How to Blog. That’s today’s topic.
I don’t know about you, but I go about my day hearing different things from different people about how to eat well. I turn my computer on, and I get blasted with 300 emails every morning. Only about 10 of them are any interest to me.
But in those 10 are always a few gems.
I always see experts talking about ‘how to write a blog’. They’re hear to charge you money and tell you the ‘tricks’ of the trade.
I am telling you here and now…. it’s simple. It’s got to be. Got to be something that comes naturally and means something deeper than notoriety. The fact that I have 30,000 readers pleases me. But the deeper value, is why I am even here, still talking about food/nutrition, restaurants, tying it all together with a concept I really like: living your best life.
So what’s this blog mean to me? What’s its’ value?
WHAT IS IT, CHEF?
This blog is an opportunity to research and explore. Someone shows me a picture of green cauliflower and wants to know why it’s green and how it came to be different and apart from white cauliflower. Another person asks me how long do you have to steep tea to get the benefits. And yet another person has another question that I don’t know the answer to.
So here I sit, over 400 blogs later, a wiser and more informed Chef Marian because if I don’t know the answer, and sometimes even if I do, I like to research (way easier in today’s world of internet) and hear what all sides of the issue are, and then present it all.
This blog actually brings me back to my years of being a radio newscaster when we had to actually investigate. In most cases, I would have to think up something that people would be interested in, and then create a story around it. And that never meant having an opinion: simply doing the research and presenting all sides, to allow a listener to make their own mind up based on information being provided.
I always say: “I’m a Walter Cronkite kind of girl”.
WALTER WHO?
Thank you. That makes my point. (He was a CBS Evening Newscaster, who presented the news objectively).
These days, I’ve changed how I do what I do. I’m happy to do all the research and then at the very end, give an opinion, qualifying that it’s just my opinion. Sometimes, it’s enjoyable to quote other people, then heckle them. Make fun of what they are saying, to make a point that someone is being re-dunk-u-lus in their line of logic, or spreading misinformation.
And that, my friend, is fun for me. It makes me giggle. Probably comes from my NY heritage. But it certainly does give me an outlet to unload.
The next time you are thinking to ‘have a voice’ in Blog Land, simply figure out what you are passionate about. In my case, it is food and nutrition. Some people care about organizing your space. Others talk about weddings. Everyone has something they are curious about.
Then put it ‘out there’. Talk to friends, talk to strangers about what interests you. And when you hear a question? A question that perhaps points out how little you know? Don’t take it as a challenge. Take it as an opportunity to learn more. And make THAT your next blog!
I have been blogging since 2011. And I will say this: This blog has been a very satisfying outlet for my own personal curiosity, my own personal quest to live my best life.
And along the way if you have benefited from reading me, I would certainly like to hear from you.
I am grateful to have a voice, grateful to write well, grateful to have decades of experience that colors what I talk about, and grateful to have a place to come to work daily and do what I do best, paid or not! I’m still here!
Happy Eating,
