writing

Dreams

April 11, 2011 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about dreams lately. A lot of those don’t involve photography and that shocked me, to be honest. It’s not that my dream of being a photographer isn’t still there, but I’m finding other dreams too.

There’s this job that I’ve always wanted to have for at least one summer. It has nothing to do with marketing, photography, or owning and running your own business. It involves summer, swimming, and kids. That job is being a lifeguard.

There are other dreams too. I’m figuring out that life is what you make it. It’s easy as a business owner to make life your job. Sometimes I need to preach at myself simply to say, “Hannah, for crying out loud. Life is not your job.”

I’m beginning to see that photography – art – will mold to wherever I am in life, but there is a strict line between it and my life. I’m not quitting photography professionally… I just needed to write this all down.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Blogging, business, dreams, personal, photography, This life of mine., writing

Sometimes. [personal]

September 16, 2010 Leave a Comment

Sometimes…

I over work myself.

I create my own stress.

I need to relax.

I have a hard time with working only during naptime on certain days of the week.

I tend to be a work-a-holic. [Working for yourself is hard, peeps.]

I just want to let words speak without photos. [That will probably only make sense to those of you who are photographers and writers.]

I’ve got to say no.

I need to take advice from my friend Love and carry out 3pm – 7pm disconnect.

It’s hard keeping a good balance. Sometimes it’s necessary to be still.

What’s hard for you sometimes?

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: business, family, hard things, personal, photography, writing

Words, Hurt, and Grace

July 26, 2010 10 Comments

Why is it that I can write an inspiring blog post, but I can hurt the ones so incredibly dear to my heart so easily with my words?

Why do I attack with my words in one place and try to love and encourage with them in another?

Why did God chose me to give the gift of words to?

Clearly, I need to work on my words.

If my best friend sees my dirt, so will my blog.

I am no goody two shoes, people. I have dirt. [I ink.]

I hate messing up like this.

I don’t like when I forget to fill myself in on the fact that “Hannah, grace is for sinners.”

–

Can we do something totally girly here? Can all of us word girls just do a big group hug? Ahh… Better. Now, I’m gonna go grab a quick drink. Why don’t you come along? Let’s chat, my wordy girlfriends. Leave something in the comments section. We can Skype, iChat, IM, email, or whatever floats your boat. My point is: it’s hard being a wordy girl and we need some wordy girlfriends. I want to be a close girlfriend to all of you lovely gals.

P.S. This post was linked up to my fab friend Darcy’s Sweet Shot Tuesday. I lurve her.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog friends, communication, friends, grace, Grace Is For Sinners, inspire, let love grow, love, my words, Skype, words, writing

4th Blog Anniversary

May 19, 2010 7 Comments

(Why yes, that is our laundry room and I am doing laundry. )

What would you like to see this next year from my blog? Do you want more photography tutorials/lessons, vlogs, blog tips, tricks, and training, some cool resources to use for your photography and/or blogging? Sound off!

Psst! A couple more things before you go… If you are in a reader, click on over to see my vlog. Second of all, don’t forget to subscribe! I wouldn’t want you to miss anything!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 4th blog anniversary, Blogging, large families, Savvy Blogging, social networking, techie stuff, women, writing

Twitter and Social Networking Tips

April 1, 2010 Leave a Comment

Social networking can be a great tool if used right, but it can also be a waste of time and get you into some trouble if you aren’t careful.

I generally do not friend or follow men unless we have met in person and/or my parents approve.
Go for quality and not quantity. Develop good relationships with your readers, online friends, and followers. Be their friend- don’t just use them as a marketing tool. That’s not cool.
If someone needs help, help ‘em out! Even if you aren’t a frugal/couponing blogger, you might still have some experience, tips, or stories to share.
Put out up to about five Tweets about your newly published blog post the day of, past that it’s old news. However, if someone needs a little help with something and you (or someone else) have a blog post on it, by all means share it with them!
Use hashtags in your tweets. If you have a tweet about, say, The Relevant Conference that says “I am really wanting to go to Relevant this year!”. Instead, include the Relevant hashtag (#Relevant10) and the host(s) like this, “I am really wanting to go to #Relevant10 this year! @SarahMaeBlogs @MutheringHeights @mrsmoneysaver” If you do this, then all Tweets about The Relevant Conference will be organized in one place and the hosts will know you tweeted about their conference!

Do you have a Twitter or social networking tip? Please do share!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog tips, Blogging, blogging basics, facebook, Savvy Blogging, social networking, techie stuff, twitter, writing

Technical Difficulties

March 9, 2010 2 Comments

Hello lovelies!

Yes, I do realize I have been having site troubles. No worries. They are all fixed now. I do want to give you a heads up though. . . If you look through my archives, none of my 2009 stuff is there. I am working on getting that back up.

As a side note, if you haven’t read all of the Photography Basics or Blogging Basics series thus far, now would be a good time to catch up. Just search “photography basics” or “blogging basics” in the search bar {on the right}.

Xoxo! Be blessed!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Blogging, Savvy Blogging, techie stuff, writing

The Evolution of My Blog

February 3, 2010 1 Comment

It was Spring of 2006. Almost half a decade ago. At that point in time I only read one good friend’s blog. {I know! Crazy, right?} Like I am prone to do, I got a crazy inspiration to start a blog out of the blue. (’Cause I have my daddy’s visionary dreamer gene like that.)

My parents always said I should host a talk radio show. I am serious. I announced my bright blog idea to my parents that night. My parents agreed and said I could start one, but they wanted me to keep a consistent journal first. I agreed and complied with their request.

My humble little blog started May 18, 2006 when I set up an account with Homeschool Blogger. It didn’t even have a name. I honestly don’t think I had a clue what I was in for, though. I didn’t even know how to blog.

Like most first time bloggers, my first posts consisted of one line that was posted once every week. I had no idea how to create content, what “SEO” meant, or how much fun reviews could be. I didn’t have a clue.

That next year was quite a learning curve. That’s when I learned the very basics of blogging. It’s a whole different language! It was when I discovered the gift of writing that God gave me. I learned basic language, worked it, and it was time to spread out and grow. That is when I moved to WordPress.

You will have to be a blogger to understand this, but going from a very basic to a high-tech is intense. My jump from Homeschool Blogger to WordPress was a pain. There. I said it. Growing that much at once hurts.

Right after my leap, the FTC cracked it’s whip on bloggers. The disclosure, the taxes- it was everywhere. It was on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and the news. Blogging suddenly became more complicated and turned into a business. I didn’t like that fact and I still don’t.

I broke under the pressure of the new FTC regulations and quit reviewing and giveaways. I didn’t want to have to worry about legal stuff all the time. I just wanted to stay out of trouble and blog. A couple months afterward, I began to miss the people and small businesses. I missed connecting like that. It was fun for me. So, I opened the giveaway and product review doors back up.

Blogging has opened so many doors up for me. God has used it incredibly.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog tips, Blogging, Savvy Blogging, social networking, writing