{ Outtake from a DKNY shoot | Midtown NYC | 2015 }

{ Suit (majorly on sale) | Crop Top (ditto: great sale) | Hair by Karmela Lozina for John Sahag }

A question that I get asked almost daily:

My son and me on a Sunday morning. This photo was not taken for Ramshackle Glam.

Today's question, from reader MS, comes from the comments under this style post.

I'm curious how you balance the kind of work you do with making time to be in the moment. You mentioned that this was a "date night," but it also has a work component, given the photos and subsequent post. Do you get [these photos] out of the way in the beginning, or save [them] for the end? Do you ever feel like [your work] intrudes [on your life]?

Here is me looking ridiculous while photographing a bag on top of a fire hydrant. #bloggerlife

A couple of weeks ago, I had a reader who's getting her own site up and running email me, asking this (very good, I think) question:

From post 1 to today, what are some of the steps you took to move your work forward?

Photographing holiday cocktails...on my bed. Of course.

(Recipe coming soon!)

Whenever I see bloggers post their beautifully framed shots of food or their jeans arranged just-so against white bedsheets on Instagram or wherever, I like to imagine what the scene *really* looked like when they were shooting it. Especially the food shots, because you know that they're literally standing up on a chair in a restaurant to get that perfect top-down angle - but really: it's interesting to imagine pulling back on just about any photo.

Q. I'm wondering what you've been doing to your photos recently? They look beautiful - I want to call them "whitewashed" but that's because I know nothing about photography at all..? I've noticed the shift on your Instagram and here. Very different vibe lately and I'm curious about the background story and the technical change!

A. Thank you! And I am SO EXCITED that this was noticeable to someone other than me, because it was definitely a conscious decision.

Here's the thing: Regardless of what your job is, I think it's very important to take a minute every so often to step back, try to look at your work from an objective standpoint, and say "Where can I do better?" And when I did that a few weeks ago, a major opportunity that jumped out at me was my Instagram. I love Instagram - it's my most casual, fun outlet, and I was treating it like…well, basically like casual fun. But what I realized is that while it's important to me that I keep having fun with it…it's also a component of my business. And it should be treated like one.

Q. Saw your lovely feature on ShopSense. Can you share more business tips you wish you knew before [you started] blogging?

Elizabeth (via Twitter)

A. Oh, yes. The "business of blogging" is one of my all-time favorite subjects. Blogs aren't just businesses, they're big businesses. And if you plan to make your blog your business, you should treat it like one.

On Me: Hatch Dress; Saks Fifth Avenue Fedora (similar); Deux Lux Backpack

Click here for an interview in which I talk my favorite blogging tips, what I wish I'd known when I started out in this field, and a (possibly surprising) thing that I really seriously do not like to do.

And while we're talking Q&As, click here to check out my interview with MomTrends - it's part of their Holiday Gift Guide, which is full of fun ideas (and also contains interviews with Soleil Moon Frye, Rosie Pope and others).