Questions for bloggers

[jkmt]

Hi Everyone,
I've spent numerous hours in recent months not only hanging out on this forum, but also wandering around lots of TMX blogs. More hours than I can spare really! However, I've found lots of lovely recipes out of it, so thanks for being so open and sharing with your creativity and wisdom. This forum in particular has been an enormous blessing.

The experience has made me curious about blogging in general though. So I thought I'd just ask the questions which have been running around in my head. That way, hopefully I'll shut up the mental chatterbox!

Why do you blog? Is it just because you want to record your own journey (like keeping a diary?). Do you have trouble keeping the blog going? Do you get many followers? For consultants who blog, is there any benefit to your TMX business? What feedback do you get from readers, ie they like your recipes, want something more about the TMX, they share their own recipes, etc?

Just curious and being a nosy parker! Feel free to PM me if you'd rather not have lots of people reading your responses!

Thanks,
Jenny

[Halex]

Hi jenny,

I dont have a blog so sorry I cant answer your questions.

It woud be lovely if you could put the links up to the websites where you found good recipes so we  can all have a look.
Thanks
Hally

[Amanda]

Hi Jenny, I'm happy to answer your questions.
I started my blog as a way to keep track of what I was cooking and also as a way to hone the writing skills I had learned as a student in the Le Cordon Bleu Masters of Gastronomy course.
As a stay at home mother with little interest in housework (  ) I have the time, the interest and the library to research what I write and decided fairly early on to only post a couple of times a week, so it's not onerous (for me or my readers).
I also have a very active profile for my blog on Facebook and Twitter and get plenty of feedback through the blog as well as through those avenues and have actually made some good friends through the blog.  I have also built relationships with other bloggers and foodie types, so it is all quite rewarding.

Cheers!

[achookwoman]

Hi Jenny,  nothing very complicated about my Blog.  A friend set it up for me so that I could keep a record of my TMX recipes.  Most of my recipes are family fav. Recipes that I have converted.  Some recipes are from others who I request permission to post on my Blog.  WhenI have posted on my Blog,  I then transfer the recipe to the Forum.  I have been absolutely amazed at the number of 'followers'.  many are not Forum members.  Hope this helps.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

My blog was a little project that I started when I was a stay at home Mum (full-time) and needing a little something of my own to think about. I love writing and cooking so it seemed like a good idea.  I had a group of thermomix friends that I was regularly sharing my recipes and reviews with via email so my blog was initially an easier way to share with them.  It has grown now and some days the number of visitors registered on my stat counter just amazes me. I don't link in with facebook or twitter as I am happy with how my blog is going as it is (and I don't have any more time to spend on it).

P.S - Last night I went to listen to Cyndi O'Meara with a friend and was recognised by an excited TM consultant as "Chelsea from Full Little Tummies". It was a very (VERY!!) minor celebrity moment but I was chuffed all the same.

[judydawn]

And so you should be Chelsea, it is a great blog.

[andiesenji]

I started my blog because I got a lot of requests from people about my collections of vintage kitchen things, about old recipes I had resurrected and modernized, and so on.

I'm not very up to date on it right now because I have been involved in doing some research on my family tree and correcting some errors that had been entered by other people who didn't seem to realize they had ancestors listed with birth dates later than their supposed descendents.  It's very time consuming so I've had less time to work on my blog. 

However, it is very satisfying to get a comment from someone who has been reminded of a happy memory because of something I posted on my blog.

[jkmt]

Hi Everyone,
Thankyou for sharing your thoughts. It seems like everyone who starts a blog does it for the sheer love of cooking/using their TMX/sharing with friends. Since I'm always raving about my TMX to anyone who will listen, I've thought about doing something similar, but am worried about the time it takes - I'm a writer in my work, so do I want to do it 'off-job' as well? Hmmm - if I were to judge by the state of my house, then time would definitely be an issue! But still, I will think on it. I know I have loved wandering around the net and finding blogs, videos, forums and have got so much out of them, particularly this forum.

I haven't been very organised in collating the blogs I've read - in fact, I've only signed up to receive a couple of them at this point. But I think I might have a look at using Google reader as someone suggested somewhere.  But anyway, I've just done a bit of a search for some of the ones I've come across and liked and put it below. Some you will recognise, some aren't up to date, but still have good stuff. My personal favourites are the first three: Jo's Quirky Cooking, the British Larder, and Tenina's website.

Jenny

http://www.britishlarder.co.uk
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com/
http://tenina.com/
http://tebasileskitchen.blogspot.com/
http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/
http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/
http://fulllittletummies.blogspot.com/
http://bushgourmand.blogspot.com/
http://thermomix-er.blogspot.com/
http://dvfood.blogspot.com/
http://thermocauldron.blogspot.com/
http://www.joysthermomixexperiences.clancie.com.au
http://mykitchenrobot.wordpress.com/

[Frozzie]

just make sure you have the time...i started my blog wiht all good intentions then had little time and it seemed like I could never get back to it...however both kidlets are off to school in september so i should be able to get back into it...for me it was a way to share recipes and my passion for cooking as i had started converting but like i said time is important or the motivation to leave everything else and focus on the blog at east a couple of times a week!!

[Amanda]

I agree with Frozzie.  I try to maintain a fairly high standard of actual writing with my blog and that does take time to achieve.

[Ceejay]

My blog isn't a TMX one but in answer to your questions:

I blog because people have asked me to record my parenting journey as they loved my journal from when my eldest son was ill.  Plus it's a record of my thoughts and anecdotes.    Plus I find it a great way to relax and distract myself from other issues at times. 

Sometimes it's easy to churn out the posts...sometimes it takes me a while to get back to it.  I think I looked at it the other night and realised I have 75 blog posts up since I started it around 12 months ago... that's pretty big for someone like me.

I have a number of followers due to my online social connections and often I'll find people who've read my blog and send me messages after finding their way there through others... it's always a huge ego boost!

[Tenina]

What a great bunch of bloggers we have in Thermomix land! I started my blog for clients when I was a Kleenmaid recipe developer without getting anything published for the customers who had just spent 20K or more on kitchen appliances and got no recipes! I of course became the TMX recipe developer and so my focus changed to Thermomix, and now full circle, am back helping the new Kleenmaid with a few recipes. I love feedback, not something I get so much on the blog, but more on Facebook page…come visit! I also use it as a means of advertising my new ventures, (which by the way, went exceptionally well in Melbourne, thanks to all on here!)
Loving the creativity that is back in my life…blogging is satisfying and also a 'diary' of life as you mentioned.

Hope you do it! 

[jkmt]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I've realised that the area that really interests me is in helping people in that post-purchase/early months of ownership period - helping them use the TMX as much as possible in the way they live their lives - the foods they have always cooked and knowing how to replace some of the things they would normally buy eg breads, yoghurts, etc. But no, I don't see myself as a demonstrator going into people's homes. So I'm playing around with a few thoughts on how that might look for me: probably something web-related.

Tenina, after seeing your latest blog posting, I'm off to buy some rhubarb to try out your strawberry & rhubarb soup! Looks so delicious and I'm sure a couple of members of my family will polish it off in no time at all. DS7 no doubt will turn up his nose, because it's not pasta and cheese! And this child wants to be on Masterchef ...

[quirkycooking]

Hi Jenny! Thanks for mentioning my blog I love blogging! It's my main creative outlet these days - along with cooking & photography & writing - all goes hand in hand very nicely!!

I got started a bit over 2 1/2 yrs ago, before becoming a tmx consultant, just because I wanted to help people who were trying to change to a healthier way of eating, or were dairy free, wheat free, etc, as I met SO many who found it really difficult. I'd been cooking & eating healthy, allergy friendly food for a fair while and wanted to show that it's really not that hard to learn to cook that way, and it doesn't have to be weird-yucky-boring food (which a lot of people thing health food is)... Also just wanted to have a better way to store my recipes. Been writing down recipes for years in the hopes of making a cookbook one day, and hadn't managed to 'get it together', and blogging was an easier way to share the recipes and ideas.  Of course, once I became a tmx consultant I found my blog a great way to help my customers and keep them interested in using their tmx's!! I try to keep it easy to contact me if anyone has questions, and find the linked facebook page a big help there, and lots of fun to have a chat on. Also the chat box for quick questions if I'm online. And Twitter of course.

I must say I get lots of people who ring up to order a tmx who say it was my blog emails that finally convinced them - they said they just couldn't stop thinking about the tmx because they kept getting my recipes in their inbox, and the variety and ideas made them want a tmx! So it's been great for my business, even though that's not why I started it...

Don't always get as much time to blog these days as I'd like to, but even once a week is better than nothing, and I keep in touch through twitter and FB meanwhile, with mini recipes, photos and tips.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[meganjane]

I started my blog after I bought my Thermomix as I wanted to show how versatile it is to those who weren't too sure about spending so much money on one appliance.

It's now become a kind of journal of my cooking successes, my feelings about issues to do with food and a record of my favourite recipes. The Thermomix is featured, but my blog isn't totally TMX based as many people who read it don't own one and I'd like to think that my recipes can be used by anyone.

I'm glad my blog is included in your list! Don't forget, a blog does not have to be public. You can just give the address to those close to you or no one at all!

I only write when I cook something new or have an issue to discuss, I don't sit down every week and think, "I must write something". It's a bit of a creative outlet. I love cooking, I love my Thermomix, I love writing and I love my computer!