BLOGGING: Five Baby Steps

All week, we’ll be talking about how to use FAIR FOOD FIGHT, and how to write about food, food issues, and contribuing to this site.

REPOST:  El Dragón’s Advice to Beginning Bloggers

I love blogs. Personally, I think everyone should blog — every last person in America. That way, I could track people down in certain regions, precincts and ask, "You voted for what?? You voted for who??" I’m serious. I don’t want demographics that have to be explained to me by Great Big Brains. I want to read the source material. That’s why I love blogs.

I don’t know if you’ve figured this out yet, but Fair Food Fight is like a giant warehouse of unwritten blogs. We have the capacity for roughly eight gajillion member profiles, and, accordingly, eight gajillion blogs. Think of it. A small city of foodies, sustainable food enthusiasts, organic partisans, Fair Traders, farmers, parents cooking for kids, students, and local-food chefs — all bouncing off each other in this forum.

But think of it. What a better organizational tool than a site like this? Websites touting political action in food and agriculture are amazing in their ability to rally tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of letters when food issues come up at the national level. But do any of those letter writers get to talk to each other? Are they having discussions, hashing out their arguments, bouncing ideas off of each other? No, it’s typically one Key Figure dispensing the party line, and the foot soldiers don’t get to talk in the ranks.

Well, we want to change that. We still want to rally lots of people to causes that impact the "real foods" consumer. But we want y’all to meet each other too. We want you all to tell your stories and bring your friends and audiences together with other communities within our communities.

The funnest way to do that is to start a blog. A blog will (a) attract like-minded folks to you, (b) build friendships and links outside your comfort zone, (c) raise awareness of issues in your region, and (d) spread information quickly through the Fair Food Fight community.

But all that means lots of you quiet readers need to start and nourish a blog. Is that scarey? Now, now. Easy. Luckily, you have El Dragón in your corner with many tips on how to blog. El Dragón has been a writing teacher, a blogger, and a professional writer (books, articles, short stories, and poetry), so I can show you how to jump in and have some fun with this forum. It’s really very easy, I promise.

Five Baby Steps to Blogging

1) Start a profile

Can’t blog at Fair Food Fight without a profile. So get thee hence!

2) Pick a theme or subject

Finding one aspect to write about and act as sort of a "spine" for your blog will help inspire and direct your creativity. You can write about whatever you like, of course, but picking a theme will cue readers about what kind of blog they’re reading, too.

So what’s your theme? What sparks your passions? What makes you want to write, talk, argue, rant at friends over wine? Is it cooking? Vegetarianism? Politics? Food movies? Nutrition-lies that corporations tell us? Fun recipes? Fair Trade? Whole Foods Market? Co-ops? Central America? Local vs. Organic? Foodborne outbreaks? Junk food? Animal cruelty? Grass-fed beef? What?

The greatest thing about blogging is that you can let it out. Whatever it is, totally let it the hell out. Whatever turns your crank, you can blog about it, and I guarantee you’ll find buddies who want to read what you’re writing, if it’s written honestly from your passion.

Especially if it has something to do with food. Everyone wants to read about and discuss food. Don’t ask me why.

3) Think about your approach

Chances are your approach to your blog will be influenced heavily by your personality and turn of phrase. People don’t write letters anymore, but blogging is a lot like reading one side of a correspondence. The voice tends to be personal, informal, as if one were writing to a good friend. Even most of the more journalistic and serious blogs have this element or moments of lightness.

Here are some suggestions about how to approach writing your blog. You aren’t limited to these — but if you’re just getting started you might look at these approaches and see which one fits your mood, personality, and especially your passions.

a) Brainy — Blow our minds. Pry our brains open to aspects of nutrition, farming, farm labor, cooking, shopping, buying or whatever sparks you — hit us with an angle that we’ve never considered before. We’d love to see how dang smart you are.

b) Funny — Funny food/farming/food policy blogs are in desperately short supply. People love to be entertained, so this is a great way to build a readership if you can pull it off.

c) Combative — Take on the Powers That Be. Throw down the gauntlet. Rant! Rave! Fightin’ blogs are the funnest blogs to write.  Maybe that says something about Your Humble Narrator? Nah…

d) Informative/Journalistic — If you’ve got a steady supply of solid information relevant to food, a reporterly blog might suit you well. But make sure you cite sources by providing links for proof — readers of this kind of blog like to know where you got your information so they can decide if you’re reporting is trustworthy. La Vida Locavore, written by Jill Richardson, is a particularly well written, journalistic, food-policy blog, if you’re looking for a great example.

But "information blogs" don’t have to be heavy or intellectual. I’d love to see someone just do a blog of recipes. Every day, a new recipe. I guarantee it’d be one of the most popular blogs on this site.

e) Personal/Anecdotal — I had a buddy named Sue who said of her own need to tell stories about herself, "I have the need to mythologize the recent past." I hope Sue’s blogging, wherever she is, because she was a veritable river of personal jokes, stories, scenes, running gags, etc.

Subject matter is never in short supply when you draw on personal material — makes for great blogging. Tell us about your hunt for local food in your area. Blog about the all-organic Christmas meal you made. Lots of readers love reading the details of a simple life.

f) Mix it Up — If you have a lot to say, I think you’ll quickly find yourself shifting between these various approaches and discovering others. There’s absolutely no rule about sticking to one approach, and as you get comfortable with blogging, your approach will become more "you." As a matter of fact, changing up a blog between heavy posts and more personal peeks into the blogger’s life is a great way to keep content varied and fresh.

4) How to Blog on Fair Food Fight

When you log-in, you’ll see in the upper left corner beneath your icon, and under  "My Food Fight." a link that says,"Post a blog entry." Click that and you’ll get a standard box where you can start writing your post.

Once you hit save and publish your blog post, it automatically gets filed under Member Posts, as well as in your profile, and your own blog. You can blog as many times per day as you like.

Try it.

5) How to blog well: 5 Last Tips

 * When in doubt, 3 intriguing links to pertinent articles or other blogs make a decent post. (You can create links by blocking off text and clicking the icon that looks like a chain in your blog posting field.)

* Imagine you’re writing to a friend who thinks you’re the bomb.

* "Brevity is the soul of wit." — Hamlet (one of the longest effing plays EVER!)

* Worry is the soul-killer. Never worry:

A)…that someone writes better than you, because that’s crap. TOTAL FACT WHICH WILL BE TRUE FOREVER: No one writes like you do, baby.

B)…that what you’re writing about has already been said, particularly when it comes to political subjects or the news of the day. Your unique point of view comes out in your voice, the words you choose. Your blog post on any matter is crucial, adds to the ferment, and helps to create consensus in the blogging community (the "blogosphere" as they call it).

* "Controversy!" – Prince. (Never be afraid to piss someone off if you’re stating truth. Likewise, don’t roil the waters if you got nothing.)

* Free your mind. Let loose. Fly off the top turnbuckle.