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It’s time again for our weekly interview with a Mommy Blogger. We’ve been doing this series to get a better idea of what mommy bloggers around the web are thinking and doing.

This week’s mom is Genesis Davies from Expat Mom. Genesis is a Canadian expat living in Guatemala with her Latino spouse and their two bilingual boys. She is also a freelance writer who works from home and enjoys cooking in the small amount of free time that she can find in her busy days.

The Expat Mom blog has been online for 2.5 years now and is full of beautiful pictures and interesting stories that only a mom can tell.

1. How did you come to have your “mommy blog”? Was it planned that way or did it just accidentally sort of happen?

I originally had my wahm blog, http://athomemomblog.com and found that I wanted to share more personal stories that didn’t really fit there, so I set up Expat Mom to be my personal blog. It was also a place where friends and family back in Canada could see updates of my daily life and see pictures of the kids.

2. Do you work outside the home or work from home? What are you currently working on?

I work at home. As for what I’m currently working on . . . there’s a lot! I have a full time writing business, but I also work for a PR firm where I blog and do client work, as well as training new team members. Those are practically two entire jobs on their own, but since I’m a workaholic, I had to add more! I also run a cooking site (thegourmetmama.com) and am currently teaching a freelance writing course.

3. Do you accept advertising and sponsorship on this blog? Why or why not?

Truthfully, Expat Mom isn’t for monetizing. I’ve put up a few small ads but they are just affiliate links or ads for a cause that I strongly believe in but receive no compensation for. I don’t aim very high with this blog, but it seems to have attracted a lot of followers.

4. Do you have a blog publishing schedule or do you just spontaneously blog as the mood strikes you?

With this blog, I do write spontaneously. There’s something to write about on a daily basis, being a mom of two rowdy little guys, but sometimes I’m just too tired to put my adventures into words that day.

5. Do you consider your blog a business venture or just a mommy outlet for getting thoughts out of your head? Is it both?

In this case, it was definitely not a business. I just wanted an outlet and since At Home Mom was my business blog, Expat didn’t need to be. I kept all my wahm stuff on the other blog and then later expanded into Gourmet Mama, as well, which I consider a business blog, as well. That one has yet to earn, but the potential is there.

6. How do you feel about paid blogging and it’s impact on the mommy blogger community?

I’m not very decided on that topic, actually. I think that some women take it over the top with paid blog posts. They rave about the product and are only positive. To me, a good review includes both pros and cons, whether or not it’s paid for. When you are 120% for a product, it gets a little suspicious and people start to wonder if you’re only saying that because you were paid.

7. Do you talk about your family in any depth of detail on your blog? Do they know about it and do they read your blog?

I talk a LOT about my family, particularly my kids. My husband and one of my sisters reads the blog. My grandmother does, as well, so she can keep up with what is going on in our lives.

8. Do you use real names and include pictures of your children on your blog? What brought you to that decision?

I do use real names and photos, mostly because it didn’t occur to me in the beginning not to. Also, I figured, since I live in Guatemala, not many people are going to be actually in the same location. Little did I know there would be a mass immigration to this country over the past year!

9. What really inspires you to blog?

My lonely life as a writer. Since I’m in a foreign country, up the side of a volcano and work from home, I don’t get out much. I do have friends, but we meet up infrequently, and since I love to talk, my blog is where I get to discuss things that I would normally talk about with friends or my sisters.

10. Has a comment on your blog ever made you cry?

Not on Expat Mom, but on At Home Mom, yes. People can be very cruel.

11. Do you read and comment on other mommy blogs frequently? Do those bloggers visit your blog and comment as well?

I visit several mommy blogs and am constantly discovering new ones. It really depends on the blogger as to whether or not they visit mine. Obviously those with thousands of readers aren’t going to be checking out my blog, but most of the smaller bloggers do.

12. Name one thing about your lifestyle that blogging has changed or impacted?

It’s made me more outgoing, amazingly. I’ve met people from around the world because of my blog. When someone is coming to Antigua, they email me and often we meet up for a coffee and to chat. It’s also helped me realize that I really love to help people . . . I get almost daily emails from people who are moving here or thinking about it or maybe already here and need advice. I really enjoy answering their questions and helping them out.

13. Has blogging led to other things online for you? (such as business ventures, job offers, additional blogs etc….)

I’ve actually had several job offers as a result of my blogging. Some of them didn’t pan out, but some did. I mention my writing on both Expat and At Home Mom frequently, so it’s no secret what I do. When someone likes what they read and needs a writer, they contact me.

14. What mommy blogger myth or misconception annoys you the most? What do you want to say to those people, even if you bite your tongue?

That we’re all just a bunch of moms with no life, ignoring our children (ok, that part is true sometimes!), addicted to gossiping online. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m a hardworking mother who spends time with her kids, works online and shares some of her life with anyone who cares to read about the ups and downs of living in a foreign country with little kids.

15. Have you been contacted by media or PR reps because of your blog? Is that something you’re interested in and enjoy, or not so much?

I haven’t been contacted but I think I would be pretty open to media contacting me. Particularly if it related to one of the causes I’m interested in or to one of my other blogs.

16. Were the technical aspects of getting started a hurdle for you?

I had trouble figuring out hosting and switched from free Wordpress to a hosted version on a bad host, then another bad host and finally settled on HostGator, where I’m very happy. It was a learning process because I’m not very technical minded, but there are lots of online tutorials.

17. What blogging platform do you use and why did you choose that platform? (Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger, etc…)

I picked Wordpress because I started on the free version and didn’t want to learn something new. As it turns out, that was the best choice I could have made! I’m very happy with Wordpress and now use it for all my blogs and websites. It’s very easy to use and there are a number of templates and plugins available for it.

18. What three things do you *need* to have for your blog? (Plugins, tools, etc…)

1. Akismet Spam: Totally vital. On Expat Mom, I only get 2-3 spam comments a day, but on At Home Mom, I get upwards of 30 a day and Akismet stops the vast majority.

3. Flickr: You can upload photos to your own server, but I love Flickr because it lets me easily place photos and it also boosts traffic, since I add the URL to the photo description in Flickr.

19. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

The interaction. I love logging in and seeing new comments, it’s exciting to see what others think about what I’m writing. Also, I get a lot of advice when I post about health or discipline issues, which is great.

20. What advice do you have for someone that wants to break into blogging and has never done anything online before?

Just get started. You can always tweak later but you’ll regret it if you spend months thinking and planning. You’ll learn as you go.

Remember, you’ll find Genesis blogging at Expat Mom and you can also follow her on Twitter @athomemom to keep up to date and get to know her better. Go on, give her a shout out on Twitter, say hello, and let her know that you enjoyed her blog and her interview here.

If you’re a tweet addict like myself, I’ve created a list at Twitter of all our 20 Questions with Mommy Bloggers interviewees so you can find them and follow them easily http://twitter.com/retta719/mommybloggers Of course, I’ll be adding to that as we go along and updating each week.

I hope you are enjoying the 20 Questions with Mommy Bloggers series as much as I am. If you’d like be interviewed or recommend your favorite mommy blogger for the series please send an email to retta.oliver@gmail.com and let me know.

Happy Blogging!

P.S. Learn how to plan, set up, and blog your way through your very own Blog World Tour from Nicole Dean.

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If that’s not enough this guide and planner is packed full of juicy blogging tidbits. You’ll be able to generate blog post ideas for your tour in no time flat, you’ll have an easy to use spreadsheet handy to keep you organized, and you’ll be able to build links and grow your readership like you never imagined possible.