The Kitchen Reader: Will Write for Food
Where has January gone? I can’t believe it’s already the last day of the month, which means it’s already time for me to write about another book as part of The Kitchen Reader group! This month Sarah of Simply Cooked chose Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction, and More… by Dianne Jacob.
I have two confessions to make: first, I haven’t completely finished reading the book yet, but I am still going to share my impressions and thoughts with you.
Second, I only paid attention to the first part of the title when I requested and then picked up the book from the library, and when I picked it up to start reading it I still thought it was going to be the memoirs of a food writer, not an instruction manual for aspiring food writers.
Despite my disappointment at discovering it was, in fact, a guidebook, I have found the book interesting and very accessible—it truly would be a helpful read for anyone at any phase of becoming a food writer. Although I am not finding it extremely useful to me right now because I’ve been so sporadic with my own writing and am not willing to put the time into trying out the writing exercises or checking out all of the other resources and examples the author points to, I could see how owning this book and having it on my shelf as a resource would be a good idea. I think it would make a great gift for anyone you know who aspires to write for food magazines, is or wants to become a food blogger, or is working on putting together a cookbook.
It would probably be even more helpful if you got them the newest edition (2010), rather than the 2005 edition I unknowingly got from the library! I actually didn’t realize until I read Jill’s post about the book that I was reading an old version, although I had noticed (as she did) that the content felt a little bit outdated and I was surprised not to see a specific section about food blogging (one does exist in the latest edition). Oops!
Despite reading the old edition, and finding out that it does not contain a story as I had hoped, I’m still enjoying this book enough to recommend it. I hope that as I get further along (and maybe even splurge and pick up the newest edition for my very own) that I will pick up some valuable pointers that I can implement to improve my own writing here on this blog!
3 comments
Ha! I can see how that would be surprising if you started reading without knowing what to expect. I enjoy your positive spin even though it doesn’t exactly apply to your life right now.
Too funny, I had the same experience: I thought it was going to be a memoir, I ended up liking it, but I’m not really motivated to do the exercises and improve my writing right now. Still, it’s a good book that might come in handy in the future!
Jennifer, thanks for participating this month, even though it didn’t turn out to be quite the book you expected. I found the advice to be both encouraging and down-to-earth.
I have the newer version and I found it inspiring to read about “big name” food bloggers, hear about how they got their starts, and learn from their guidance.