Today is the first day of July (and yet I'm wearing a cardigan). I started this blog back in February on a bit of a whim. I felt like I needed a new project to, quite literally, get my teeth into. Since then, it's become an obsession that's started to take over my life. It's been a steep learning curve. The perfectionist in me would like to go back and delete some of those early posts, the ones that make me cringe, but I won't do that. Instead, I will keep them all to remind myself of how far I've come in the last few months.
I've learnt a lot since I started. A lot about food, a lot about photography, a lot about blogging but, most of all, a lot about myself. And so I thought I'd share some of those lessons with you. I can't pretend to be an expert but it might just be that some of this sounds familiar to you.
1. Write about what you love .
I've always liked food but I didn't realise, until I started blogging, how much I loved it. I want anyone who reads one of my posts to get a sense of that passion. But how can they if I'm not in love with a post myself? When I only post an entry because it's written and I might as well?
As soon as I do it, I regret it. I made some coconut pancakes at the weekend; I was so excited. They remind me of spending winters in the Caribbean, eating a leisurely breakfast on a terrace overlooking an aqua sea. I wanted you to get a sense of that.
They tasted okay. They didn't look great. The photographs were strangely unappetising. I knew what I wanted to say about them but I felt nothing. My poor pancakes got no love from me at all. I could have written a post, apologised for the mediocre photo and moved on quickly. But every time I thought about those pancakes, my face got all scrunched. And I wouldn't want you to make that kind of face. So I didn't write the post.
I only want to write about what I love.
2. Blog for yourself.
Like almost every new blogger, I was obsessed with checking Google Analytics at first. How many visitors did I have in the last week? In the last day? In the last hour? Was anyone looking at my blog right now?
I'm not saying, obviously, that you should ignore your page views and statistics - that can be very helpful tools for building your audience and connecting with your readers - but, at the end of the day, if I'm happy with the way a post looks and reads and sounds then that's enough for me. I do love getting comments and emails (I'm as much as a sucker for external validation as anyone) but if nobody ever read a single post that I write again, I think I'd be okay with it.
PS. Please don't leave me!
3. Embrace new experiences.
My daily routine used to be pretty simple. Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, eat a quick meal in front of a repeat of CSI, sleep, do it all again. The weekends were marked by not having to go to work but I was usually able to find enough laundry and vacuuming to fill the time before I had to go to work again. Now I attend cookery classes in the evenings and spend the weekends at food festivals. Through all of this, I've learnt about new producers, new techniques, new ingredients all of which make me hungry for the next experience.
4. You never stop learning.
Before I started this blog, I hadn't picked up a camera in a few years for anything other than a few drunken snaps of my friends on a night out. Now I am always on a look out for my next photograph. Words like 'aperture' and 'bokeh' litter my conversation and I know what (almost) all the buttons on my camera do.
I've not just learnt about photography though, I've also learnt how to make pastry and how to decorate a cake with an Easter bunny. Every time I make a new recipe, or even an old one, I'm learning. I try to make each post, each photograph, better than the last one. That's what keeps me going.
5. Food that you make is better than anything you can buy.
If I documented everything that my boyfriend and I eat in a week, I'm pretty sure that you'd be appalled. I know that I would. The truth is that we both work long hours and there are at least four supermarkets between the office and home. The temptation to grab something and stick it in the microwave can be overwhelming even though I know there are at least half a dozen meals that I could make in the same time with fresh ingredients. As soon as a take the first mouthful of something pre-prepared, I regret it. It doesn't taste how food should taste. There's no excitement there. No real flavour. I'll eat it grudgingly and wish that I'd made a bowl of pasta instead.
Please note, however, that this rule does not apply to pizza deliveries.
6. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
There's a note on my iphone that reads 'wine, lychee, elderflower, basil' which, I believe, were the ingredients in particularly fine cocktail that I sampled the other week. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with those flavours yet but I can't stop thinking about them. I have random bits of paper everywhere. They tend to have things like 'rhubarb + ??? = cake' scrawled on them.
It doesn't take much to spark an idea. Maybe a snatch of conversation, overheard on the way to work. Or it could be an image or a combination of colours that appeals to me and sets off a firework in my imagination. Sometimes it's a memory that pops up unexpectedly and takes root.
7. Wow, there are a lot of talented people writing food blogs.
One thing that I've been overwhelmed by is how many incredibly talented people there are out there. From fabulous bakers to stunning photographers to the people who do things that I can only dream about; it's ridiculously exciting. Every time I see that one of my favourite blogs has been updated, I get a thrill of anticipation. They make me strive to be a better blogger. When I'm having one of those 'why do I bother?' moments, I go and read some of my favourites and I remember why I'm doing it too.
8. There's a whole community out there.
You know all those amazing people? Guess what? They're pretty darn nice too. There are so many ways to connect with people, whether it's face to face at the conferences which I enviously read about or through blog comments or emails or twitter. Already, in this short time, I've connected with some awesome people and I feel like I'm only just dipping my toes in the water. I can't wait to meet more of you!
9. Practice makes perfect.
I am one of those people who needs to be good at what they do. I hate learning to do anything. I just want to be able to do it. If I can't master a new skill immediately, then I give up. It can make life tough. But you don't just pick up a fancy camera and take a pretty photo - it needs practice. So does decorating a cupcake. The only way to get good at something is to practice. It may sound simple but it's taken me nearly thirty years to grasp this and it will probably take me longer to really accept it and have patience with myself.
10. When you can't think of anything to write, just write anything.
There are so many times when I open up blogger and stare at a blank screen. I have the pictures and I have the recipe but I don't have the words. And so I just write. II write whatever comes into my head. More often than not, it's scattered thoughts or images or a turn of phrase that appeals to me. It hardly ever makes the final cut but it gives me a starting point and makes that blank screen seem a little less scary.