So I got some pretty interesting questions from my readers regarding anything and everything! Here goes nothing as I try to answer them!
Raciel asked if I had ever been stalked?
Actually, I haven’t, thankfully! I have had people recognize me at a few races, which is fun and I love meeting some readers and I think it’s so nice that they come up and say hi. :)
Heather asked me “What’s the weirdest question I’ve been asked?”
I guess the weirdest questions that I get is if my hair is my real hair. I get that kind of a lot. I also get how do I curl my hair how I do a lot. Which I’m still planning on making a you tube video on it since I get so many questions about it. Other than that, not too many off the wall questions.
Amanda D asked me, “I know that you’re going back to school, so,what are some of your professional goals that you hope to accomplish?” And Keri asked “What kind of writing do you want to do? Do you want to write a book one day? Fiction, nonfiction or both?”
Since these are similar, I decided to answer them together. It is a life goal of mine to write a book one day. At least one book. I have many different ideas for different books and they not related at all. I am going back to school with the intent to graduate with my MFA in Creative Writing. My emphasis in my masters program would be in creative non-fiction and I minored in Creative Writing in College, which is where I realized that I love writing and I wasn’t as bad of a writer as I thought.
I would love to write a book on dealing with grief and helping others through grief. I actually wrote a huge paper for one of my capstone classes in college about grief and what I thought would be helpful to share with others. I would love to write more and work on that more for a book. I also think that I would love to write a book about running. No shock there, but I think that not giving up and giving the marathon another chance was one of the biggest things that I’ve done in my life thus far. I think I would call it from Cramps to Champ! HAHAHA. We’ll see.
Professional goals, well right now I love my job and I got into the schools I really wanted to go too and everything ‘professionally’ is going great. I can see myself working here in the future for a long time and I really, really enjoy what I do. It’s a lot of work and can be crazy, but I love it. I would like to see myself at some point having a family, so who knows what will happen then, or even when that will happen!
Hector asked What four people (dead/alive) would you invite to dinner and what would you serve?
Oreman asked, “Are you Danica Patrick, the famous racing driver, or am I getting something very wrong?” and he also asked “When are you going to visit Latvia?”
This is hilarious. I am NOT Danica Patrick, but we do share the same name and have the same hair color. I do get many, many pick up lines about her in a bar when a guy asks my name though. Let me tell you guys, that’s not an orignial line, but being compared to her is a perk! :) I think she’s adorable and would love to meet her one day. Hey, doesn’t Go Daddy need 2 Danicas?! And about Latvia? Um. Not really on my list of places to visit, but hey, maybe one day!
Lily asked, “Ok how do I put this. you look great in booty shorts, how do you get a butt like that?! I am way too self conscious to wear them. Do you have any exercises to recommend or anything?”
Well, I think one of the main things to wear booty shorts is to be confident in them, no matter how you look. Just act like you own it and no one will question you. Also, here’s a link to some random workouts I do for my butt. I do run stairs and donkey kicks will burn like no other the next day! Just focus strictly on the butt workouts and you’ll be golden. :)
Mandy asked, “How’d you get started with the blogging – and get such a large group of followers!? I started a blog a few months ago and love doing it!” and ECA asked, “My question is kinda similar to Mandy’s…did you “market” your blog or do you just know a lot of running people? Also, how do you get all of the cool free running things to review?”
I started blogging, surprisingly enough, when I missed writing after I graduated from college. I had taken a bulk of my writing classes at the end of my college career and was writing a ton. I wanted to blog about running too because it seemed that I had really no outlet to talk about running. None of my friends were runners at the time, and I was used to being in the team atmosphere where I could discuss my split times and mileage and how my run went. I started blogging and wrote just for myself, which is what is think is the most important thing when it comes to blogging.
WRITE FOR YOURSELF. If people read it, great, if you get a lot of followers, great, but you are blogging for yourself. Many people ask me all the time how I get so many readers and comments. I have no idea. I never really ‘promoted’ my blog and I don’t talk about blogging in my real life. It took me about six months to even tell Shea, my BEST friend! I am very open on my blog and it scares me to think that people who might barely know me would read it and judge me. People commented on my blog and I commented on theirs and that is how I made my first blogging friends and had my first readers.
Since then, it’s exploded for some reason. I still write for myself. Sometimes I go back through certain posts and I’m like, “I wrote that?!” I still read certain posts that mean a lot to me and cry, and I still love the fact that I have all these great memories for myself at the tips of my fingertips! I didn’t know many running people when I started, but it seems like I have now made running friends!
As for reviews, I get contacted by all the companies that ask me to review their stuff. I try really hard to make sure that they are done in somewhat of a timely manner and I try to be as honest at possible when reviewing.
Stephanie asked, “Book recommendation time! Offer up a recommendation in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction (if you can, but you don’t have to give one in all three genres) for the following categories: + changed your life + made you cry + would make every person read this for their own good.”
Hmmm, I actually am not that good of reader in terms of being a consistent reader, but I do get sucked into books pretty easily when I pick one up. I wish I was better, but seems like with grad school I’ll be doing some reading….
One book that changed my life is oddly enough David Sedaris’, “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” I read this book and this is the book that had me laughing so hard I was crying at moments and really showed me that I love writing. I love his style of writing and he is an amazing story teller!
A book that made me cry and that I hold truly close to my heart is “Letters from Motherless Daughters.” I guess this was also a lifechanger as well. I try to read this at least once a year and it makes such a difference in my outlook in life and how I approach things with my mom. It’s definitely a tear-jerker but it’s amazing and I really relate to so many of the letters in there.
A book that I think every person should read is Blue Like Jazz. I really like that book and it made me think about my life in a new light. :)
Average A asked, “You mentioned before that since your mom passed, your relationship with your father has become very strained. Right now my mom more or less holds our family together, and I worry that when she leaves this world, my dad and I will never speak again. What happened with your relationship with your dad (if you want to share), and do you have any advise on how to avoid this when that time comes for my family? Or do you find it to not really be that bad?”
Well first, unless your mom has some kind of chronic illness I wouldn’t look at it like that, ever. Cherish the moments you have with your family. Secondly, I guess to sum up my family life, my dad made some choices that hurt many members of my family and since then our relationship has crumbled.It is what it is.
If you think that something is going to happen and you won’t ever speak to your dad again, maybe you should address those issues now with your mom and family. Open lines of communication never hurt anything and really ask yourself why you seemed to already have a strained relationship with your dad. It seems that if you think this will happen there is some cause for that.
Amy asked, “First off how do you always come up with so many different ideas for your blog? For the most part ideas come naturally for me from what I had done for running during the week, but sometimes I want to post but am lacking ideas. My second question comes from looking at your old posts to see some of the things you post about(aka see if I could answer for myself how you come up with all your topics haha) and found one about how to take a nice race picture lol. One picture is of you at the end of your first marathon, by any chance do you remember where that shirt you are wearing is from? It is in my favorite color and it seems like it is really long, which I always love in my running shirts because I’m tall and they are usually hard to find.”
Coming up with Blog ideas can be challenging, especially if there is nothing going on in my life! I try to talk about running and sometimes I do random posts of things I find online and things that have helped me in running/life. I try not to get overwhelmed with writing and remember that I’m blogging for myself and because I love it. When I do look back on posts it’s interesting to see my own perspective a few months down the line! I like to write so I write about whatever I want.
The shirt is a Nike Tank Top and it isn’t made anymore, but I found them at Nordstrom Rack. They are very long and that’s why I like them :)
Alicia asked, “Does your mom have any siblings and if so are you close to them? What is your favorite memory of your mom?”
My mom has one sister and I consider her and my cousins my closest family! Her daughters are like my sisters. I grew up very close with my mom’s family and still talk to them all the time and I love them very much.
I don’t have one specific memory of my mom that stands out as my favorite, but I do remember her always telling me how proud she was of me. I think she unconsciously made that a huge effort in her life when talking with me and she would always tell me that and that means so much to me now. :)
Liane asked, “What is the best piece of advice you’ve learned from your blogging experience that you would pass along to new bloggers?”Also, what are you looking forward to the most on your visit up to the Northern Tundra?”
I think the biggest piece of advice I would give someone who wanted to blog is to be open-minded, don’t take things personally and write for yourself. Write and don’t care what other people think, it’s for yourself. Blogging is a way of journaling online. So many people want the most followers, want the most readers or whatever, but really, then why are you blogging? I blog so that I have something to look back on and enjoy reading about myself. I think that is the best thing that I have gotten out of it.
Canada! Well I am looking forward to hopefully seeing some whales and seeing Bushard Gardens and going to Canada in the first place! I have never been on a cruise or to Canada so it should be amazing!
xoxo
