Ever since I wrote my first post in June, it has felt like I have been holding a full time job. So much work is required to prepare just one post: shopping for the right ingredients, measuring their exact proportions (this is the most tedious part, which I never do when I cook for myself), taking photographs of the food and the dishes and, finally, writing the post in English, which is the most challenging part for me as a non-native English speaker.
Someone calculated that writing a blog with a well-defined subject and sending 2-3 posts weekly takes on average 30-40 hours of preparation a week. This is absolutely true, especially for a novice blogger and, in particular, when you do a food blog with a recipe in each post. And even more so when it is purely a hobby and the increased readership is your only, although also the most satisfying, reward. Therefore, growing numbers of visitors and awards from blog ranking sites count very much to bloggers. Probably everyone, who writes a food blog, dreams to be among The Times 50 of the world's best food blogs and have thousands of devoted visitors every day.
Because I concentrate mostly on cooking and the presentation of my dishes, and I am very bad at advertising myself and marketing my blog, I will probably never achieve any of that. Busy with the family life and its daily ups and downs, I sometimes think about discontinuing this project. But on the next day I wake up and already think about what to cook and share on my blog. I see at the market a beautiful fruit and already know in which dessert to put it in. I find a tiny plate and imagine a dish presented on it. I think it is called passion and the existence of this blog has changed forever how I look at food.
One of the biggest supporters of my blog is my eight years old son Philip, a native speaker and also sometimes an editor of my English, who tries hard to keep my blogger's spirit up in doubtful moments. Last summer, shortly after I started this blog, he made this poster, which he volunteered to hang all over the Washington D.C. area to help popularize my blog. This is my only award thus far, but will for ever be the most precious one. I am the only and very proud recipient of it, so at the end of this year, my first year of blogging, I would like to share it with you all.
Happy New Year!
Bogna
Bogna: as any native Pole, you're way too modest about your accomplishments! Thumbs up and keep up your work in 2011, and before you know it you WILL be on the cover of Times!
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