1) What inspired you to start your own blog?

Initially, I started my blog as support for my Garden business, Austin Urban Gardens.  I wanted people to have a place to read about vegetable gardening and to learn from my own gardening adventures, which always include successes as well as failures.  I do a planting guide every month as ongoing support for our customers, and also to educate non-gardeners that we enjoy a year round growing cycle in Austin.  Once I started growing more of my own food, then embarked upon my “No Grocery Store Challenge” to eat only from my garden and local farms and farmer’s markets, I started blogging about that as well.  And since I blog about what I eat, restaurants get included in the daily posts, although I do not consider myself a food critic or an authority on food.

2) Many people blog for different reasons. What is your ultimate goal as a blogger?

My ultimate goal as a blogger is to provide useful information to others about gardening, growing food, eating locally, and knowing where the food we eat comes from.  And if I can inspire more people to plant a garden, or to shop more locally, that would be a bonus.

3) How long did you think about it before you started blogging and what was the catalyst for your first post?

I had to go back to 2008 to read my first post to recall.  I don’t think it took much thought, I just started talking about my garden.

4) What do you hope readers take away from reading your blogs?

I’ve been told by lots of readers that they’ve been inspired to start a garden, grow more of their own food, and to shop more at the farmer’s markets, and think more about what they are eating.  That was more than I’d ever hoped for, so if I can continue to inspire others, that is an amazing thing.

5) What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of maintaining a blog? How do you choose to address it?

People want to see new blog posts fairly often.  Since I blog about several different topics, gardening, cooking, the No Grocery Store Challenge, I feel like to need to do several posts every day, which can be time consuming.  People also like to see pictures, so that adds to the time involved.

6) What other blogs do you enjoy reading and why?

I read several blogs, www.austinfoodjournal.com, www.austinfarmtotable.com, www.foodieisthenewforty.com, www.tastytouring.com, www.lisaiscooking.com, www.cosmiccowgirl.com.  They are all foodies and we enjoy the same things.

7) If you could narrow it down to one answer, what do you love the most about Austin? Why?

The diversity of the food culture in Austin is amazing.  We have incredible resources for locally grown food, from our farmer’s markets, to our local charcuterie makers, cheese makers, and local farms.  It is an exciting to be in Austin if you love food.

How has blogging changed your life?

I never expected anyone to read my blog, and I’ve been approached by readers who just want to introduce themselves and say they enjoy what I write, and that has been the most flattering thing I could ever imagine.  Knowing that I have something useful to contribute has been very special and I’m just so happy to keep it up.

9) Are there other blogs/websites do you maintain?

Just the website for my business www.austinurbangardens.com

10) Has the city of Austin brought you any local advantages or disadvantages that affect your blog?

I’ve been fortunate to be invited to restaurant openings, dinners, tastings, wine parings and such, which is really fun.

11)  Do you have a favorite post on your blog.

I do.  It it is called “Slow Food Happy Hour at Green Gate Farm” http://wp.me/po5VL-ld.  It makes me smile every time I read it, and is a good memory.

12)  Have you had any interesting reactions from your blog (either on the internet or in real life)

The first time a reader approached me, he had come looking for me at the Triangle Farmer’s Market, where I usually can be found on Wednesday evenings.  He was so excited to meet me in person, that I was just overwhelmed that I had touched someone in that way.  At that point, I didn’t even think anyone was reading, so it was a huge surprise.

Indiana Adams, Adored Austin

      Fashion and decor aficionado Indiana Adams started her blog Adored Austin after relocating in Austin as a college grad from California.  Her line of work as an actress and writter  keeps her heavily invovled with trendy cloths and hip styles which feed her eager appetite for the newest and best fashion and decor in Austin.  With her certain dream of becoming a professional columnist, the  popular Adored Austin blog is already helping pave that road.  With almost 10 posts a week Indiana’s blog is the go to place for all the best fashion, style, decor and Austin event tips in the 512.  Enjoy her while you can Austin, she is on the fashion train to the top.

 

1) What inspired you to start your own blog?
I first started a personal blog way back in 1999 when I was beta testing Blogger in college. When I moved to Austin and started acting, I started a blog detailing my funny audition stories and tales from set. However, someone pointed out to me that this could be bad for business, so I killed it and started a silly blog with the intention to focus on Austin fashion and affordable style.

2) Many people blog for different reasons. What is your ultimate goal as a blogger?
I hope to use my blog as a catalyst for greater things. I’d love to marry my affinity for shopping with my love for performing and writing. My ultimate goals include parlaying Adored Austin into a fun, weekly news segment and a web series. I would be honored to become a staff contributor or columnist for a local or national publication.

3) How long did you think about it before you started blogging and what was the catalyst for your first post?
I started toying with the idea in the winter of 2008 but didn’t launch until the summer of 2009. There was no grand scheme to the first post. I had just had jaw surgery so I was on an acting hiatus and bored. Yes. I think boredom was the motivating factor for the inaugural post.  

4) What do you hope readers take away from reading your blogs?
My blog is not high journalism nor is it objective commentary. It’s simply one woman’s take on style in her city. I write exactly how I talk to my closest friends, and I don’t shy away from making fun of myself or fashion, in general. I hope that my readers get a true sense of who I really am and how wonderful and eclectic this city is.

5) What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of maintaining a blog? How do you choose to address it?
I currently average ten posts per week, all with original photos and/ or video which means I log an insane amount of hours working on Adored Austin. In the year that I’ve been doing this, I haven’t felt like I’ve run out of things to say, but I do sometimes feel like I don’t have enough hours in the week to get everything done that I want to get done. Luckily, I have an amazing, loyal, vocal group of readers who I truly consider to be friends. The connections I’ve made with people all over the country (and all over the world) truly motivates me to keep striving to make Adored Austin an enjoyable, easy read.

6) What other blogs do you enjoy reading and why?
I have over 200 personal style blogs in my Google reader. Bananas? Yes, but I really enjoy browsing them because I find that women who do these sort of blogs are far more inspiring than the models in fashion spreads in glossy magazines.

Other blogs I quite enjoy: Cute Overload- http://cuteoverload.com/ and Post Secret- http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. Lauren at Hipstercrite wins my vote for funniest, local, personal blog (http://hipstercrite.blogspot.com/). She is always a delight!

7) If you could narrow it down to one answer, what do you love the most about Austin? Why?
I love that Austin is a big city with lots to do but still has that small town mentality about it. I moved here on a Wednesday and had help finding a job by Friday. I can’t go to the grocery store or a restaurant without seeing someone I know. My neighbors and church friends loan me things and offer to help with home projects. The people truly make this a wonderful place to live.

How has blogging changed your life?
Doing Adored Austin has given me the amazing, humbling blessing of being able to have connections with people all over the world. I personally get over 300 emails every week, ranging from simple things like, “I saw this at the store and thought of you!” to “I’m thinking about moving to Austin, any advice?” I never would have imagined that doing a blog would allow me the opportunity to personally connect with so many people.

9) Are there other blogs/websites do you maintain?
I maintain IndianaAdams.com for my acting and writing work, but it remains static. Aside from my fashion blog Adored Austin, I have a pregnancy blog (that will eventually become a mom blog) as well as an online journal that addresses what I’m thinking through spiritually.

10) Has the city of Austin brought you any local advantages or disadvantages that affect your blog?
I get invited to a fair amount of fashion events which is sweet, and whenever I go out, I usually meet someone who’s like, “Hi! I read your blog!” This is usually a wonderful surprise, but one time I did meet someone that was like, “Hi! I read your blog, and um… didn’t you wear that yesterday?” Haha! Busted!

11)  Do you have a favorite post on your blog.
One thing that I like about my blog and what I think sets me apart from the other women who do what I do is the fact that from the get-go I have incorporated fun, short, video blogs. I’m quite proud (of most) of them: http://www.adoredaustin.com/search/label/videos

Two popular entries that I still get emails and comments about are my tirade against Nike shorts (http://www.adoredaustin.com/2010/01/no-nike-shorts-no-nike-shorts.html) and the post in which I make fun of the way some ridiculous fashion bloggers dress (http://www.adoredaustin.com/2010/06/am-i-getting-too-old-for-this.html).

12)  Have you had any interesting reactions from your blog (either on the internet or in real life)
Whenever I meet readers in the wild, they always say, “I promise I’m not a stalker, but I wanted to say hi. I read your blog.” I wonder why everyone thinks that by reading someone’s personal blog, that makes you stalker-esque? I promise that I will only think you’re a stalker if I catch you on my front porch at 2 a.m.

How has blogging changed your life?

10) Has the city of Austin brought you any local advantages or disadvantages that affect your blog?

(Kelly): ”Austin is easy to write about because there’s always something going on and you never run out of new fun things to try. Austinites are inventive and they don’t shy away from strange concepts. In fact they tend to gravitate to them and in Austin it works.” (Shelby): I don’t think our blog could work in another city. Austin just makes it so easy to come up with posts, and we’ve received such a friendly response from other Austin bloggers. (Cynthia): I think Austin is a fostering community with a really entrepreneurial spirit, and without that, I don’t know if we would have been inspired to create Chickster.  

1) What inspired you to start your own blog?

Delirium and boredom brought on by the swine flu combined with a
starvation for a creative outlet.

2) Many people blog for different reasons. What is your ultimate goal as a blogger?

Ultimately I just want people to be entertained and informed. I want
people to leave my blog feeling they have gotten a sense of what Austin
style is all about. I also provide a lot of information to people who
are looking for places to shop and events to go to.

3) How long did you think about it before you started blogging and what was the catalyst for your first post?

This goes back to the whole swine flu thing. I think it took about 5
minutes for my brain to come up with something productive to do while I
was trapped in bed with no TV. Being sick was the short term catalyst.
The long term explanation for me starting to blog is that my creativity
had been brewing for quite some time and was about to spew out in some
way or another. A fashion blog seemed like the perfect way for me to
utilize all my strengths: writing, photography, fashion, and design.

4) What do you hope readers take away from reading your blogs?
I like to promote shopping locally because it is important for the local
economy and is beneficial to the community. I have a page on my blog
that lists all the local boutiques along with a map which I think is
especially helpful to people who are visiting Austin and looking for
places to shop that have local style. I also do photo shoots where I do
all the styling. I think style posts are really helpful to look at when
you need inspiration for putting outfits together.

5) What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of maintaining a blog? How do you choose to address it?

The most challenging part is maintaining a steady frequency of posts
while still keeping every post interesting and worthy of posting.
Blogging has become a conscious habit in the same way that keeping my
house clean is something that I do on a regular basis. Blogging
obviously takes more thought and creativity than a household chore, but
that’s what keeps it fun.

6) What other blogs do you enjoy reading and why?

I have started keeping up with the other Austin fashion blogs because we
are kind of like our own little community. Everyone has a different
personal style and different take on fashion, so that’s really fun to
see. But my new favorite blog right now is hyperboleandahalf which I
love because it is actually makes me laugh.

7) If you could narrow it down to one answer, what do you love the most about Austin? Why?

I love how creative Austin is. Everyone here enjoys doing fun things
that are maybe out of the norm. There are always a million things going
on and it’s impossible to be bored.

How has blogging changed your life?

Blogging has definitely changed my life for the better. Before I
started blogging I was a lot more shy and would never think to go to
events by myself and talk to people I don’t know. Now I will go
anywhere and chat with anyone! I’m much more brave when it comes to
taking photos too. One of my favorite moments was at a fashion show
where I went up to this guy who was dressed very oddly and asked him if
I could take his photo. The official photographer for the show (who was
a rather large man with a camera much bigger than mine) said I had
bigger balls than he did.

9) Are there other blogs/websites do you maintain?

Not really. I tried to start a couple of other blogs but i gave up on
them because it’s hard enough just maintaining one blog. I would rather
have one solid blog than have several half-assed blogs.

10) Do you have a favorite post on your blog.

It changes from month to month. There is usually one or two posts in a
month that stand out to me. One of my recent favorites was a write up I
did on a fashion designer who showed her work at the Treasure City
Thrift fashion show. I also am really proud of the photo shoot post I
did called “Wouldn’t It Be Lovely” because I did all the styling,
modeling, and editing myself. I think that one came out really well and
looks professional.

11) Have you had any interesting reactions from your blog (either on the internet or in real life)

Nothing unusual really. Usually the people who comment on my blog are
girls who agree with what I post. Occasionally I’ll post one of my
Fashion FAILS that will strike up a little bit of controversy, but
nothing huge. Sometimes when I post a Fashion FAIL I might come off a
little mean and critical, but, a fashion blog would be boring if it
never had something negative to say about someone else’s style, right?

I love to write and tell stories. Writing has always been a tough gig to get into for pay, or even just to get an audience. That has been made tougher with the poor economy. Without a body of work or any tangible experience, it’s virtually impossible to get a writing gig. But also, because of that, you can never get that body of work or tangible experience. So it’s a circle of exclusion and you either need to get lucky or find an alternative way into the room. Blogging is a great tool because it allows me to be a writer and a story teller and still maintain creative control over what I’m choosing to write. I’m able to hone my writing skills and build a body of work, while at the same time picking when and what I write about. I wanted to start my own blog because I felt like I had something fun and interesting to say, and I felt like my experiences might be worth sharing with people.

2) Many people blog for different reasons. What is your ultimate goal as a blogger?

I think the most important thing is that I enjoy what I’m doing as a blogger. Because I am doing this basically as a hobby (save for the little bits of ad revenue my site generates), it is mostly something that I think is fun. Aside from enjoyment, I think a similarly big goal is recognition. It’s always nice to see increases in traffic or to get to talk with new people about my site get a laugh out of it or  get some other kind of entertainment.  The great thing about the Internet as a communicative tool is that it is shared experience — so what we are doing here in blogging is essentially building a whole new, different kind of community. The more people that I reach with LoneStarters, the greater the shared experience and the more fun it is for me.

3) How long did you think about it before you started blogging and what was the catalyst for your first post?

Probably since I could first write words I’ve wanted to tell stories. I started blogging basically as long as blogs have existed in their present form and probably in some capacity before that. None of them have really been long-term projects until this one. I started LoneStarters in April, and it has achieved some modest success since. I had thought about starting it for a few months prior. The catalyst for my first post was the first day that we started packing boxes to move down here from Ohio. It is such a surreal but exciting experience to move cross country, and from then I felt like I really had a lot that I could talk about and share with other people.

4) What do you hope readers take away from reading your blogs?

A couple of things, I guess. First, I hope that people who are interested in moving to Austin in the future can take something from the blog that helps them along their journey. I hope that others can get some enjoyment out of it from the humor and are maybe inspired to try something new because of it. For me, LoneStarters wasn’t just about making a relocation blog, but also about taking a lighthearted look at our culture through a very different lens. Because so many things in Austin will be “firsts” for us, we can offer a unique perspective sometimes.

5) What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of maintaining a blog? How do you choose to address it?

I guess the toughest thing is consistency. When you have one or two *really* good ideas for posts, its easy to get them down onto a blog. But it’s maintaining that quality that really builds a readership and inspires people to visit regularly and participate. I try to address it by maintaining a balance. I try to write about serious and lighter things equally, and I try to write on both kinds of topics with the same quality. The best way for me to do this (I’m sure it varies for everybody) is to imagine I’m telling the story to a friend or my fiance. That helps me keep things generally concise but still interesting.

6) What other blogs do you enjoy reading and why?

There is a list of blogs on LoneStarters that indicate “What I’m Reading”. A few, for starters: Grits for Breakfast, Slackerwood, Shoestring Austin, Wonkette. The first three are Austin blogs, the latter is a D.C. political blog, by the way. I like blogs that make me want to write — either through the quality of their prose or what their content is in the first place. Good writing and interesting, original content are both very inspiring. Although blogs are different than other writing mediums, they still have that simple dynamic: If I want to write because of what I’m reading, I’ll surely want to read more. I also think developing a distinctive voice is important. No one is going to mistake Grits for Breakfast for Wonkette, but their stuff is both really enjoyable.

7) If you could narrow it down to one answer, what do you love the most about Austin? Why?

This is a tough one, because we really love a lot about the Austin area, but I suppose at the top of that list would be the culture. We have plenty of inexpensive (and some expensive) choices for entertainment, and while there is lots to do, Austin is still a pretty laid back place. In Austin we are able to live on a very modest income and still enjoy ourselves immensely. Having lots of sunny days helps that, because there is so much that is free or cheap to do outdoors. I don’t feel like I am a part of the “rat race” here, and to us, that is very important.

How has blogging changed your life?

Well, we bring cameras everywhere and take pictures of things we’d surely never take pictures of otherwise. I share amusing and sometimes embarrassing things with complete strangers via my blog. I guess I would consider us very private people, and this is sort of an unusually public window into our lives.

9) Are there other blogs/websites do you maintain?

I maintain a web-site for my work and I do other writing projects whenever I’m given the chance. There is nothing specific or major to mention, though.

10) Has the city of Austin brought you any local advantages or disadvantages that affect your blog?

Well, because there are lots of different, small activities to do in Austin, I almost always have new content to write about on the blog. That’s been a great help, because I always have something new to say. Austin also has a very localized creative culture. Lots of people here heavily emphasize the arts, and although there doesn’t seem to be a huge public art presence, what a lot of individuals are doing on their own is really awesome. The blogging community is Austin is small but effective. They are tremendously helpful and seemingly always willing to help out a newer guy such as myself!

The latest post is always my new favorite, because it’s closest in my memory!

12)  Have you had any interesting reactions from your blog (either on the Internet or in real life)

A few!
I’ve had a commenter suggest that my fiance and I were likely to be breaking up soon because Austin is a singles town. “If you think you can do better, you probably can,” he said. It was a bit quizzical because it had absolutely nothing to do with the post he was commenting on.
I also had a pretty angry e-mail because I said that the Austin Artisan’s Market was not a market.
That sort of stuff I just take lightly. Most of it is pretty funny to begin with.