Note From Lapland

Writer, mother, poop scooper extraordinaire. I am an expat Brit living in the wilds of Finland with my two children, horses, cats, dogs, rabbits and any other homeless animal I get conned into giving a home. It's a long way from Lancashire and I could murder a pint.

1.What’s your blog about?
Note From Lapland is about many things: funny stories from Lapland; current affairs and culture; books I've read; things I've done; videos I make; my writing.

2. When and why did you start writing your blog?
I started Note from Lapland in autumn 2009 because I am publicity seeking haridan that loves the attention. That and it seemed a great way to connect with the outside world from my little wooden house in the forest.

3. How long do you spend blogging and what do you enjoy?
Anywhere from all day to a few hours a week depending on how busy I am, how much I have to say and how long I can bribe my children to leave me alone.

4. What have been your blogging highs and low, triumphs or disasters?
The highs must be winning the MAD Awards 2010 for most innovative blogger, finding out that people actually like what I write, landing a weekly column in the Rochdale Observer on the strength of my blog and that leading to freelance writing for newspapers. The lows: discovering that if you take a break for a few weeks you aren't so popular anymore. Us blog readers can be fickle things and if you disappear off their radar for a while it takes them a while to remember who you are.

5. Is blogging a job or a hobby? What would be the ideal outcome?
Blogging at Note from Lapland is a hobby and I'd like to keep it that way. I love that it has led to other paid work, and I would happily write a different blog for pay, but NFL is my space to write what I want and I wouldn't like to feel the need to conform which I'm sure I would if it were a paid thing.

6. How easy is it to set up a blog – and have you any tips for newbies.
Very easy. Using blogger you can set one up quickly. A couple of tips would be – personalise the template as soon as possible – looks do count and make you more memorable. Get your own domain name as quickly as possible cause it's a pain switching over once you have a big following. Oh, and when choosing a name for your blog, try not to go with something that describes who you are right now – if you like blogging you will be doing it for a long time and whilst your life may change, kids grow up etc, you will have the same blog name.