I’m in love with the idea of intentionally creating a unique life- hearing the stories of people who are in the process of creating inspired lives for themselves is fascinating, and always a learning experience for me. I’m excited to share those stories here through my Creative Life interviews!

Today I have an interview with Danielle from Sometimes Sweet, a positive, heartfelt and infinitely likeable blogger I’ve been addicted to reading for a very long time. This year Danielle traded being a high school English teacher for being a full-time stay-at-home home, and she’s a lovely example of the happiness that following your heart and being true to yourself can bring you…

Please tell us a little about yourself & your blog!

Hi everyone! My name is Danielle and I run a blog called Sometimes Sweet. It’s considered a lifestyle blog, and I post a little of everything from mama/baby stuff, book reviews, healthy recipes, random thoughts, and all of the fun things my little family and I do. It’s kind of a collection of everything that makes me happy. I’m a writer by nature and I spent almost six years as a high school English teacher before having my son last year and leaving my job to become full-time stay-at-home Mom.

How do you write? When do post ideas come to you and when do you do your writing?

I live up in the mountains of Northern Arizona, and my parents live about two hours south of us. I drive down to see them and my friends quite often (especially when my husband is gone on business trips), and some of my best ideas come to me during that drive. Henry (my 1-year old son) is great in the car and will usually fall asleep, so whenever I drive down that’s a good two hours of “me time,” listening to music and thinking. I also get a lot of ideas as I’m in our bathroom getting ready for the day for some reason.

As far as when and where, I usually do all of my blogging at night. If my husband and I don’t have plans I usually sit down for an hour or two once Henry goes to sleep. I also have other weekly writing obligations including my column over at Hello Giggles, so I try to be very efficient with my time and schedule it into my night. I do almost all of my writing sitting in bed, or indian-style on the couch in our family room. :)

How do you decide where the line is between public and private on your blog? Do you ever struggle with how to share your stories while respecting the privacy of the other people involved?

This is an interesting question and one that’s been something I’ve thought about a lot. Because I taught high school the entire time I blogged in this space, I’ve always had to be very careful with putting too much out there as far as what I do everyday, my life as a teacher, etc. And even more so because I live in a small town! It’s important for me to be very real on my blog, but that doesn’t mean that I have to share every detail. It’s funny because by nature I’m a private person- I’m not one to tell everyone I meet my life story, or even let a lot of people into my “inner circle.” I have a few best friends I’ve had for many, many years and outside of those girls and my family I like to keep my personal stuff to myself. Thinking about thousands and thousands of people coming to my blog each day can really freak me out at times, but I’ve always been very cognizant about what I’m putting out there, so luckily it hasn’t ever been hard for me to figure out where my public/private line is.

As far as the second part of your question, no, I haven’t ever struggled with it, probably because although my blog is personal I’m not really doing any sort of “tell-all.” Whenever I’m with new friends who don’t really know I blog and I want to post photos of our time together, I am always sure to ask if it’s okay. I feel like that is especially important for any of my Mom friends, because maybe they don’t want a million strangers seeing photos of their little ones.

How do you fit blogging into your life? With a young family it must be a challenge!

People ask me this a lot and surprisingly it isn’t too difficult. Like I mentioned about I’m a writer by nature and I would be writing no matter what, be it blogging or in my paper journal. Blogging is just a different medium, and although it can be tedious setting up posts or taking a break and scheduling posts in my absence, the every day blogging thing is really enjoyable and fits nicely into our life. I really make it a point to be efficient and get my blogging done at night, and scheduled posts are my best friends. My husband plays in a band so often while he is at practice and Henry is asleep I’ll write a few posts out and schedule them, and I always schedule my feature posts far in advance. After a few years I have a system down and it’s a pretty smooth. I just utilize nap times and I write pretty quickly!

So many people adore you & your blog! Do you have any guidance for women who want to grow their blogs in an authentic and personal way, like you have?

Aww, that’s sweet! :) I have women ask me for guidance often, and my biggest piece of advice is just blog. Don’t worry about “growing” your blog per say, because I feel like if your goal is to just gain readers or exposure that transparency is really unattractive. Just write what about what you love and you will meet like-minded, new friends. Also don’t be afraid to reach out. Emails are a great way to get to know people. Most of all just be YOU- if you’re being your 100% authentic self people will see that.

Thanks so much Danielle!

If you’d like to more of Danielle, head over to her blog Sometimes Sweet or read her column on Hello Giggles

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