Many times, I'll look back at the first few posts on this blog, just for fun. Or masochism, because hoo-wee are they bad! I'm not sure who starts a blog and knows exactly the voice they want to use for it, the personality they want behind it. I find that my voice is very different from the ones that caused me to start blogging - Orangette, Tartelette, Gluten Free Girl (oh my, I'm pretty sure I did zero work the first day I came across Shauna - I spent the entire day reading through the archives!). 101Cookbooks, Smitten Kitchen, and Cream Puffs in Venice came after that, followed by Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Later, Use Real Butter and Lemonpi joined the mix. And now, I read a variety of blogs, ranging from design blogs like d*Sponge to photography blogs like Still Life With. Throw in some comics (xkcd anyone?) and my sister's blog, and you've got 471 blogs that I read every day.
Aren't they just adorable?
In the end, it depends on my mood, I think. I can be snarky, random, humorous or contemplative, but I never manage a unified voice. Maybe that's because of that human element. It depends upon how I'm feeling that day, how much time I have to really sit down and consider how I want to write something. For the longest time, I was happy but bored at work. That led to the more random and snarky posts. Right now, I'm filling in as a supervisor on second shift because of a work situation, and the humor is sort of gone. Funny how that works, huh?
But there are things that lift my mood like none other - Y making french toast macarons for me, Jen giving me hiking suggestions, friends volunteering to take me around Seattle when I visit over Labor Day weekend with the boyfriend. And my latest toy, Poladroid. You see, I love the slightly used, messy look of a Polaroid shot, but don't have the camera. Enter Poladroid - a free, downloadable program that gives the Polaroid effect to a photo you've shot. It's my new latest obsession, can you tell?
And here's where I'm asking for feedback people (because I don't have enough blogs to read every day). What blogs got you into blogging? Which are your favorites and why? Do you work to have a unified voice, or is it a day-by-day evolution?
My friends. They are teh awesome, if you hadn't heard :)
25 comments:
Great post, Caitlin! As a new blogger, mine is certainly not where I hope it will someday be. I love reading food blogs and my first was www.bakingandbooks.com which led me to Dorie which led me to you! www.whiskfoodblog.com, www.ezrapoundcake.com, www.phemomenon.blogspot.com, www.pinkstripes.wordpress.com and www.sporkorfoon.typepad.com. I also love Smitten Kitchen and www.joythebaker.com
Caitlin, I adore your blog and 'voice', just the way it is! I think it's your different moods that make it unified, because it totally represents you, as a real person. Sydney-based blogs got me starting my own. Tartelette and Aran's blogs inspired me to improve on what I first started and support from people like you, have been keeping it going.
There are many voices and waves when writing a blog. They change with the season, your life, the people around you. Your honesty is one of the reasons I like reading you. I discover everyday that some people are not as they portray themselves but I know this will never be your case.
I started blogging for all the 'wrong' reasons - to find out how Blogspot worked way back in the day. A picture on a post was not yet part of the technology so let's not even talk about comments! I found you thru Jen of urb and love your easy style of writing. Your voice has a genuine ring to it.
Oh and I also like to tinker around with Poladroid. I can't afford the camera or the film!
I've kinda gone backwards in my blogging life - I've been blogging for a long time, but food blogging is relatively new for me (less than 2 years). Blogging started as a way of sharing my thoughts and adventures with friends and family, and only after I started blogging did I learn of this whole big wide world of wonderful people who are also passionate about making delicious and flavorful food.
As to my voice? Well I think it is still evolving. Maybe it always will be to some extent. I've always loved your style, and how your personality totally shows through in your writing just as much as your passion for baking delectable treats :)
I first found Orangette and Farmgirl Fare, and fell in love with food blogging. But now I mostly read blogs that read like table chit chat. Friendly and comfortable.
Well sweetie, I have to admit that I first noticed your blog because you are the ENGINEER baker, and my training was as an engineer before geologist before professional noodler (call me the funemployed for the time being). There is always a special place in my heart for the technically and mathematically inclined.
I started a personal blog because I had to dump my feelings someplace after my sister died. I actually learned about blogging from 1 very cool friend and 1 friend-turned-psycho-crazy-stalker-type. Eventually, I began to find some food bloggers like La Tartine Gourmande, Kuidaore, Nordljus, and Delicious Days whose photos inspired. Then I found Peabody and Tartelette who inspired me to join the DBs, but first - I had to make my blog clean for public consumption ;) And then it all went downhill from there - bwahahaha!
I write what is on my mind; it's as if I'm having a conversation with my readers. I put it through a 75% filter (75% of what I'm thinking never makes it to page, and that is a very good thing otherwise I'd have just 1 reader - Tartelette! *snicker*). The other 75% gets dumped into my personal blog which is for people who put up with me on a daily basis ;) I stay because of the community - it's a good one. You're a good one. I don't bother with finding my voice, probably because I have such an opinionated one. I think you have a voice: genuine, funny, sincere. Just write as you and you're all set. People who try to project something other than who they are just piss me off :)
I started with Amateur Gourmet, Gluten Free Girl and Serious Eats. From there I have foud you, Pioneer Woman, Orangette, Baking Bites, Smitten Kitchen and a whole blog roll of others. I am still finding my voice, and I think the moods and phases we go through are part of what make the blogs that much more personal and real. Life happens, in and out of the kitchen, and these blogs stand to reflect that.
I got started more than 2 years ago, and I still have a point and shoot, haha :) I just put a lot more thought into what I write now. Even at times when I think I sound different, it tends to read the same. But what can I say, I'm always me :)
I first started reading with (the now inactive) A la Cuisine!, The Amateur Gourmet, Technicolor Kitchen. But I don't think I can share what my criteria is for subscribing for a blog these days-- it's a complex thing that involves food, friendship, conversation, and depth. I don't even read The Amateur Gourmet anymore.
This is a great post. I struggle with my 'voice' as well. I know I have one, but I often wonder if it's the voice I really want to have - am I putting the right parts of me out there?
I know most of the blogs you mentioned in your first paragraph but I'd never read Gluten Free Girl so I clicked through... about an hour ago. I've been reading solidly since. She is rather over the top, I must say, but for some reason I'm hooked! Going back for more in a sec...
Hi Caitlyn--
This is a good post indeed! Such relevant musings. As a relatively new food (baking) blogger I ponder the same sorts of things. I completely agree that one's writing voice will sound different on different days, depending largely on emotion/mood, the amount of time available, what the subject matter is, and so on. Among the food blogs I love are Confessions of a Tart, Art of Dessert, Brown Eyed Baker, Happy Love Strawberry, Passionate About Baking, and, of course Tartelette, and Orangette.
Glad to have found your blog now too!
Jane
www.janessweets.blogspot.com
Hi there!
I found your blog through Y, and just love this very relevant post so had to comment. I'm very new at this food blogging thing (though I've had a family blog for awhile that only the grandparenst read!). I started because friends kept urging me to put up pics of novelty cakes that I'd made for their kids.
I love the sense of community in the blogosphere, and I am inspired by (now inactive) Cupcake Bakeshop, Tarlette, Lemonpi, Canelle et Vanille, and a whole raft of others I stumble on through links. The photography sucks me in, then the writing gets me to stay.
And now I've found you! And I think you sound great just the way you are :)
You and I started blogging right about the same time, and many of the blogs that inspired you are the same ones I was reading--Orangette, Tartelette, Peabody, among others. I still read those, and tons of others, when I have the time. A lot of my current favorites are other TWD members, the ones I've gotten to know better through Twitter and Facebook. I like getting to know more about people than just what they post on their blogs. As for a voice for my blog, it definitely took me a while to settle on something, and it's still a work in progress. I stick with baking, which has been the case from the beginning. I like telling stories, and sharing stuff about my family. I like talking about some of what I learned from a recipe, or what changes I made (the scientist in me coming out). And I eventually chose to focus on pictures of the finished products, rather than process photos.
I never really thought about whether your blog has a unified voice, but I like it just fine the way it is. =)
Funny that I just found your blog on a post like this. Of course I had to read all the other great ones right away. That's what I love about blogging -- how you can suddenly find a whole world, created by "Engineer Baker" or "Alchemist Chef" or "Ungourmet" -- and get lost in their thoughts, stories, recipes, and more. I find that most people's voices are remarkably unique even if inconsistent across posts.
I started blogging because I missed my mother and grandmother, with whom I always cooked and shared recipes. I moved from my home in CA to MA, then to NYC, and now to London for the last 6 years. I always emailed recipes and even photos, so one day I decided to put up a blog. I write like I would speak, in a way, and write what I feel about the food. A few anecdotes here, some silly jokes there. The bonus feature is that even my father (the engineer in the family) loves it, and I actually have regular readers. I can hardly believe it.
And, of course, the most rewarding feature is connecting with other people around the world.
Hey, so I don't blog, mostly because I really hate that word, kind of like the word "veggies". But I have been secretly planning to get over it and take the plunge. Anyway, it was an article in Restaurant Management that my boss gave me to check out. I started reading Michael Laiskonis' blog about what they mess around with at Le Bernardin all the time, and was so amazed at how smart and relevant his writing was to me. Somehow I discovered the Zen Chef, Gild the (Voodoo) lily, Orangette, (so nice that she's back), and Smitten Kitchen, and maybe it's pathetic, but these people seem like they could be my friends.
Anyway, you are doing a great job. I love the sour and the sweet.......And maybe I'll run into you again soon.
I think it takes a while to find your "voice". I read back on some of my earlier stories and chuckle at how I've changed a bit.
I just found your blog and absolutely love it. :) I think blogging is an individual thing, and of course it is your voice. I will change or grow, but that's the best part really. :)
What a wonderful & thoughtful post. I began blogging to use extra time, & now I want time off blogging, but am addicted! I bake to blog, just sayin'! Earlier I used to blog to bake...can ya tell I'm confused? I love the polaroid effect! have a wonderful day. The bloggers u talk about have all changed my lofe too!
If I had to pick just one site that got me into food blogging, it would be 101 cookbooks.
What keeps me going, though, are the bloggers that I've "met" through it all, like you. (aww)
Such a wonderful post and so true...my voice changes with whatever is going on in my life. The blog that got me started was kuidaore and then I started to follow culinary types, perfect pantry and then when I "met" Lis, Ivonne, Helen Bri, Peabody and Jenny the blogging got better and more fun. Nowadays, I try to follow the blogs of folks I tweet with on twitter.
I always cringe when I read my first entries too. I didn't know what I wanted to say or how to say it, so I just...typed. Randomly. These days I have a pretty set style of writing, which reflects my science background - introduction, methods, results, conclusion. I probably need to mix it up more, but I figure that will come as I become a better writer.
The blogger who inspired me to start a blog was Jen (urb). I clicked on it while scrolling through the DB blogroll because I liked the title, and then of course her 'voice' and photos are so great that I went back and read the whole thing from the beginning.
These days, my absolute favorites are still hers, plus Smitten Kitchen.
As far as what got me reading your blog, like Jen, I'm drawn to other people with technical backgrounds. There are only a few food bloggers I know who had posted tables in their blogs! Besides that though, it seems we have similar baking and eating habits. Most importantly, you're friendly and outgoing. It's infectious.
Great post. I totally hear you about the "voice". I'm actually not a funny person and can't tell a joke to save my life, but I was surprised when I started blogging to find that most of my posts had a humorous slant to them. But then there are days when I just can't be funny, and I feel bad. But I finally realized that I just have to write what I feel because that is the whole reason most people write. I find that if I try to hard to maintain a vibe that I just don't feel that day, my posts suffer and feel forced.
But I always feel that, with your blog, you are funny, concise, and most importantly, REAL. It is always so nice to come to your site and see a little piece of your life and how it comes to play in your blog and food, whether it is taking a poll for the type of cheesecake you'll make, or cooking for the Superbowl, or considering big life changes. And that is what I love about your site.
Keep your posts coming. I love your blog!
My voice? It tends to drift into academic tone ("anthro-speak", I like to call it) because of all the research papers I write for classes. I try to inject a bit of humor into my writing but have found that readers seem to really respond to my nostalgic posts. Much like you, I think my 'voice' depends on my mood or what topic I want to discuss. I started my blog because I needed an outlet for all of the ideas and thoughts about food and its deeper meanings that are all tangled in my noodle! 8-) In the process, I regained the joy of eating and learned how to be a better, more thoughtful cook!
I follow so many bloggers whom I greatly admire (I see some of them here: Teanna, Deeba, Jude and Manggy!) and each one offers me an opportunity to learn something that I hope will make my own blog that much better.
I started blogging over a year ago because I wanted a scrapbooky way of keeping tabs on our lives (my boys especially), and I threw in a recipe for something I liked. Next thing I knew, I was always posting things I like to eat and really getting in to the picture taking. Now, I can't stop. ;)
One of the first blogs to really get me going was Anna's Cookie Madness blog. We are kindred. I TOTALLY understand about the reading of so many wonderful blogs. I'm 563 posts behind right now and I can't bare to just delete them. Sigh!
But living and having fun is more important and worth it.
I may not get over to your blog as often as I'd like, but for sure try to for TWD and you. crack. me. up. everytime. Love your humor and honesty and FOOD! ;)
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