Advice for New Bloggers is a new regular feature here at Sarah’s Cucina Bella. Inspired by Dine and Dish’s Adopt-A-Blogger event, and written with my adoptee in mind (Hi, Rachel! Click here to check out Fairy Cake Heaven), it appears every Tuesday.

I’ve told you many ways to work on delivering a high-quality, high-demand blog. What I haven’t done much of is encourage the other side of blogging, but I really should.

What’s the other side? Having fun. And more importantly, enjoying what you are doing. These things are so, so important too.

Now, I will admit that it’s easy to get caught up in blog stats and increasing traffic. Don’t stress the numbers so much though. First off, free stat programs will often not give you a very clear picture of how many visitors you’re getting or who’s reading. Second, and more importantly, these things rarely happen overnight. Be patient, enjoy your writing, and the numbers will increase.

Sliding my teeth into the smooth, creamy flesh of a perfectly ripe avocado reminds me of summer vacations by the beach with my grandmother. I can feel the engulfing sunshine on my arms, and the familiar give of the striped fabric pulled over the beach chairs while sand squished between my toes.
It also reminds me of family trips to Florida over Thanksgiving that we used to take every year. We would go to Mack’s Groves in Lauderdale by the Sea, drink delicious fruit smoothies and order oranges sent to our house. Before leaving, my grandmother would spy the fresh fruits and veggies by the exit, picking up a few oranges, grapefruits and an avocado or two . . . (Sadly, while writing this, I learned that the Lauderdale by the Sea location has been closed. I can’t tell you how sad that makes me. Not because it was a great store, but because I feel like I am losing parts of my childhood one by one these days . . . and it stinks.) Read the rest of this entry…

… You’ve got to make the morning la-ast!

The 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel could be the anthem for my life. I’m always on — from 5 a.m. when Paige wakes to nurse until 12:30 a.m. when I finish the last of my freelance work, I am going. I can’t say I am constantly giving 110 percent as I would like to, but I do my best. Between work, freelancing, raising two kids, trying hard not to neglect my usually patient husband, cooking, blogging, and working out, I don’t have time to get sick and often say as much.

This past week? I got sick. Really sick. Like praying to the porcelain gods sick . . . yuck. (If this wasn’t a food blog, I would share my beloved poem about love that I wrote my senior year of high school now. It has similar figurative language. My professor thought it was genius.)

I was tempted to keep going at full throttle for about, oh, a minute. But I was dizzy, sick and staring at the computer screen just made me sicker. Finally, I conceded defeat and took time off to get better. I needed it.

Read the rest of this entry…