The Long Goodbye

August 28, 2016 by Jen 3 Comments

Hi there, to any people still reading this never updated blog — as you can tell by the diminishing number of blog posts, this space has been dying a slow creative death over the past few years. It’s no coincidence that the frequency of posts on willblog4food has been inversely correlated with the number of posts over at Running Tangents, my running blog. It turns out that, despite my love of writing, I only have so much to give. Or rather, I only *want* to write a certain amount. Now that I’ve created a third blog for work (started last summer), my blogging juices are trickling to an almost drought.

In the back of my mind, I always thought I’d come back to this space and start writing and posting photos about food again. For a long time, it was my passion to try new recipes and share with the world what I was eating. However, because I’m slightly OCD, just the photo posting was pretty time-consuming. With so many (terrible) food photos online, I strove to a higher standard. After manually downloading photos from my digital SLR, I’d spent time selecting my favorite photos, then processing them with Adobe Photoshop before finally posting them on the blog. When I posted recipes, I had the same tendency towards perfectionism. I wanted to give people a complete picture of a fully tested recipe so that it was actually useful.

In contrast, my running blog has been more carefree. Starting over meant that I could set a different tone. I started posting photos directly from my iPhone, unprocessed, save for the occasional Instagram filter. I could actually write and publish a post in less than an hour, because I didn’t have to include any photos at all if I didn’t want to. I’ve also enjoyed getting more community feedback via Running Tangents. Through that blog, I’ve met so many good friends in real life, whereas with willblog4food, I often felt like I was I was writing in a vacuum. (Special shout out to those who did comment though!)

Coincident with my increased interest in running, my passion for food declined. Over 2 years ago, we moved to an area where getting good produce is harder (relative to the mecca of Berkeley). Plus, I started a job almost 2 years ago that required a longer commute. By the time I get home most evenings, I have no desire to cook. Weekends are often spent running and taking care of errands instead of experimenting with new recipes. However, I’ve recently reignited a spark when it comes to food and cooking, and I want to start writing about that more.

Which brings me to this: the downside of Running Tangents is that I feel a little stuck to the topic of running. Even when I’ve written about other things (food, travel, books, etc.), I’ve always felt a little sheepish about it. But I’ve made an executive decision to focus more on the “Tangents” aspect of the blog and write about whatever strikes my fancy. Maybe I’ll lose readers, maybe I’ll gain a few. The honest fact is that I only have time for one personal blog in my life, and I’m accepting the fact that this space is going silent now. It’s like finally saying goodbye to an old friend with whom you shared great memories, but you realize that you’ve grown apart and are no longer part of each others’ lives.

I loved writing for this blog and I’ll keep it up so that the archives will always be available (or, realistically, as long as WordPress allows). My favorite posts were the travel reports, especially the series from Japan, which acted as my travel and photo diary. I also loved the photos from my trip to Paris, Switzerland, and Germany. And of course, all of the photos of NOODLES. (Some things never change!)

Thanks for reading this far. It’s been a great journey. Eat well and be merry!

Still one of my favorite series of photos – dim sum fun with my family (Taiwan, 2009)