An education and a challenge

I mentioned yesterday that I have a lot of goals for 2012. Debbie & Harry's Kitchen is the focus of several of those goals, including traveling to Seattle in June for BlogHer Food 2012!

I spent a good bit of time on New Year's Day just reading. No, I didn't wear down the battery on my Kindle - I was reading blogs. A lot of blogs. Mostly food blogs. I learned a lot from reading these blogs and will not call out anyone for any reason.

1. Posting Frequency - Obviously, if you look at that little index in the right sidebar, I'm only averaging about two posts per month over the last two years. If I ever want to qualify for the BlogHer Publishing Network, I obviously have to be more prolific. They would like a couple of times a week. My personal thought is more often than that, but I can work on it. I was interested to see many beautiful food blogs that had maybe only 1 post per month.

2. Recipes - One of my downfalls is that I beat myself up for not having a recipe every day nor the food porn to go with it. I learned in my blog reading that not every post has to contain a recipe. I thoroughly enjoyed reading food bloggers that talked about their lives in general and only peripherally mentioned food. That was an eye-opener. As important as it is to me to cook, I'm also very passionate about food safety and education.

3. Photos - I freely admit that I don't have the designer's eye nor the proper equipment (yet) to create tantalizing food porn that will leave a reader drooling. We have improved. That studio light in the kitchen is just the start. My collection of funky dishes and place mats from Dollar Tree is helping. One of my faults is the stainless steel tables we work on. We don't have a "kitchen table" or a "dining room table" or a "breakfast nook." That steel gives a funky reflection in photos and I'm trying to remember that when I'm working on something.

BUT - I saw a lot of well-read (stat-counters) food blogs that didn't include step-by-step photos and sometimes didn't even include a photo of the finished dish. Maybe I'm overthinking the food porn? Maybe I'm not?

4. I'm jealous of swag. I'll admit it - I'd love to open my mailbox or see the hot FedEx guy show up with something someone wants me to review. I'll get there. In the meantime, I exploring a few avenues that will make it possible for ME to run some give-aways.

So, I checked in on BlogHer and realized they have a monthly challenge. Just a means to inspire us to post daily, to build up our traffic. I failed miserably at last April's A-Z Blogging Challenge but there's only one theme to think about this month with the BlogHer NaBloPoMo Challenge: Beginnings. It's a new year and while Debbie & Harry's Kitchen isn't a newborn pup in the blog world, we are still in the beginning phases. I hope I can do this.

So, I'm going to join the challenge. Maybe it's the kick in the ass I need to be more regular with my blog postings. And from my reading yesterday, maybe I can find a way to keep people interested even if I don't post a new recipe with 23 8 X 10 color glossies everyday.