Thursday, April 12, 2012

food52 Love

I am not sure what has taken me so long to join the food52 community. (For you, Pop, it's like Facebook for foodies.)

I've been following Amanda Hesser ever since she inspired me to write a book about staging. She was a fellow trainee in Burgundy only ten years earlier than I, then moved on to write a bestselling book and write for the New York Times (no big deal).

Then a couple days ago, she wrote this article that changed everything for me. It's called "Advice for Future Food Writers," but could apply to any writer, or really any person in any industry, because each business is challenging in its own way. Hesser gives a very honest but encouraging look at writing in a world where all I hear is wild praise, or doom and gloom criticism.

Maybe I lied, and the article didn't change anything for me, if I'm being honest. I wake up every day and want to write, not because I imagine I can ever count on it paying the bills, but because I have to do it. It sure does help to have support from someone who's been in the trenches and can look up and say, "it's a long road, just keep on going." I know this, but always need to hear it. It's a good reminder that we are meant to keep having experiences for material, and mainly to keep writing.

Which would mean keeping fun distractions like social forums down to moderate use.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm co-hosting an informal Twitter chat on the subject of the future of food writing and thought you might be interested in participating. I read your comment on this article - and totally agree that it's a good balance of criticism and determined optimism! - and would really appreciate it if you could spare a few minutes to join us.

The chat will use the hashtag #futurefoodwriting and take place on this Friday the 20th at 2 PM (EST). Jonell (@RamblingEpicure) and I (@melbise) will pose a few questions to get the ball rolling and then hand off to participants' comments and further questions. Please also feel free to pass this information along to anyone else you think would be interested.

Ravenous Woman said...

#futurefoodwriting sounds great, I'm so there! Thanks for reading, Melissa.