Brooke Burton of Foodwoolf puts her food writing chops to use.

Yesterday at breakfast here at Club Med Ixtapa Food Blogger Camp, I cast around for the perfect food on which to base a food writing exercise using all the senses.

(You remember which senses I mean, right? Let’s review:

• Touch
• Taste
• Sound
• Sight
• Smell.)

Then I saw individual boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Pops at the cereal station. Perfect! They would trigger childhood memories, make us laugh, or inspire rants about their sticky sugariness. I could use them to discuss food writing techniques like metaphor and simile, and powerful action verbs.

To warm up the crowd, I quoted from an email I got from Ann Haigh about analogies and metaphors found in high school essays:

• She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
• She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
• The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

And then the participants set to work.

Matt Amendariz of MattBites takes a break from his usual travel writing.

Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic was first to read. That takes courage in a group of peers.

Jaden Hair declared that the cereal made excellent fangs. Would you guess that she's a mom?

The results delighted me. That’s what always happens. Those who read their work wrote sensuously, with humor, emotion and evocative scenes from childhood and family life. (See examples in the comments on my earlier post on sensuous writing.)

What’s the secret to unleashing your creativity during writing exercises?  My short video about writing exercises explains.

Try it for yourself (not necessarily with Corn Pops), and enter Will Write for Food’s 150-word sensuous writing contest. Deadline is Saturday at midnight.

And for a student’s eye-view of this class, see this post by Dianasaur Dishes.

(Thanks to Owen Rubin the photos of Brooke, Matt and Garrett; to Matt Armendariz for the photo of Jaden: and to Diane Eblin for the video.)

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I’m  adjusting to this new format of food writing and blogging conference, where hanging out is a big part of the day. Today I’ve walked along the beach in the surf, done yogalates with David Lebovitz and Matt Amendariz, gave Nancy Hachiso a quick Twitter lesson, had lunch with Michael and Donna Ruhlman, and now I’m sitting in the bar, waiting for the presentation at 3 p.m.,when Jaden Hair and David Lebovitz discuss book proposals, with a handout from me.

You’ll just have to join us next year. Really. You can relax and network simultaneously. And the presentations have been excellent. See this post from Diane Cu of White on Rice for a report on food writing, food styling and photography.

In Michael Ruhlman’s  talk abut the writing process, Stephanie Stiavetti asked about burnout. Michael said to just turn off the social media and do the work (Wait! Not yet!).

“Be ruthless. Make 2-3 hours of dedicated, focused writing time with no one intruding,” he advised.”Turn off email and Facebook. Don’t you dare click that get mail button.” That got laughs of self-recognition from the crowd, many of whom are Twittering (see #fbcamp).

It made even more sense when he asked if you would you invite a crowd into your office when you had work to do. No. Now, back to your writing, which I hope was already in progress. Thanks for dropping in.

See further posts here:

Food Blogger Camp, Part 1 (David Lebovitz)

Food Blogger Camp, Part 2 (David Lebovitz)

All I Got From Food Blogger Camp… (Steamy Kitchen)

Food Blogger Camp: Food Writing, Photography & Styling Tips (White on Rice Couple)

Food Photography, Getting a Cookbook Deal & Zihua Market (White on Rice Couple)

Food Blogger Camp at Club Med Ixtapa (Dianasaur Dishes)

Clicking the Mental Refresh Button in Ixtapa (Foodspiration)

Food Blogger Camp Part Uno (A Beach Home Companion)

Food Blogger Camp Part Dos (A Beach Home Companion)

Food Blogger Camp Part Tres (A Beach Home Companion)

Food Blogger Camp Tips & Insights (Dianne Jacob)

Sensuous Writing with Corn Pops (Dianne Jacob)

Eating in Paradise (Frantastic Food)

Sunset (Frantastic Food)

A Day at the Beach (Frantastic Food)

And He Said, “Let there be light” (Frantastic Food)

Constants (and Tequila) (Vanilla Garlic)

Zihuatanejo Market: A Short Tour (Vanilla Garlic)

Food Blog Camp Flickr Pool (Photos)

Food Blogger Camp: Ixtapa, Mexico 2010 (RecipeGirl)

Ixtapa Food Blogger Camp Recap (Wasabimon)

Food Blogger Camp Top 10 (Matt Bites)

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Let’s hit the beach, bask in the sun and get to know each other. I’m delighted to announce the first annual Food Blogger Camp at Club Med Ixtapa Pacific in Ixtapa, Mexico, January 9-16, 2010.

Club Med is giving away accommodations for seven nights, coach airfare, and a scholarship for one sweepstakes winner. You’ll get to meet and hang out with me, plus some of the most talented food bloggers, authors, and food photographers in the business.

At the Boot Camp, we’ll have workshops on how to improve blogging, photography and multimedia skills. I’ll lead a workshop on writing with the senses, and I know I’ll chime in when Jaden Hair and David Lebovitz share their stories on getting published, including drafting a proposal and working with or without an agent. We’ll also take a walking tour of the Zijuatanejo market, taste tacos and tequilas, visit a fisherman’s market and talk with local farmers about sustainable agriculture.

This event is open to all food bloggers. Please read the contest rules before entering. To enter, just leave a comment below, with a link to your blog in the URL. To increase your chances, add a comment on the participating blog sites of these instructors:

• David Lebovitz
• Diane Cu and Todd Porter, White on Rice Couple
• Jaden Hair, Steamy Kitchen
• Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites
• Michael Ruhlman.

You can also have an extra entry here at Club Med during the contest run dates.

The contest begins now and ends on Sunday September 13, 2009 at 11:59 p.m EST (US). Club Med will draw a winner at random from comments on participating websites and Twitter followers on or around September 15, 2009. The winner may bring a guest for the discounted price of a double occupancy room. Guest airfare is not included. If you have already paid and win the sweepstakes, Club Med will refund your payment.

To book the trip:

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “CLICK HERE TO BOOK.”

2. Use Login: blogger, Password: 160606 to get the Food Blog Camp discount price of $599 to $999 (US) based on double-occupancy and length of stay.

3. On the drop-down menu, choose “Ixtapa.” Type in the dates January 9-16, and 7 days. The booking page will open showing the discounted price just underneath the regular price. (It should say “Best Available Offer: Food Blogger Camp.”)

For questions, call 1-888-WebClub. See you there!

9/15/09: Congratulations to sweepstakes winner Casey Barber of Good. Food. Stories.

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A while back I read a piece in the New York Times called “Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest.” It said that according to a survey by Technorati last year, only 7.5 million of the 133 million blogs it tracks were updated in the past 120 days. That means 95 percent are not active with any regularity.

Whoa. I’m trying for two posts per week. It’s only been a month since I started this thing, and I am still surprised by how long it takes me to write and publish an entry. Even if it’s short, it takes several hours. What I’ve learned so far is not to start a new post on deadline day, but to have some  ideas and maybe a preliminary draft in the hopper. (Of course, when I’m advising clients about starting a blog, I tell them to come up with a list of 10 topics before they begin. Easier to dish it out, apparently.)

Looking for inspiration, I asked some food bloggers about creativity and productivity. I started with Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen:

Q. Do you have an editorial calendar to determine blog posts?
A. Absolutely. Mondays and Tuesdays are my highest traffic days, so I usually post Sunday night or Monday morning, depending how good the TV shows are on Sunday nights. I also find time to post Wednesday or Thursday. Twice to three times a week is my norm.

Q. How far in advance do you write drafts?
A. I don’t write drafts, unless they are recipes that I’m working on. Blogging is a spontaneous medium. I write exactly how I feel in the moment and I’d just feel strange if I was writing for tomorrow.

Q. How do you keep the inspiration flowing?
A. By having fantastic support group and friends like Elise (Simply Recipes), Diane (White on Rice Couple), and Bee ( Rasamalaysia). We’re always throwing ideas back and forth, listening to each other rant and rave, and teaching each other things. We’re a team. That’s important. Plus there’s a whole ‘nother side of blogging that isn’t talked about much: the “job” of blogging. My full time job is my blog, which is very different than 99% of others. The technical and monetization side of blogging certainly keeps me on my toes. Between those three areas, I get all the variety and excitement I need for the week.

Anytime I need inspiration or feel like I need a kick in the pants, I usually start a new branch or project. My newest one is Good Bite.

Q. How many hours per week do you spend on your blog?
A. You don’t want to know.

Then I asked another veteran, Amy of Cooking with Amy, for advice. She said she’s almost always composing posts in her head. “By the time I sit down to write it generally goes pretty quickly. I also no longer beat myself up if I only get one or two posts out a week. I try to write something then save it as a draft and return to it later to edit it.” Sarah at Lettuce Eat Kale said she keeps an editorial calendar and plans a month ahead. She posts three times per week. “The best advice I got,” she said, “Is post when you can, keep it fun. If it feels like a chore or burden or added stress, then step back and think about what your goals are. So far, I look forward to writing my posts.”

Now I feel more encouraged. It’s always satisfying to reach out an talk with people who know more about this than me. I also found a terrific article on ProBlogger, “Seven Ways to Keep Fresh Content Flowing. ” And I’d like to learn more.

What about you? If you’re a blogger, how do you keep the posts coming? Do you plan out an editorial calendar? Block out time in your datebook? Write lots of drafts and store them until ready? Please share your strategies with me. I’m the new kid on the block.

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