I once said “I’m not good at coming up with recipes.”
Clearly, this came from a place of insecurity and inexperience. I had yet to start Minimalist Baker and was still fumbling around on another blog. And although I got better toward the end, I mostly just sucked.
But that’s OK. It’s hard starting out. In fact, you will probably struggle for a season too. But the important thing is to swallow that pill, get over it and move on. If you love your topic, the ideas will come.
The Switch
I remember lamenting to John one day about how I would look around at all these other great blogs and feel so defeated. They had all the ideas and they were doing it better than I felt capable.
But instead of letting me sit and mope, he came up with another idea.
He suggested I sit down with a notebook and just see how many ideas I could come up with on my own.
What? OK, why didn’t I think of that?
Finding Inspiration
Gone are the days that I can’t think of recipes. You know why? Because I live and breathe recipes.
I carefully savor bites of dishes at restaurants and try to figure out the ingredients. When I wake up, I check food blogs for daily inspiration. I read cookbooks like they’re magazines. I keep a notebook by my bed so I can write down ideas before I sputter out to sleep. And perhaps most important, I sit down with a notebook weekly – as someone smart once suggested – and just dream.
If you enjoy creating recipes, become immersed.
The Secret
Challenge yourself to dream up ideas without outside influence.
This means sitting down with a notepad once a week, in the quiet, and just writing down as many ideas as you can.
The magic of developing stellar content isn’t just being inspired on a whim. Sure, sometimes that happens. However, most of my great ideas come from intentionally sitting down and trying to think of ideas.
I’m not saying that I sit down and just spill out great ideas. In fact, I think it works a bit more mysteriously. The weekly commitment to sit down and think about nothing but recipes is a quiet reminder to always be on alert for inspiration and possible recipe ideas. It’s like meditation for recipe creation.
Filter Your Ideas
Once you have your brainstorming sessions all planned out, you’re well on your way to dreaming up brilliant content. But, how do you actually know if that content is any good?
1. Create Something Amazing
Ask yourself “Is this truly stellar?” before you publish anything. Are there a million chocolate cake recipes out there and you’re just contributing one more? Is there some way to make it unique?
This will take time, practice and probably some fumbling before you truly know if your content is stellar. But be encouraged and let step 2 be a further guide…
2. The trick of time
Gauge your audience and know what they love. Over time as you publish content, you’ll be able to take the temperature, so to speak, of your readers and know what they love and what underwhelms them. This can be confusing as you can be completely wrong at times. For instance, sometimes I think a recipe will take off and no one takes a second glance at it. But other recipes that I thought would do just “OK” take off and become a viral, overnight sensations. Go figure.
This is a process and you’ll learn as you go, so don’t be discouraged if your audience is tough to gauge at first. You’ll know what type of content does best over time.
3. How do I even start coming up with ideas?
John has reminded me of this time and time again, and it’s probably the most valuable thing I’ve learned in the realm of content creation. At the end of the day, make things that you love and can’t wait to share with your readers. After all, if your blog becomes your career, you’ll be creating that type of content for a long time. It would be pretty miserable if you had to keep creating content that you didn’t love it, right? So let yourself be your first and last filter. Or at minimum, let the things you love be the place you come back to when you’re uninspired or feel you’ve lost your way.
Plan in Advance
I used to come up with recipes on the fly, and that’s great for some people. But now I plan at least a month in advance for three reasons.
1. I can forecast which recipes will do well at certain times. If it’s March, I can plan a few St. Patrick’s Day recipes the week before. This will automatically help my content go further because it’s all of the sudden more relevant and useful to my audience.
2. My content is inevitably higher quality. If I plan a month in advance and I shoot a recipe but don’t like the photos, I have time to reshoot. If I test a recipe but didn’t like it, I can test it eight more times to perfect it. This way my content it always up to my standards but I never miss publishing a post on time.
3. It’s less stressful! It’s amazing the weight that lifts off your shoulders when you look two-three months in advance and say, I have blog content that will at least last me ‘til spring! I can do this. Plan, plan, plan. It’s all I have to say.
Patience with the Process
Whatever your topic is, if you love it you will undoubtedly be able to come up with ideas, even if it takes a little time to find your groove.
And if your topic is one that you like but don’t yet love, give it some time. Like I said at the very beginning of this article: I didn’t think I could come up with recipe ideas at one point in time. Yes, I loved food but I didn’t know if food blogging was for me. Over time, you will know.
If the ideas you come up with are ones that other people find interesting and irresistible, you’re on to something. And in the meantime, just keep sitting down and dreaming.
Before you know it, you’ll be making content you love.
This is all very sound advice. I strive to be a month ahead one day!
This is fabulous advice, Dana! Thank you for sharing your process and tips. Feeling very inspired. :)
Thanks friend! Sorry for the delayed response – just saw this!
Such good, sound advice. I am appreciating this series so much! Thank you!
wow being so far ahead on planning must be amazing!!!
well done
I love this post! So many true and inspiring nuggets of wisdom in there. haha :) Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks Sophie! Glad you enjoyed it!
Dana, this is just what I needed to read, as I’m currently in the dreamstorming phase now. Ha, I meant to write dreaming and brainstorming and out came “dreamstorming.” Copyright! :)
Anyway, your ideas about planning ahead are spot on. My challenge is, I have a full-time job and am the happy momma of a toddler. I would like to post twice a week, but in all reality it may be once. Is this enough? And if so, how many posts would you recommend I have ready to go before I launch? This is probably the biggest question holding me back – the fear of how much backlog I need for a cushion so that I don’t freak out if I have a week where I can’t focus on creating stellar content.
Glad I could be of some inspiration/encouragement, Beth! To answer your questions, do whatever YOU think is best and is manageable. I started Minimalist Baker with ONE post. I had nothing else on the site at the time. And people didn’t mind at all! In fact, it made them anxious for more content. In my opinion, some of the best blogs around today only post 3-4 times a month! It’s all about quality over quantity so don’t let that hold you back! Hope that helps :D
Dana, thanks for this post! I’m definitely guilty of scrambling to create recipes the day before. I can’t tell you how stressed I get sometimes when I realize that I’m scrambling for ideas last minute. Of course, I would never share a recipe that I didn’t enjoy, but I do enjoy feel more relaxed when I have finished and photographed a recipe at least a few days ahead of time. I love your suggestion about sitting down once a week and jot some ideas without distraction. Thanks for these tips!
Thanks, Lisa! Glad you found these tips helpful. Good luck!
I bow to you for working so far in advance. Would you mind sharing how you got that far ahead? I’m trying to pull myself out of the day-before posting schedule I’m in, but there does not seem to be more hours/energy/brainpower in the day.
I basically just worked my butt off! I typically try and do 3 recipes a week, as well as schedule 3 blog posts a week. And when I’m trying to get ahead, I’ll add 1-2 more recipes and posts to that schedule. Granted, I do this full time, so keep that in consideration! Just find a pace that’s sustainable for you. Planning ahead and sticking to a daily work schedule will be paramount to making it all happen. Hope that helps!
Awesome advice! This is useful even for us podcassters who sometimes get stuck on what to talk about. Thanks for some great inspiration!
Dana,
First of all, I think you two are AWESOME! Love all that you are and love that you give so much back to the community. I’m a professional photographer who wants to start a blog. I’m not a recipe developer, although I can cook well and I do have a few recipes up my sleeve. Would love know the blogger ethics about recipe copyright issues. Is it frowned upon to make other blogger recipes, photograph them myself and link back to that blogger?? I would think this was spreading the love, but I’m not sure and I certainly don’t want to upset anyone.
Thanks,
Octavia
This was just what I needed to read! I thought that planning one week ahead of time would be enough for me, but that doesn’t leave mu
(Got cut off) …it doesn’t leave much time to test different iterations of a recipe. It’s a little nerve-wracking trying to cook up a new recipe and photograph in the same day not knowing if that’s the best version of the dish I can make. Will plan/test farther ahead :)
This article was really helpful! I’m just starting my own food blog and am overwhelmed at the process of actually creating my own recipes on a regular basis.
So this article was very inspiring and encouraging. Thank you!
Glad to hear it, Laryssa!
This is what I needed to read for a long time. I’ve been dreaming , like you said, about developing a food blog for a while. I’ve been reaserching a lot to do so and this is so helpful! I am a follower of your blog and let me tell you, it is a huge inspiration, thanks for all the receipes and specially this. A huge hug from Puerto Rico and thanks again!