The blogging community is an amazing beast.  Hundreds of thousands of us out there, all crazy-passionate about our subject – travel, food, photography,, the perfect coffee… the list of topics goes on and on.  I find it fascinating to read other people’s accounts of their adventures, whether in their home town or on the other side of the world, and to have a peek into their lives.

I’ve been nominated by Elle of A Bird In The Hand to participate in a BlogHop and share a little peek into my life.  I met Elle at the recent Blogstock (which, as previously mentioned, was amazing) and love her beautiful writing style.  She’s just about to move into freelancing and also working on a novel – busy lady!  Her writing post is here.

The lovely Elle

The idea with this particular BlogHop is to give you an insight into how I write and what I’m working on.  I’ve also nominated three other bloggers at the end that I’m a big fan of – I look forward to seeing their answers!  Without further ado… here’s my sneaky peek.

What am I working on?

I have a constantly updating list of posts, at the moment mostly based around my travels this summer – there’s more coming on Paris, then some London adventures, and then the biggie, my amazing Greece trip.  That includes a video of my week sailing with Medsailors, which I’m really excited to put together – although I’m a little terrified of the amount of footage I have to edit.  I’ve also got a couple of guest posts in the pipeline, and a few other posts looking back at previous travels.

How does my writing differ from others of its genre?

I like to think that I have a positive, upbeat style.  How I write is pretty much how I talk – and what I write is pretty much all I talk about, I love travel!  Coming from a very small, far away country like New Zealand, I think I have a pretty fresh perspective on travel in Europe, and I want to share more tips for new expats to help smooth their path if I can.  Although it’s not exactly writing, I find photography integral to my blog and writing process – I’m still very much a beginner, but it’s something I want to continue learning and developing as much as possible.

Why do I write what I do?

As I said – I love travel!  I’m so passionate about sharing experiences and I love to recommend places to people.  My new series of ‘Eating My Way Around‘ is a perfect example of that – if I discover somewhere good I really want other people to know about it too.  This blog originally started as a way of keeping the folks at home up to date with my travels in Europe.  It’s now so much more than that and I love the little community that has developed and the many amazing bloggers that I’ve met along the way.

How does your writing process work?

Ideally, I’d write detailed notes or full posts while I was travelling, into which I’d insert my beautifully-edited photos as I went or as soon as I got home.  Buuuut that is simply not the way I work or travel!  I have a busy full-time job, which sadly does not intersect with the travel industry in any way, shape or form.  However, as it allows me the ability to travel I’m not complaining!  I try to take notes as I’m going along, and when I get home work out the posts I’d like to write based on my photographs and the best experiences.  Sometimes my posts are based around one place, sometimes they sum up a few days or even a whole trip.  I work through my list chronologically, interspersing it with my monthly ‘Snapshots’ summaries, and other types of post as the mood takes me.  I’d love to work ahead and schedule posts, but I don’t often find time – too busy travelling!

Unrelated, I just love this shot of the Wellington arch

So there you have it!  And now for my nominees.  These ladies all write amazing blogs, and I get crazy wanderlust from their stories and photographs.

Sammy blogs at To The Days Like This and she is utterly hilarious – Sammy always tells it like it is!  Like me, she’s an Antipodean expat dealing with all the quirks of life in London and exploring all around Europe.

Melanie blogs at Melanie Fontaine.  She was living in Norway for a year and has now returned to her German university town.  I loved reading her stories of life in Norway including some beautiful hikes, and am looking forward to more great travel posts!

Courtney blogs at Adelante and is a Seattle native now living in Spain.  Her photographs are always stunning, particularly from her recent Greece trip, and her food posts always get my mouth watering.

Looking forward to reading your responses ladies!