Lucullian delights
Ja, du, Ilva, även om jag bara har bloggat lite så känner jag igen känslan ändå. Hur statistiken blev viktig, hur konstigt det kändes när främlingar visste saker om mig och hur jag slutade att njuta av livet och började jaga fina bilder som jag kunde publicera på bloggen. Det tog tid, tid som jag tog från andra. Men visst var det roligt också. Det du beskriver, och som många verkar känna igen sig i, det är verkligen ett ämne mediaforskare borde fördjupa sig i. Kanske gör de det redan? Eller så börjar du med det! Jag känner flera som har börjat blogga och som sen har blivit irriterade över att folk har läst deras blogg, folk som de inte hade tänkt sig skulle läsa. Det verkar som om våra medvetanden inte riktigt har förstått internet än. Eller något. Hur som helst är det alltid en njutning att landa här hos dig!!!Kram på dig!
Massor med intressant att diskutera i det här ämnet. Jag är helt säker på att många ibland ångrar att de utelämnat för mycket av sig själva eller sin familj. För ibland är det lätt att glömma bort vilken dignitet det skrivna ordet kan få. Du håller dig väldigt bra till att vara personlig men inte för privat tycker jag. En bra avvägning, ändå kan det förstås vara saker som ibland kan kännas onödigt att ha skrivit om. Jag tycker fortfarande att det är jättekul med bloggandet, men gör alldeles för få inlägg och får lite dåligt samvete av det. Samtidigt är det så lätt att timmarna försvinner när man bloggar och läser andras bloggar... Matblogg tar ju dessutom extra tid i form av recept. Du är så otroligt ambitiös, håller hela tiden hög klass på såväl inlägg som foton och recept.
You have really captured it when you say "blogging is not easy." It's such a microcosm of life in general, so many different motivations, all the emotional involvements, and then the general drudgery of maintaining the creative process even when life is tugging you in other directions. There is no answer to it of course, either we keep going or we don't. I don't really think about quitting, but I do notice some days it's very hard to keep focused. I do think if I stopped, what I would miss the most is the interactions with bright, creative people from all over the world, and yet ironically enough, when I get caught up in the day-to-day effort, the social part of blogging is the part I find difficult to make time for!
One more thought (and I have said this to you privately I think, but it does go with the discussion here) I really think that Twitter and Facebook have changed blogging in ways that aren't necessarily nurturing to the bloggers. Of course, there is the good and bad of it, but when there was only blogs, you had to visit the blog to see how that person was doing. Now there are so many sources of information, it's easy to get overloaded and lose sight of the blog, which I think is never intentional but does happen. And we all care about our own blogs more than we do about what people write on Twitter or Facebook, that's only human nature, so it's rather a dilemma. I notice my own list of "must read" blogs keeps getting smaller, but Lucullian will always have a permanent place on that list!
I never get bored with your blog...read whenever you post and I am always looking at your recipes 
I do understand what you are trying to put across, everynow and then I think "who is reading this?" Why am i doing it, will I have anything to do soon, you know it goes on and on..but been doing it three years in January.
What a wonderful way to prepare butternut squash! Love it!
Love this recipe.
As for blogging, it has its ups and downs but I'm glad you kind of encouraged me to start one through PC because I would never ever have started keeping a 'sourdough culture' as a pet otherwise and as we speak, I'm letting this nice little multiseed loaf rise.
Well said Ilva, those very thoughts have crossed my mind lately. I'm not on Twitter or Facebook, I have a hard enough time trying to get a post up. Life today has us in so many different directions that I feel I need to focus on other things besides my blog. I only thing is, I think I would miss it if I stopped so I'm just trying to be more balanced with it for now. Like I said to you before, your blog introduced me to the world of food blogs, and I was so encouraged to start my own thanks to you!
Marie
Ilva nice to see you back. I hope you feeling better. I find it comforting to know I wasn't the only blogger having doubts about blogging. I feel I'm back on track now I've sat down and thought about and put my feelings down.
I agree with both you and Kalyn - blogging is difficult! There's a changeover that happens when you stop doing it for yourself and more for others, or at least when you realize more people are reading. It's like when someone takes a picture of you - you get a very different photo if you are aware of the photographer than if it's a candid shot.
Looks delicous and easy to make.
Imagine what it’s like to be a new blogger who can only hope to be as successful and talented as the pioneering blog-women (and men), like yourself, who have come before you!! I have been sitting on a blog idea since 2005 waiting for inspiration on a truly unique angle (which actually hit this past weekend!). So I have been thinking ‘blogs’ too, but in their infancy.
I have considered the public “hanging it all out in the wind” perspective of blogging, and came to the conclusion that blogging online makes one just as vulnerable as any artist is to the opinions of others, whether they write books, or show photos in a gallery. Comments on performance come at lightning speed nowadays thanks to the internet, for bloggers or not. And like anything in life – there are always those who detract from one’s best efforts, both bullies and those who feel they are being genuinely helpful. Trying to win them over is simply human nature. In fact, as we in essence are self-employed, the public’s comments are like feedback from a boss or editor. Unavoidable. I see that many bloggers are privileged not to have to endure the ‘going out of the home to work for others’ on a daily basis at this point in their lives. Maybe that is why they still set working-life standards for themselves, out of habit!
An annual review at work is considered necessary, and perhaps for bloggers as well. If you were writing a university paper, you’d solicit advice and information, and at some point, you’d turn it all off and write the damn thing from your own voice within! If it’s the ‘voices’ that are standing between you and the pureness of your intentions for keeping an online diary, then why not just turn off the COMMENTS section of your site until further notice?
I only follow 2 blogs – and one of them is yours. I carefully chose blogs that nurture where I am at in life right now. So Ilva, you in all your frankness and day-to-day musings, have been a source of inspiration for myself, and others too I’m sure. Whether I receive a 'subscriber notice' that you posted thrice weekly or once monthly, it’s all good with us.
I hope your ‘annual review’ inspires you to continue. And when you find a new area of interest that tugs at your sleeve, and you can no longer justify the time and effort to blog for yourself, think of the high tech computer skills and online resume you will be left with to carry forward into your next adventure!!
But, I think how wonderful it is for you to have built a successful blog where you can share your most intimate thoughts and touch so many virtual friends who care about you.
These blogging thoughts are what lots of bloggers (if not all) have. I've said before I've have a sort of love and hate relation with my blog. I've read Barbara's post too and saw how many reactions there were on that. I think you have to blog for yourself in the first place. I've tried keeping up with FB, Twitter and stuff, but there's just no way I'll ever manage that. I wouldn't be able to anything else ever than sitting behind this PC. So I try not too feel too guilty and blog whenever I feel like it.
Thank you all for your input, I agree with each end everyone of you and I am very happy that you took the time to comment on this. I agree with Kalyn that Twitter and FB is somehow destructive for blogs even though they might do good to the community. Personally I am a bit reluctant to it but still, it is a nice way to keep in touch with people.
And thank you so much for your kind words about my blog, one of the nicest things to hear as a blogger must be that you have inspired someone to start a blog for themselves!
and Primordial Soup, I feel honoured to belong to that exclusive group of blogs you read!
Commenting by HaloScan
