20 things I’ve never told you…

Over the past year and a half that I’ve been writing here I’ve been hiding a problem.

I either write like a tech geek or an advertisement.

Those aren’t me.

When you write for your blog you have what we marketing nerds call “a voice”. If you aren’t careful, that voice can take over and portray something unwanted to your readers.

That is my problem. Yes, I am totally obsessed with web and SEO, which makes me a tech geek. But in reality, I am a lot more than that.

When I try to correct it I tend to flip to the other side of the coin, marketing speak. I tend to sell ideas and techniques when all you want is a helping hand!

So I am making a public declaration of my intent to bring myself into my writing. I have a few techniques I’m going to share with you in some upcoming posts, but for now I’m just going to start things off with a list of random things you don’t know about me. These are totally off the cuff and some of them are only known by very close friends and family.

Here we go!

1. I make up random songs about life situations, such as my child not wanting to wear clothes or little fuzzy kitten heads.
2. I am completely obsessed with the Holocaust, WWII and the 40’s.
3. I am a Christian and unapologetically conservative politically.
4. I watch the Notebook at least twice a year, but I think the book is crap.
5. I have a photographic memory and am super paranoid. The combination is the reason why I don’t watch scary movies. In short – “Heebie Jeebies”
6. I don’t understand people’s obsession with celebrities. At all.
7. I’ve had professional drift drivers slide around me so close I could have hit their car with my camera.
8. I used to play drums in high school. I was the drum captain (not the drum major) and in charge of 10 wild drummer boys. I’m 5’4” and was 105 lbs at the time. Didn’t go so well.
9. I somehow turned into a very modest, “crunchy” mom after I had my first daughter. My mom did the same and completely changed directions politically when she had her first child. I take after her a lot.
10. I also used to swim competitively. I still race my sister every time we are in a pool together. It annoys my husband.
11. I don’t voluntarily hug anyone other than my children or husband, both of whom I am super affectionate with. I’ve been threatened with hugs in order to get me to do things.
12. SEO is not the least bit boring to me. It makes me giddy.
13. I used to be a model. I quit after I got to fly to Vegas at age 18 to work for Mazda at SEMA (a massive auto industry show). I felt like that experience had been checked off my to do list and didn’t feel the need to go any further with it.
14. People think I’m mean or snobby when they first meet me because I’m not a socializer (or hugger..lol). The truth is I am just introverted and am usually just listening.
15. I’m super into planning my girls’ birthday parties. I work on them all year. I think it is my opportunity to play with the fun things I see at the weddings I photograph.
16. I read the classic romances (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Mansfield Park, etc) usually once every few years.
17. Once you get to know me you realize that I am incredibly silly and sarcastic. It’s probably just because my spoon is too big. (1 point for you if you get that reference)
18. I like to help people and tend to give random tips to friends and family. These are usually related to parenting or cooking, but sometimes business/internet/marketing/etc.
19. I have a ton of business books and books on apologetics. I’m usually reading several at once.
20. I close my eyes and feel completely at peace when I listen to live piano or violin music. I can’t play either but may take lessons when my kids are older.

Whew. Just let the crazy spill out all over the place there. It was fun coming up with all of those though.

So watch for upcoming posts to be a little more “Bethany” and a little less “techy marketing chick”.

I encourage you to do something similar on your photography blog. It will help remind you to be yourself and will help your readers connect with you better. Feel free to use this format if you like.

Please leave me a comment and let you know what you think about all my crazy and share this post on Twitter or Facebook or give us a +1 if you enjoyed it.