I’m going to Blog On MSI

I’m off to Blog On MSI in just under two weeks and I’m currently a mixture of extremely anxious and excited. I’m actually speaking this time and I can’t quite believe I’ve agreed to do not just one, but two, sessions! My sessions are WordPress (How to give your WP blog an MOT) and Media Pack & Business Card Design.

To help break the ice and put some faces to names, I’m hosting an ice breaker linky. I’d love for people to join in so we can find out a bit about each other before Blog On, and discover some new blogs too! Here are my answers:

1. Share a recent photo of you (or a doodle!)

2. Describe yourself in five words or less

Geek, introvert, silly, mummy, softie

3. How long have you been blogging, and why did you start?

I have been blogging for a long time. I’m 31 now, and I started in my mid teens, so over 15 years. It started with a love of writing & journaling, and then when I moved away from my friends at 17 became a great way to keep in touch. Mama Geek is around 5 years old, but I’ve always had at least one blog since I started.

4. What are you hoping to get out of Blog On?

Speaking at Blog On is a huge thing for me, and if it goes well I will be incredibly proud of myself. Be kind to me! I love meeting other bloggers and chatting to everyone there, Blog On is always so friendly, relaxed & fun. The goodie bags and raffle are pretty incredible too, I always make sure I have plenty of cash for tickets!

5. Name a few of your favourite blogs.

I don’t make enough time for myself to read blogs at the moment, and I really miss it… but I love What the Redhead Said, Family Fever, DADventurer, The Brick Castle, and The Oliver’s Madhouse. My best friend from high school is a blogger now too, and she blogs at Life as Mrs D, so I’m loving keeping up with her blog too. I really need to sort out my feedly so I can read more posts on my iPad when I’m chilling out.

6. What’s your favourite social media platform(s)… and what’s your username?

I love twitter, instagram and youtube the best. I am @zoecorkhill on all three.

I just can’t get the hang of snapchat and find Facebook a bit annoying! I want to chat more on twitter so do mention me and say hi, I really should start bothering with hashtags on instagram properly, and I need to learn to promote my videos more to get them out there a bit.

7. Share a fact about you no-one would guess.

I used to be an air cadet during my teens, and was pretty good with a rifle – I won a few national competitions.

8. What’s your favourite bit of tech?

This one is tough for me as I’m such a gadget lover! Although I use my iPhone 6S all the time, adore my new Hackintosh computer and wouldn’t be without my iPad Pro now, my favourite bit of tech is really my Kindle Paperwhite. I read every single day and night, and carry that thing around everywhere. I read ebooks almost exclusively and will quite often read several books a week.

9. If you won the lottery, how would you spend your winnings?

Probably on lots of books! I’d pay off the mortgage, help out my family financially, and do up the house. I don’t think I’d move as I like our neighbourhood and love the girls schools though. And of course, buy plenty of gadgets!

10. If you could host a talk show, who would be your first guest?

Hmm, I think it would have to be someone like Judi Dench, or Maggie Smith – classic British actresses. They have both played so many brilliant and diverse roles, and they are fascinating people. I’d love to get a chance to have a chat with them about it. Well, that or Joss Whedon – so I could tell him off for killing off so many characters!

11. Share a funny (or favourite) memory from your life.

When I was a kid I used to love twirling in the garden. However, I made the mistake once of twirling with my eyes closed and ended up going flying head first into the pond. The very deep, full of fish and water plants, pond. I wasn’t a pretty sight after wards… everyone in my family thought it was hilarious and I haven’t been allowed to forget it!

12. What is your favourite book (or film if you’re not a big reader) and why?

My favourite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I just love it, the characters are so rich and the storyline is just wonderful. Our daughters are Georgiana and Lydia so it’s pretty obvious to other fans of the book when they meet them that I’m an Austen nerd!

13. What picture is on your phone/tablet lock screen?

This photo I took of Georgie on the beach at Weymouth

14. If you had an hour of time all to yourself, how would you spend it?

Depending on my mood, it would either be to curl up with a book or some crochet – or play a non-child-friendly game on the playstation. Several of our games are “after bedtime only” games so 

15. What’s the best bit of advice you’ve ever been given?

When we got married back in 2008, we created little Q&A pages for our guests to fill in instead of a guestbook. They were a hit! They could draw a picture of themselves, predict our kids date of birth and names, share memories, tell us about something we may have missed from the day, and give advice and wishes. Amongst the nuttiness, some of the advice was actually really great (if occasionally a little clichéd) – here are my favourites:

• Don’t sweat the small stuff
• Keep calm, be happy, and laugh as much as you can!
• Learn to compromise
• Love, trust, and respect each other 
• Be quick to say sorry and slow to get angry

Please do join in! You can find the questions and link up over here.