These weren’t my idea, y’all.
I made these Salmon Dumplings yesterday; they were inspired by one of my closest friends, Joanna. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow, so check back in then because they’re awesome.
Right now I’m compelled to talk about burnout (ironic?). Yesterday I was really struggling to get working, although I wanted to dive into that mode using my ideas and creativity in the kitchen, but….wait…what’s that? My camera battery needs a charge? Well, shit, that’s gonna take a good 2-3 hours so what choice do I have but to get back to Pinterest – Peace out.
I go through this every so often and it’s SO DAMN frustrating.
You know how you get in one of those ruts? Those I-really-want-to-cook-and-chop-and-make-some-awesome-shit-take-pictures-edit-write-edit-publish-etc., but you get ready to do it….aaaaannndddd you’re done.
You think “Damnit, why did I pull all that shit out of the fridge when I don’t feel like doing this?”. It’s like you’re just sooo not feelin’ it right then even though the night before you had THE MOST FANTASTIC ideas! And you still have the ideas, but executing a blog post is a long, tedious and can be, at times, exhausting. Sometimes you wonder, “Why am I not working harder to get this recipe finished??!!”. Or you’ve finished the recipe, shot and edited the pics but you just.can’t.write.about.it. As beautiful and professional as that shot looks on the screen, as delicious as it tasted, and as perfect as the recipe measurements are, you can’t get an f’ing word out. Not.One.F’ing.Word.
But, by God, you could be in the middle of Target buying Daisy razors and toilet cleaner, when you suddenly think the perfect intro for those awesome eggrolls you made yesterday just to forget it before you get home.
I think these things happen because you’re a food blogger and you think you have to do it day in and day out, and a lot of us feel the need to “keep up”. There are a bazillion food bloggers, and if you compare yourself to them (which we all do, BTW), it will seem fruitless.
But, it’s not.
At the end of the day, what you put on your blog is gold. That’s because doing this makes you happy. It’s your very own little piece of this big ol’ blogosphere and you should be proud of it. And as long as you’re not one of those assholes that steals other bloggers’ material and posts it on their website, then you should be proud of every single thing you post.
Every last one. Yes, even the ones you’re embarrassed about when you first started. Those are the posts that got you started and propelled you to learn more, read more, meet new friends and continue blogging.
I have recognized that when I’m in a rut and I’m not enjoying it (you won’t 100% every single time, btw), if I step away from it and take a break, I come back stronger. If you don’t take that break you will not do your best work or writing. It won’t kill your blog, your stats or your readership. I’ve gone through it many times. It took me a while to learn to step away and get my shit together. In other words, breathe out and do other things like spend time with your family, go out to eat and let someone else do the work, or something else senseless that makes you feel free for a minute.
You don’t want to publish shit that’s not the real you. If I can tell you anything at all that I’ve learned from my 4 1/2 years of working on this little food blog, it’s be true to your own voice, your own opinion, and don’t compromise yourself or your brand, even if it means not posting for a while. I’m definitely a work in progress and have so much more to learn. I’ve taken a lot of advice from some amazing bloggers, and will continue to.
The truth is, we do enjoy our work, the cooking, reading, writing, networking, growing our blogs and readership. But this is, at the end of the day, work, whether it’s full time or something a lot of us do after putting hours in working another job. It is definitely a passion for me – no doubt – but I want to be the best I can be, which takes energy and effort.
Here’s a few things more that talks about the same thing, just for reference, this and this, which both resonated with me. Especially this one from Lindsay of Pinch of Yum which is all about the blogging blues.
I just had to share what was on my heart tonight.
xoxo
