Tag: blogging inertia

Yelly Writes

Painful wakefulness

Yelly

I started writing this entry at 23:23.   

I am awake, sitting on my couch and in pain.  I just wanted to stop crying about the pain my back was putting me through.  So I climbed out of bed, walked gingerly out of the bedroom and walked to my front room.  And then sobbed.  

It currently hurts to breath.  But it only hurts on the left side of my body.  My muscles are punishing me for doing something.  I’m not sure what.

So instead of focusing on the pain, I started breathing exercises to push through the pain.  Then I started thinking “Ooooh maybe I can read something to take my mind of trying to forget the pain.”  Because I always think engaging my brain helps me deal with whatever hurts – whether it’s a physical pain or something else. 

So now, I’m blogging.  Which is quite the surprise.  I haven’t actually written anything spontaneously in a very long while.  So in a way, I am thankful for the muscle pain that prompted me to get up.  It doesn’t matter whether or not this post makes sense or is at all positive (I’m writing about pain, so I’m thinking that’s a negative).  What’s important is that I’m writing again.  

I’ve got a few catch up posts to write.  Posts that I started whilst I was at home in the Philippines or in the weeks after I came home.  I need to be a little more disciplined about writing.  It is really like a muscle (hellooooo pain reference!), that needs to be exercised.  The longer I leave writing, the harder it is to approach the writing inertia.

And funnily enough, the only way to fight the writing inertia is to fight against the writing inertia.  What a predicament, eh?

It’s 23:34.  Not bad for 11 minutes work, huh?  It’s not exactly groundbreaking or profound.  But at least I’ve started writing again!

Yelly Writes

Trying something new

Yelly

I’m trying something different in the hope that I can emerge from this writing inertia.  I’ve always written my Instagram posts around a literary quote that fits my mood.  I’m hoping it helps lift this dark cloud over my writing muses.

It’s also very possible that life has become busier than ever.

But if I want to allow my creativity to flow, I need to make time for it!

Yelly Writes

Rice bowls at the ready!

Yelly

About 2 years ago, whilst we were completely obsessed about the London food scene and because we wanted a project to do together, Alan and I started a blog, Pan-Asian Kitchen.  Unfortunately, after starting the blog, writing a few entries and actually buying a domain, it has fallen by the wayside and real life has allowed us to fall into some sort of blogging inertia.  The last post on the blog was in January 2017!

We’ve taken the brave decision to, unfortunately, stop writing for that blog and concentrate on this blog.  Alan will be guest writing for me sometimes on the blog.  This way we’re still sharing our passion for food and photography with everyone and we’re still doing this together.

The next thing I’ll have to figure out is how to move the media files from that blog to this one!  Wordpress boffins, I need your help!  Is there a quick way to move posts from one blog to another?

Thank goodness it’s the weekend soon.  I’ll have time to figure out what to do!

Yelly Snaps

The drawing board

Yelly

I took this picture on a whim.  It was taken at a weird angle and no matter how much I straighten the photo, it would not look “normal”.

I haven’t really been blogging a lot lately.  I’ve been focusing on learning how to take pictures.  Actually, no, that’s not entirely true.  I have been taking pictures, but not entirely “learning.”  It’s only quite recently that I’ve started seeing something promising in the snapshots I’m taking.  I’ve got a lot to learn and I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

I’ve also let the blogging and the writing slide.  I haven’t really, properly, written anything in weeks.  I have these writing projects floating about in my head but that’s where they currently live – in my head.  I keep saying to myself, yep, I’m going to write…soon.  But I’ve been procrastinating and now I’m looking at the blog and thinking, “Really? Is that all I have to offer?”  I know I can write but I haven’t, properly, exercised my writing muscles in a very long time.

I really think it’s time I harnessed what talent I have.

This piano represents my what I’m afraid will happen to my ability to string my thoughts together.  I played the piano beautifully once upon a time.  Now I can’t even remember if I can play Für Elise or Edelweiss anymore!  I don’t want to suddenly not be able to write down how I feel.  It’s a scary thought.  So I think I must think about how I want to rekindle my interest in writing.  I need to reconnect with the creative in me!

Yelly Writes

Who am I and why am I here?

Yelly

I’m late to the Blogging 101 Party but I thought I’d still work on the assignments.  I need to redirect my blogging efforts and relight the blogging fire so to speak.  So in this case, this start is better late than never!

Those two questions are probably the scariest questions a blogger can face…well, to me it’s very scary.  Because sometimes, I forget to focus on the who and the why.

I remember starting a blog on another blog host site.  It was mostly a journal for me.  I place where I wrote about my rants, where I made fun of people who made grammatical mistakes, where I talked about me.  I’m not exactly sure that’s where I found my voice…if I’ve ever found it at all.  But I’m a lot more serious about this blog.  Because I think I’m much more selective about what I write and share online.  I find that as I grow older, I’m more sensitive to how what I put out in the universe affects other people – ripples in the water, and all that jazz.

So, why don’t I just write my thought down in a journal.  I don’t know is the answer to that question.  Sometimes it’s just knowing that you can send things out into cosmos and somewhere someone goes, “Oh I get that completely!”  I think it’s a deep-seated human need to fit in, to belong or just feel like we’re not so different – am not entirely sure that that’s a good reflection on my individuality because it speaks volumes about my need to conform to the mores of society!

I write because I want to talk.  I think I write because I want an audience.  But at the same time, I sort of want the imagined anonymity.  I mean I can hardly be anonymous if I use my photo as my Gravatar image, now can I?  But it’s the ease of putting stuff out there.  Of seeing if anyone finds what I have to say interesting.

I also want to talk about my food journey.  I love to cook and bake and I want to share what I’m learning.  Food for me isn’t just about the physical nourishment.  It also holds a lot of happy memories of family and friends gathered around a table.  Food is an intrinsic part of my growing up, so being so far away from my family, a way for me to reconnect and cheer myself up.

I also love to talk about Filipino food, which I think is a long-ignored Southeast Asian cuisine.  I thought if I wrote about Filipino food then people would see a new facet about the Philippines.  I want to get people talking about Filipino food.  I mean I know that Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern have both visited the Philippines and they rave about Filipino food.  So we have been featured on TV.  There are a lot of tutorial videos about how to cook Filipino food floating about on the internet but I want to add my voice to that.  I want people to know how good Filipino food really is.  We need to be as known as our other Southeast Asian neighbour’s cuisines:  Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese.

I have no idea how the blog is going to help me turn my food passion into something that I do everyday.  If that is even possible (yes, I know it’s been done, but in this saturated market, can I carve out a little niche for me?).  But I’d like to find out what is out there, if there are opportunities.

I think the first goal is to connect to other people.  See blogs that I have a lot in common with, actually read them, learn from them.  Refine my writing style.  Find my voice.  Fall in love with blogging again (I used to blog everyday…sometimes even more than a blog post a day!).  Find out if this is something I want to take further of this will evolve into something else.  I want to hear from other people.  I want people to come to the blog and say things, react to what I have to say.  If it’s negative, please be gentle, but thoughts are welcome!

I’m excited again.  That’s a brilliant start.

Yelly Writes

One month anniversary…

Yelly

…of not being able to blog!

It frustrates me that I haven’t been able to devote any time at all to blogging of late.  I seem to always be apologising to everyone and no one for not being able to write anything.  But sometimes I wonder, are you listening out there…anyone?

I am sitting in my front room guiltily typing out words while I am off sick from work.  I’ve had what seems to be a throat infection for a few days now.  My throat still hurts like heck, even after a 3-day course of antibiotics.  I have had tonsillitis since moving to the UK but not quite this bad.  I’ve had to take one day off but that was mostly to make sure I rested.  I took most of Thursday and all of Friday off sick and yet I still find myself without energy.  I’m hoping to get another doctor’s appointment so that I can be checked to see if this isn’t anything more than a throat infection (I am listening to the doctors’ surgery hold music as I type!).

But to go back to my blogging issue, as with everything in my life, I think I need to just sit down and be devoted to it.  I used to be.  When I started blogging I used to be vigilant, I used to blog nearly everyday.  And not too long ago, I managed to post one entry a day!  The excuse that work is more involved does not fly because I used to blog even when I was terribly busy!  I guess the difference is that, now, I can’t blog at work.

I really need to devote myself to this.  I am going to embark in another blog revamp and I think that’s what’s the most daunting for me.  I want to make sure my blog entries are more focused and that my blog is a bit more of what I want it to look like!  I’m seriously considering getting my own domain and seriously committing myself to writing more and writing better blog entries!

What say you dear reader?  I would love to hear your thoughts!