10 Questions with Amy of Lives Less Ordinary

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
I don’t know whether it was the generation I was born in, or an intrinsic part of my personality, or a genetic inheritance, but I just love new things: new ideas, new books, new websites, new movies. They won’t necessarily be new to everyone, just new to me! So that’s what Lives Less Ordinary is about; it’s a space where I can blog about whatever passion I’ve got caught up in, and my hope is that my readers will find themselves equally caught up. On my blog you can expect an assortment of photos, poems, quotes, music, film clips and, perhaps most importantly, thoughts and ideas.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Ever-Increasing Circles. It’s a recent post in which I make a connection between a photo that I took and the effects of blogging.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
All personal blogs are unique in that they offer us a window onto the world the blogger inhabits. I guess what sets mine apart is the same that sets the rest apart; my perspective, as recorded in words and images of this little corner of the world which is my home.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
My Dad introduced me to blogging a few years ago, and I then set up a blog but never got around to posting anything. Then back in February, following another chat with Dad, I deleted that blog and began afresh. That new blog, Textual Tangents, has now become my professional blog where I promote my career, and Lives Less Ordinary was created in order to give me a personal space to be inspired and to inspire in kind.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
Bloggers who don’t respond to comments! I respond to every comment left on my blog as I think that if someone has taken the time of comment on something you wrote its important that you acknowledge that, even if it is just to say a simple thank you.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Comments. I love receiving feedback through comments, and I love commenting on other people’s blogs too. To me, blogs are supposed to be about conversation, but these conversations couldn’t happen without the comments function.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
My Dad, as I love his writing style, the topics he chooses to write about and his truly stunning photographs. (see question 10)

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
I don’t know if I would have said that it’s made me a better person, as such, but it’s certainly made me more aware and more engaged with my everyday reality. It has certainly made me better at enjoying all life has to offer, and, in turn, perhaps that has made me a better person.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
You need to try and maintain that difficult balance between blogging for yourself and blogging for others. I find that if you blog with passion and authenticity you reduce the chances of burning your audience out and, perhaps more importantly, becoming burned out yourself. When I wrote only for Textual Tangents, I began to feel that I was only writing content for my audience and not necessarily for myself. I became completely burned out, to the point where it had become a chore to blog. At that point, I started Lives Less Ordinary and I’ve never looked back. A little selfishness in blogging is not necessarily
such a bad thing!

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
My absolutely favourite blog is Heroes Not Zombies as it has such a wonderfully positive ethos that I find completely inspiring.

Categories: Art & Music, Personal, Ten Questions