Last week I was tagged by the marvelous Mandi over at Dreaming Fully Awake as part of a blog hop for writers. Given that my blog is still a little baby I thought it was a good opportunity to share why I’m doing what I’m doing (or at least trying to do) here.

Tell us a little about yourself

My name is Tahlia, and I live in Melbourne with my Manfriend, two cats and a turtle. By day I have a job I really enjoy that allows me to do a whole bunch of different things in a day, which definitely suits me.

The rest of the time I love to read, catch up with friends (especially if it involves food, coffee and/or wine), write and learn new things.

What are you currently working on?

About 47 things! But currently I’m focused on trying to build up a blog and also soon I want to launch a proofreading service.

I’m also completing a Cert IV in Small Business Management. I like to have new challenges and projects and I picked this because it will give me a bunch of useful skills. Plus Manfriend is a tradie, so if he wants to go out on his own one day I’ll be in a position to help out!

I recently recognised that I was overloading myself with all the want-tos and have-tos so I’m trying to consciously strip that back. These days, the blog and the Cert IV are what I spend the most of my extra-curricular time on. Other things on the back-burner are all related, such as writing courses and exercises, blogging courses and the like, plus more effort around my health and fitness.

Last year I became pretty disciplined (by my standards!) with what I was eating and adding regular strength and cardio workouts to my week and it made me feel fantastic. After a back injury, that’s kind of fallen by the wayside but I’m definitely working on getting more of that in my routine again.

How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I guess just by what I bring to it. There are a lot of lifestyle blogs out there so style, voice, and topics become really important. But like a lot of women my interests are pretty varied. I’m really interested in psychology and personal development, plus I love good organisation and time management. I also watch too much TV, can never read enough books, and don’t mind a little shop every now and then.

Ideally I’d love to channel my varied interests and desire to help people into a lifestyle blog where readers can be entertained, maybe have a laugh, and also take something useful away from it.

If I work hard at bringing useful and entertaining information to my readers from my own (by definition, unique) perspective hopefully they’ll find something they love and keeping checking back in.

Why do you write what you write?

I started the blog because I want to help other people. Not everything I write will fall under this intention, but I like having a platform to share interesting and useful information I come across, or little tips and tricks I use to make life a bit easier, or to bring attention to things that I consider important.

If I make a reader think about something new or different, or even just smile a little, hopefully that means I’ve helped in some small way.

What inspires you?

Soooo many things. In terms of content, it can be something I read or see online, or a conversation I’ve had with somebody, or a struggle or issue affecting me and how I might solve it.

I’m also inspired by other people doing awesome things. Rather than being intimidated, (usually) this drives me to go hard to achieve what I’m working towards. It also makes me think, hey, if they’re finding success I can too!

And Manfriend – he’s so supportive of my projects and interests and he gets so excited by my little wins. It really drives me to keep pushing to kick those goals.

What are your favourite things to write?

Things that people will find helpful or interesting or will bring new information to people. So, for example, I’m really interested in effective time management and ways to increase your productivity. Soon I’ll be putting up some tips that might help organisation nerds like me. I also recently shared my thoughts on mental illness, because it’s so important to me that people talk about it and try to understand it.

I also really like to journal, just spew out everything that’s rolling around in my mind. At times it’s something I need to do to clear it all out, while at other times I just like to, to record what’s been going on and reflect on it. Plus sometimes I just feel like moving pen on paper, so I just journal to see what will come out.

How does your individual writing process work?

It’s pretty free form, although I’m creating some discipline around my blog which means I have to schedule in writing time for that.

Recently I set myself a deadline that I must post on Wednesdays. So as soon as I post I start looking around for the next topic, then on Saturday or Sunday I start to write. Usually by this point I’ve been thinking about the topic for a few days and have some sort of outline in mind. I finish drafting and polish up Monday and Tuesday, and find/create the cover photo ready to post on Wednesday. I aim for morning but at the moment I’m still allowing myself that flexibility of any time on Wednesdays.

Any advice and things you’ve learned?

You have to make the time for what’s important. If you wait for a spare 10 minutes to jot out that blog post, it’s never going to get written because something will always come up.

Set a deadline and stick to it. Like the first point – if you don’t have a deadline it’s really easy to keep putting things off. Even if no one knows/cares except you, set it and stick to it. Better yet find an accountability buddy to hold you to it.

Just start. I reckon this is one of the most common tips out there and that’s ’cause it’s sooo spot on. Just. Start. You literally have nothing to lose by giving it a go, and it’s the only way you’ll learn and stretch and grow.

Don’t try to do all of the things all at once. It’s not worth the stress, and there’s nothing like stress and pressure to ruin a once-enjoyable task. Once I (finally) realised I was doing this to myself I made a list of my things and picked two to work on. I’ve still got the list so I can go back later and pick something else to work on, but for now it’s just two.

Now it’s over to you! I’m supposed to tag a couple of other writers but I don’t know any well enough (yet) for that. Instead I’d love to hear from you in the comments below (or on your own blog, and pop the link below).

Do you write? What do you write and why? Any tips for aspiring writers/bloggers/life champions? Let us know in the comments!