Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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

My workshops and conferences

A Food Writing Workshop in Hawaii

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Food writing students working on writing assignments in our beautiful Honolulu teahouse.

I met Hawaiian food blogger Mariko Jackson of The Little Foodie through this blog. A year ago she was a frequent commenter, and told her I wanted to come to Hawaii. I asked if she could help me set up a class. To my surprise, she said yes. Before this point, I had only taught classes for schools, bookstores, or conferences, so I was a newbie at planning my own event.

Our strategy didn’t go smoothly at first. I thought we needed a swanky restaurant lunch to attract food writers, because that strategy had worked well in Seattle. But it cost too much, and not enough people responded. Mariko lowered the price and dumped the restaurant, and to our delight, 20 food writers and bloggers signed up.

Lots of bighearted Hawaiians and mainland Hawaii lovers helped me get the word out. Hawaiians RT’d announcements of the class on Twitter; Amy Sherman of Cooking With Amy suggested some contacts; Catherine Toth, a prominent Honolulu food writer, interviewed me; the Hawaiian president of Les Dames Escoffier told members about the class and invited me to pupus (appetizers) at a trendy [Read more…] about A Food Writing Workshop in Hawaii

Back from Austin, Y’all!

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Just me and a steer outside the opening IACP reception. I’ve already been corrected after calling it a “cow.” (If you took this photo with my camera, please remind me.)

I’m just back from Austin, Texas, land of 1600 food trucks, endless barbecue, hipster farmer’s markets, and 100 degree temperatures that weren’t supposed to start until July. I was there to attend the International Conference of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference, and to spend a few days afterwards with a friend.

My booth at the book fair was next to Jacques Pepin’s. This guy brought every Pepin book in his library for Pepin to sign, and Pepin did it!

The IACP annual conference is one of my favorites, and I’ve only missed one in the last decade or so. At this year’s conference, my only official task was to sell my book at the culinary book expo. I’m happy to report that Will Write for Food sold out.

Here are a few observations and confessions:

1. At the annual awards, every single winner of the Bert Green Awards for Food Journalism was a man, in a female-dominated field of food writers for publications and the web. (I’ve made the same observation before with the Beard awards.)

I corralled Saveur magazine’s Deputy Editor Beth Kracklauer in the foyer of the historic theater afterwards, to get her thoughts. The poor woman was trying to savor her two Saveur awards, and there I was, harshing her high. Though judging is blind (meaning bylines are removed), most of the finalists were men too. Kracklauer wondered if this trend has something to do with who gets story assignments in the first place. We vowed to talk about it more.

2. Views differed about attending sessions. Everyone had a different strategy about diligently showing up versus networking, sightseeing, running around the city eating, drinking or biking. At the start of the last group of sessions, one guy joked about whether he should go to his first one. That seemed a little extreme! Then there were secondary arguments about whether to go to sessions because you should go, versus sessions that you thought were fun.

3. Lots of people were talking about my recent post about conference anxiety and some tried to gauge whether this conference was similar to BlogHer Food in that respect. The BlogHer crowd is younger, but the usual cliques were apparent. I’ve decided that popular and successful people like to hang out together because they understand each other. That is my latest theory.

From left at the Ate.Cafe: Amelia’s granddaughter Delfina; Amelia’s former assistant, blogger Nealey Dozier; Amelia Saltsman; Deborah Madison; Deb’s friend Emily; Joy Canovsky from the Sustainable Food Center (SFC); Amelia’s daughter Rebecca from the SFC; and me. Photo by Ralph Saltsman.

As for my own popularity, before the conference, cookbook author Amelia Saltsman invited me join her at a dinner of family and friends. To my delight, Deborah Madison, a longtime friend, came too. The three of us met and befriended each other at the Greenbrier Professional Symposium for Food Writers 12 years ago. Amelia’s daughter and son-in-law run the restaurant  Ate.Cafe, and they spoiled us with course after course of exquisite tapas.

Cookbook author Martha Hopkins also contacted me beforehand because we had not met and we’re going to teach a class together soon. We went out for appetizers and drinks at Paggi House with the always hilarious food stylist Denise Vivaldo, discussing our upcoming class in Los Angeles on cookbooks while feasting on exceptional mussels and fries, beef tenderloin skewers, and fried calamari. The three of us will join forces to help you make your dream project a reality. Hope to see you in L.A!

4. The best part about attending conferences is [Read more…] about Back from Austin, Y’all!

Storytelling Panel Coming Up at BlogHer Food

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I’m preparing for my Friday panel for BlogHer Food on storytelling. As food writers, we are all storytellers, even though we can’t exactly say how we do it.

So I turned to some experts to tell me: What, exactly, constitutes storytelling?

“Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are,” say members of the National Storytelling Association. “Stories are a prime vehicle for assessing and interpreting events, experiences, and concepts from minor moments of daily life to the grand nature of the human condition. It is an intrinsic and basic form of human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of stories is [Read more…] about Storytelling Panel Coming Up at BlogHer Food

Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop

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One of the winemaker dinners about to begin at the Naramata Heritage Inn and Spa. The conference organizer, Jennifer Cockrall-King, welcomes us at the head of the table.

I’m just back from a few days in the Okanagan wine country of British Columbia, Canada, hanging out with Canadian food and wine writers and bloggers at the second annual Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop.

Most of you are American, so I thought you should know about a food writing workshop in a gorgeous food and wine region of British Columbia, in case you ever need an excuse to visit.

I’m from British Columbia, born in Vancouver, and wanted to get back to the province to see the Okanagan again. As a kid, I remember driving up with my family (about a 4-hour drive inland) to enjoy the the fruit orchards, swimming, and to search for [Read more…] about Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop

Events Coming Up

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I’ll be in Vancouver, Penticton, San Francisco and Chicago in the next few weeks. Please come by to say hello, or consider attending a conference or event.

  • September 14, 2010
    Book Signing and Talk
    Barbara-Jo’s Books To Cooks
    Vancouver, B.C.
    6 p.m.
    $35 includes a copy of Will Write for Food     

    I’ll be interviewed by Nathan Fong, food columnist and TV host for The Vancouver Sun and GlobalTV. 

Classes, Seminars Coming Up

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Man, I’ve got a busy year ahead, with lots of events to come. Here’s whats on the calendar for this month and next, from a two-hour teleconference to a week at one of the world’s finest spas. Come join me!

(If you have questions about whether these classes would be right for you, email me at dj@diannej.com, or comment below and I will answer.)

  • April 22-25, 2010
    Experts are In and Coaching Sessions (SOLD OUT)
    International Association of Culinary Professionals Annual Conference
    Portland, Oregon
    $85-$745, depending on day pass or full pass
    If you’re a member of IACP, I hope you’ll make it to the conference. The sessions are particularly intriguing this year, and held in a food-loving city to boot. I’ll be coaching during an Experts Are In session, and hosting two evening Night Owl sessions on how food writers need to continually reinvent ourselves to stay in business. Find me and say hello.
  • April 27, 2010
    What You Need to Know to Start a Food Blog
    One Night Virtual Class, 8:45-10:45 EST
    $85
    Take this 2-hour telephone class through Leite’s Culinaria to learn about blogging: Why you should start a blog, how to begin and keep going, how to get people to care and notice. Q&A follows lecture.
  • May 1-8, 2010
    Do You Have a Book Inside You?
    Rancho La Puerta
    Tecate, Mexico
    1-week     (stay can be variable)
    $2715 to $4105 per week per person, in US dollars
    Rancho La Puerta is one of the best spas in the world and a bargain compared to many. Join me on your exploration of writing a book as I lead four 1-hour workshops over the course of a week. Take a cooking class while you’re there too, at an exquisite [Read more…] about Classes, Seminars Coming Up

Killer Cookbook Proposal Class Coming Up

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cookbooksI love to teach, but most of my classes on food writing and publishing take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live. On a regular basis, someone asks if I’m ever coming to their town.

Usually I’m not, but next month, I’ll be coming to wherever you are,  with a 1-night seminar on writing a killer cookbook proposal. All you need is a phone.

The award-winning writer David Leite and I started talking about teaching for Leitesculinaria.com a few years ago. Now he has a roster of exciting one-night classes on food writing coming up.

My November 10 class tells you How to Write a Killer Cookbook Proposal. If you’ve been working on a cookbook or food memoir, or plan to write one, this seminar tells you exactly how to prepare an irresistible proposal for editors and/or agents, and how the publishing industry works. These days, it’s harder than ever to get published, so learning what’s required will make your book proposal that much less likely to land in the rejection pile.

The class is a 2 1/2 hour conference call, both lecture and discussion, with plenty of time for questions. A private podcast of it, available only to participants, will be posted online for one month at no additional cost. Come join me for a lively discussion, and get the tools and information you need to move forward as a book author.

Take a look at the rest of the roster, too, coming up quickly. You might benefit from a November 2 class on Finding Your Voice with blogger and cookbook author Shauna Ahern of Gluten Free Girl; or the October 29 class on Writing Perfect Recipes or a Winning Pitch Letter on November 5 with Renee Schettler, former Food Editor for Real Simple and Deputy Editor at Martha Stewart Living.

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