Posts Tagged: Blog Advice

Lifestyle

Haters Gonna Hate, But The Rest Is Up To You

(Not actually Plato, but no matter; this is a good thing to remember.)

I've been writing Ramshackle Glam for nearly ten whole years - which means that there is a LOT of good stuff hanging out in my archives. So each Friday, we'll be doing a little throwback to one of my personal favorites. This week's is a post is one I wrote in 2015, about the challenges of handling Internet commenters with less-than-pleasant things to say...and contains a few little bits of wisdom that - nearly five years later - I could use a refresher on myself. 

Q. What advice would you give someone on how to handle the mean-spirited comments people feel free to fling around [on the Internet]?

Anxiety

Unbalanced

Mother and daughter laughing in black and white

Let me tell you about the moment when I realized that even though my work is incredibly important to me, I need more separation, and I need to be able to shut off sometimes - not just in a half-assed way (where I'm technically playing with my kids but 60% of my brain is devoted to the email I need to remember to send by the end of the day), but all the way.

And I need to do this on purpose, because it doesn't come naturally.

This realization has happened to various degrees many times over the years, but it really happened - like, can't-get-it-out-of-my-head-happened - a little less than a year ago, when I was visiting a Children's Science Museum with Indy and Goldie. They were playing with this massive model of hills and trees and buffalos, and I was half-watching them play and half-checking my text messages because even though I'd taken the afternoon off I still needed (wanted?) to make sure everything was cool work-wise, and suddenly I looked up and realized how photogenic and symmetrical the background was and how great the colors were, and thought, oh hey - I should Instagram this! It's cute! And symmetrical! And those colors!

Lifestyle

Finding The Work/Life Balance, Part I (In Which I Actually Answer The Question)

Playing with a science kit for kids

My son and me on a Sunday morning. This photo was not taken for Ramshackle Glam.

Today's question, from reader MS, comes from the comments under this style post.

I'm curious how you balance the kind of work you do with making time to be in the moment. You mentioned that this was a "date night," but it also has a work component, given the photos and subsequent post. Do you get [these photos] out of the way in the beginning, or save [them] for the end? Do you ever feel like [your work] intrudes [on your life]?

Lifestyle

Behind The (Blogging) Curtain

A silver cup of pink, red and yellow flowers on a white background

Photographing holiday cocktails...on my bed. Of course.

(Recipe coming soon!)

Whenever I see bloggers post their beautifully framed shots of food or their jeans arranged just-so against white bedsheets on Instagram or wherever, I like to imagine what the scene *really* looked like when they were shooting it. Especially the food shots, because you know that they're literally standing up on a chair in a restaurant to get that perfect top-down angle - but really: it's interesting to imagine pulling back on just about any photo.

Lifestyle

All About That Instagram

Q. I'm wondering what you've been doing to your photos recently? They look beautiful - I want to call them "whitewashed" but that's because I know nothing about photography at all..? I've noticed the shift on your Instagram and here. Very different vibe lately and I'm curious about the background story and the technical change!

A. Thank you! And I am SO EXCITED that this was noticeable to someone other than me, because it was definitely a conscious decision.

Here's the thing: Regardless of what your job is, I think it's very important to take a minute every so often to step back, try to look at your work from an objective standpoint, and say "Where can I do better?" And when I did that a few weeks ago, a major opportunity that jumped out at me was my Instagram. I love Instagram - it's my most casual, fun outlet, and I was treating it like…well, basically like casual fun. But what I realized is that while it's important to me that I keep having fun with it…it's also a component of my business. And it should be treated like one.

Lifestyle

Blog Advice (& What I Wish I’d Known)

On Me: Hatch Dress; Saks Fifth Avenue Fedora (similar); Deux Lux Backpack

Click here for an interview in which I talk my favorite blogging tips, what I wish I'd known when I started out in this field, and a (possibly surprising) thing that I really seriously do not like to do.

And while we're talking Q&As, click here to check out my interview with MomTrends - it's part of their Holiday Gift Guide, which is full of fun ideas (and also contains interviews with Soleil Moon Frye, Rosie Pope and others).


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