Links to devour {Feb 2013}

{image: Gala Darling}

Personalising your blog, writing advice and the perils of photographing your food - just a few of the things I'm currently devouring online.....

+ Branding and design extraordinaire Nubby Twiglet addresses 'How can I share more of myself on my blog?' This is a question many bloggers grapple with (including me) and it can be scary to put more of yourself out there for anyone to read. But it is true that blog posts of the more personal kind make for more compelling reading. I feel like I used to write more openly about myself and my life in my former blog and that devoured has a more detached, distant voice. I really want to take some of this advice on board to try and personalise my blog a little more!

+ I'm sure every food blogger and social media meal-sharer in Australia cringed after reading Tim Ross' piece on MamaMia basically paying out taking photos of your food! It's true that everyone seems to be a food critic these days in some shape or form, and while some people might take it too far (standing on chairs?!) I don't see what's wrong with taking an indiscreet picture or two of a restaurant meal, whether it's to instagram it or to accompany a review on a blog, or even for inclusion in a feature for a website or a magazine. I actually like to look at other people's photos of food, for inspiration on what to cook or to help decide what's next on my restaurant radar. I do feel self concious taking food photos though (more-so in Sydney than I used to in Asia, where noone seemed to mind!) and do it a lot less these days, especially as I'm more word-oriented and my food photography leaves alot to be desired! But that's just me. To everyone else, keep the food photos coming!

+ Writer Allison Tait has started a great series on her blog Life in a Pink Fibro called Starting Out, where freelance writers share their tips and insights on writing for a living. Anna Spargo-Ryan writes about working out what kind of writer you will be, timely for me as I feel a bit all over the shop at the moment, one minute doing corporate writing, the next, travel features for the web. Then, embarking on fiction for adults while also trying my hand at children's picture book writing. It's like I want to do it all and I'm not sure if I can, or if I should just pick one avenue and concentrate purely on that. Megan Blandford offers some sound advice on making a career out of freelance writing, with some hard truths about pitching and rejection (the scariest part of any writing journey), and Karen Jane Charlton questions whether you need to do a course to be a writer.

Also:

+ The best 10 cafes in Sydney's inner west {via Concrete Playground}
+ Paperman is a short and sweet Oscar-nominated animation set in 1940s New York {via A Cup of Jo}
+ Inspiration for healthy, easy snacks to make {via In Spaces Between}