Blogging with your senses.
Written by ARWB January 2012 Blogger of the Month, Lyndi Fultz of NWAFoodie.

 

You don’t have to be a food writer to engage your senses when you write.

As bloggers, we often work in the deeply heartfelt emotional realm when writing our posts.  Have you ever stopped to think about writing from the see, smell, hear, touch, and taste perspective?

As we entered into the new year, I took a perspective on where I am with my blog and where I want it to mature.  One missing aspect became VERY apparent.  Many of my posts exclude the “taste” element.

As a foodie, that warrants a citizen’s arrest. 

Instead of booking myself into the county jail, I am challenging myself to improve specifically in this area.

Yesterday as I sat down to write a post about the humble carrot, I tried something different.  I took out a sheet of paper and on the left hand side of the pad I wrote all the senses:  see, smell, hear, touch, and taste.

Free-flowing scribble emerged next to each category as I pondered the experience pre and post roasting.

 

 

The post  oozed mental color.

Let’s try this together.  Take a look at this jar of pickled rainbow carrots.

 

 

At first glance we could describe it as:  colorful, cloudy, inviting. 

 

Now, let me engage the senses:

See:  colorful, cloudy, inviting, a nostalgic nod to a day when women canned and preserved for a future event instead of simply running to the closest Walmart

Smell: as I prepped the pickling juices, the pungent, acrid smell attacked my nose and caused me to pause and ask, “ do I really want to finish this?”

Hear: my husband, walking into the house with panic in his voice “what is the smell?  did something happen?”  (again I question myself “do I really want to finish this?”)

Touch:  crisp, snap, crunch

Taste: think pickled okra, only crispier, I imagine how it will add the perfect touch minced up in egg salad or adding as a pop of shredded color to the humble coleslaw
Better?

The blog challenge for all of us is to try this with our next post (include a link in the comments so we can all read it).  Start off with something ordinary, like your daily walk, playtime with your kid, or movie night with your significant other.  Or something as simple as sipping your morning coffee.

Describe how you feel within.

It’s not just coffee, it is the carrier of life on a chilly January morning as the first sting of heat slips past your tongue, the heady aroma wafting up your nostrils, begging you to wake up and face the day ahead.

Now it’s your turn.

How are you engaging your senses when you write?

Eat well, my friends.  Eat well.

Lyndi

Lyndi of NWAFoodie is a girl who just happens to live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. Much of her blogging inspiration comes from this gem of a place which she refers to as the proverbial land of milk-and-honey.