Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers

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How I Write High-Performing Recipes for Food52.com

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photo of author of piece on writing high-performing recipes.

A guest post by Emma Laperruque

In the year and a half since I joined the Food52 staff as a writer and recipe developer, I’ve developed over 200 recipes — including some high-performing recipes. Many are for my column, Big Little Recipes, which is all about big flavor and little ingredient lists. The rest are ad hoc for the site. While this number is a small drop in our bucket of almost 50,000 recipes, every one taught me something about how to write a high-performing recipe in the digital age. [Read more…] about How I Write High-Performing Recipes for Food52.com

Want to Write Cookbook Reviews? Here are 5 Tips

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image for cookbook reviewingA guest post by Martha Lorden
 
I love cookbooks, so it’s only natural that I hunger for a way to share my interest and enthusiasm. As a result, I write cookbook reviews for Publishers Weekly (PW), a professional trade magazine designed for the folks who purchase books for libraries and bookstores.
 
PW reviews the latest and hottest cookbooks in 220-word reviews. It’s no easy feat to craft a succinct review of that size that is accurate and fair. In fact, it is maddeningly challenging.

[Read more…] about Want to Write Cookbook Reviews? Here are 5 Tips

For Nik Sharma, Developing Recipes is All About Science

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Opening image for post on developing recipes.While a student at the University of Mumbai, studying biochemistry and microbiology, cookbook author and food writer Nik Sharma learned a process that he would eventually use for developing recipes. 

“We worked in a lab, doing medical research, ” he explains. “We were taught to make buffers or chemical solutions. The way it’s done is very similar to [Read more…] about For Nik Sharma, Developing Recipes is All About Science

If You Want to Write a Biography About a Famous Person or Two…

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image for story on writing a biographyAt a conference I attended recently, a panel focused on two kinds of projects: writing a memoir and writing a biography. Moderated by Cara De Silva, the panelists were memoirists Elissa Altman, Mark Russ Federman, Madhur Jaffrey; and biographers Laura Shapiro and Anne Mendelson.

I zeroed in on Anne, author of Stand By the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America the Joy of Cooking. She clutched her typewritten address and read it to the crowd. It was an insightful and wry essay about her experience.

Anne was the biographer of the [Read more…] about If You Want to Write a Biography About a Famous Person or Two…

4 Events Coming Up in the US and Beyond

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Learning al fresco in the garden of our villa in the Valpolicella wine region. (Photo by Owen Rubin.)

Part of being a good writer is getting out from behind your computer to attend a conference, workshop or other events coming up. These are places to network and learn, of course. 

But more imporantly, getting away can help you move forward with renewed enthusiasm and energy. When you get out of your rut, your mind makes [Read more…] about 4 Events Coming Up in the US and Beyond