My favorite was the wedding of our friends in Romania. We found out about their wedding in an email. The subject was “We said yes!”, my husband and I were jumping up and down with excitement. I think one of the funnest posts to write was an interview with them about their customs and family traditions that they incorporated into their wedding.

12. What advice would you give a new blogger, or someone who is interested in starting a blog?

To start off, you have to blog for you. Later you might do it to help other people or interact with friends. But in the beginning, you have to want it for yourself because if you aren’t excited (i.e. someone has been pushing you to blog), you won’t have the passion. It’s hard to do anything very long without loving what you’re doing.

Would you like to be a part of the series 12 on Blogging? You’d simply answer 12 questions about your blog and how you got started, and I would feature you in a post like this one here on Bunny got Blog. If you’d like to get featured as well, get in touch! Send me a link to your blog so that I can check it out. If I like what I see, I will send you the questions for you to answer
You can find out how to contact me on my about page.

Until next time, my friends!