Forest Street Kitchen

More accurately, I am quitting “Holidailies” for reasons that will benefit all of us. It seemed like a good idea at the time, to motivate myself to write an entry every day. I met that goal during November, participating in NaBloPoMo, so it seemed like if I could do November I could do December. I signed up for Holidailies and plugged away. (Edited to add: I see that there are lots of hits for the post, and feel that I’m disappointing folks who are intrigued by the title, assuming I am going to tell an angst-y tale of suicidal despair, only to discover that this is really only about my desire to quit holidailies. I apologize!!).

Therein lies the problem. It is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile “plugging” with light hearted, capricious and entertaining. If it were my actual job to write an entry every day, I’d do it. If I wrote a “regular” blog about my thoughts on life in general, I could probably do that, too.

The thing about a food blog, though, is that in order for it to be interesting to anyone there have to be some great recipes, great photos and/or great thoughts about food and cooking. At this time of year, my cooking life jumps erratically from throwing sandwiches together between shopping and evening engagements to spending hours creating a Buche de Noel for Christmas dinner. I may have a great deal to say about the latter, but my keen insights into turkey and Swiss on an onion roll are limited.

So I find myself thinking of things to write about, many of which of late have been uninteresting even to me, and that is the kiss of death as far as I’m concerned. I have loved blogging about food because I was excited about everything from what was fresh at the Farmer’s Market to trying out a new cook book for the first time. At the moment, I am occupied with other parts of my life and while I still like nothing more than inventing something wonderful for a meal or a snack, I am not feeling like doing that on command.

Programs like NaBloPoMo and Holidailies are great support for rigor and discipline in writing. I have never had problems with either of those things; I struggle far more with creating something fresh, funny and exciting for my readers and myself. I think its time to take a break, let my creative juices (mostly garlic and olive oil, in my case) begin to flow again, and write when I have something interesting to write. Thanks to all of you who bore with me during the Forced March.