By By JODIE BRUTON July 14, 2015, 2:01 p.m.
In limbo in the blogosphere
I HAVE just spent 12 weeks lost in the blogging wilderness.
You see I started my own blog. Even though every man and their dog has a blog, I only just set up camp in the crowded blogosphere during April.
Five years ago I got bogged down on a name for my blog; someone was already posting under "Overripe", which meant my foodie blog was off the boil before it even got to a simmer.
Fast forward to April when, coincidentally out walking my dog in East Albury, a new name came to me. Polly Wally Strudel: Polly is our 11-year-old labradoodle; Wally was my maternal grandfather who was a Riverina shearer's cook; and strudel appeals to my inner pastry chef.
I was finally cooking with gas ... or at least preheating the oven! There are 1001 tutorials on Wordpress blogging; I skimmed two and started writing straight away. I'd spent five years in blogging no-man's land and I wasn't wasting another second on a widget!
I began: "I write for a living but I live to bake; I am a journalist by trade and a cook by nature ..." Wordpress piped up: "Your draft has been saved. Keep going!" But come time to push Publish, I hesitated. For about two hours; I knew I was committed to post regularly once I hit Publish. I packed the dishwasher, got the kids' clothes ready for the next day, packed school lunch boxes, replied to seven emails … then I hit Publish. Wordpress said: "Yay! You have just published a post to Polly Wally Strudel." My very own digital high-five. Much more rewarding than housework!
Soon after Wordpress told me: "Jenna thinks your post is pretty awesome. You should check out what she's blogging about." Turned out Jenna posts on science fiction short stories and was seeking funding to self-publish her book. Things looked up two days later when I picked up my first follower. Never mind he was called CC and charged bloggers to lift their online game.
Before long Polly Wally Strudel got five likes and a digital gold star. I posted twice a week on my family's favourite dishes. Cleaning the bathroom would wait; there was bloggy business to do, followers to find and gold stars to accrue.
During April I cooked up a storm, photographing everything and scheduling posts for Mondays and Fridays. I made Anzac biscuits with my daughters, whose squashed versions made better photos than mine!
However, come May I had two weekends away and our girls got colds and flus, which lasted three weeks. Baking ceased and I half-heartedly posted about muffins I hadn't made in months. Sleep-deprived one Friday night I said: "How good does muesli for dinner sound? Yay!" I was a walking-talking mama blogger now.
Back in blogging business in June, I posted about dishes I'd made in the past. I have always photographed dinner at least as much as I've photographed the kids. Our iPhoto is full of subject matter; I just had to add words and stir. The only hitch was the girls' school lunches were a little uninspiring late last term. Luckily mandarins were in season; perhaps they wouldn't notice their lunch boxes were lacking.
I didn't know anything was amiss until I arrived at my mother-in-law's place at Springdale Heights last month to pick up the girls from a sleepover. My daughters met me at the door, proudly bearing iced cupcakes. They had told my parents-in-law: "Mum hasn't made anything interesting for our lunchboxes for WEEKS!"
The blog is now on the backburner!
Don't believe me, see for yourself at pollywallystrudel.wordpress.com.
JODIE BRUTON: MATERIAL GIRL
Source:
Opinion: Every man and their dog has a blog, July 2015, pollywallystrudel.wordpress.com
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