Marla Todd is a writer and artist based in Orangevale, CA. She lives with her husband, daughter, and assorted hilarious cats and dogs. Using the pen name “Juliette Kings” Marla writes the parenting/urban fantasy blog Vampire Maman: An interesting hybrid of family and societal observations from the perspective of a mother who also happens to be a vampire. That Vampire Maman, aka Juliette, is a highly innovative and insightful writer with a gift for creating a fantasy world within a “real” world context. (From monkeybellhop.com). Marla is a founding member of the publishing group WPaD (Writers, Poets, and Deviants), and has contributed numerous stories to their anthologies.
We’re thrilled to have Marla onboard as a speaker at WordCamp Sacramento 2018 asked a few questions to help you get to know more about her. Check out our mini interview with Marla below:
What is the topic of your WordCamp talk?
Personal Blogging: Building Community And Letting Your Voice Shine
Why do you think this is important?
Building a strong community around your personal blog, and connecting to other bloggers is an amazing and rewarding experience. Knowing how to reach out and make those connections can mean the difference between a blog that grows and a blog that quietly fades away.
Be it real life stories, art, poetry, opinion, humor, photography, or something totally different, there is a diverse WordPress community out there waiting for your unique voice. I’ll share examples of some of my bloggers, the communities they’ve created, and why it all works. I’ll also share how to take advantage of WordPress tools and tips that are available to everyone who wants to be a successful blogger.
Blogging isn’t trying to make a Thanksgiving dinner that suits both traditional turkey friends AND your vegan friends. It is about doing what you want. It is your feast to share as you wish. And if somebody doesn’t like what you’re serving then maybe you can convince them to at least take a small bite. More often than not they’ll end up coming back for seconds, and more.
What’s your WordPress origin story?
Discovering WordPress was happy accident for me. In 2011 several of the writers I knew from Facebook groups started their own blogs to showcase their writing. I started looking into having my own blog. I check out the blogs and asked around about hosting options. Many of them had WordPress blogs.
At the time I was up to my ears in middle school drama, kids sports, and taking care of my elderly mom while working full-time managing a corporate graphics department. My husband was starting his own business and up to his ears in red tape and start-up alligators. I had no idea what I wanted to blog about, and absolutely no spare time. One Saturday while I was hanging out with my then twelve year old daughter it just popped into my head that I’d do a Vampire Parenting Blog, and write about Middle School as a vampire mom. Vampire Maman, Musings of a Modern Vampire Mom was born.
The idea was so ridiculous that I couldn’t not do it. As soon as my first blog post went live I had visitors. As I look back some of those first readers are still with me. And I am with them. I tried out several different blog sources but WordPress made sense to me. It was easy to use. I liked the templates and the fact that I didn’t have to use html or remember java script from a past life. WordPress was intuitive and easy to figure out from the start. I liked the support features and the whole WordPress good vibe tone. My average post takes about twenty minutes to write but with the schedule options I can queue up posts ahead of time.
At the time “Freshly Pressed‚” and the search features helped me find bloggers I wanted to follow and share with. I now go on “Discover” to find new bloggers. I often do random searches on the same subjects I blog about to see who else is out there. On occasion I even do the WordPress daily prompts to get my pre-coffee morning brain going.
How has WordPress impacted your world?
Get Your Ticket ASAP!
WordCamp Sacramento 2018 sold out in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and we do expect it to sell out again. Be sure to get your WordCamp Tickets asap to secure you spot at this awesome event! Tickets are only $40 (thanks to our generous sponsors) and include:
- Two full days of Beginner Tracks, walking new users through how to use WordPress.
- Two mixed tracks of sessions on Saturday.
- Two mixed tracks of sessions on Sunday.
- A Happiness Bar — our version of a help desk, open throughout the event so you can get help with your site and get your questions answered.
- An opportunity to network with and meet sponsors, speakers, and other WordPress community members, including business owners, designers, developers, agency owners, bloggers, copywriters, freelancers, site owners, and more.
- Refreshing drinks throughout the entire event.
- A WordCamp Sacramento 2018 t-shirt.
- A catered lunch on Saturday.
- A networking reception Saturday immediately following the event.
- Snacks on Sunday.