Parting Words

Dear reader, it’s really happening. My cheese valise is packed, and I’m off like a gypsy to a new blog on Wordpress. On Monday, I hope you’ll join me for a tour. If I’ve seemed absent lately, that’s because I’ve been playing with font sizes, learning a smidge of html, and preparing the virtual finger food for our next rendez-vous.

It’s been almost three years since I began writing on Blogger, and it does feel a little bittersweet to take down the curtains. This site will remain in place as an archive while I start fresh on the new blog. I like clean sheets, clean slates.

I’ve learned an awful lot since all this started in 2009. I never imagined I’d be this deep into dairy and so far from fiction (my original love, my advanced degree), but I find that when doors mysteriously open it’s best to pop through them, even if the hallway beyond looks dark, strange.

Blogging has led to so many good things. A place to commune online. Cheesemonger friends. Adventures in the wild. Many of the people I meet in the artisan cheese world are escapees like me, people who left ordinary lives for a risk, a whim. Some buy goats, I guess I buy urls.

I don’t think of what I do here as a job, but it’s created work for me. Good work. Freelance opportunities. A chance to teach classes on cheese and on blogging. Even a book is afoot. Yes, yes, it’s been a lovely surprise.

Lately, I meet a lot of new bloggers and blog-upon-a-star wishers who ask advice. Here is a speck of insight in parting: don’t worry about generating traffic or revenue. Figure out what your purpose is first.

When I started as a blogger, I pictured this site as a pillowbook where I would record tasting notes for myself. Over time it grew into a small universe, like a second home – more than a chronicle of eats.

A blog is an education. As you write, you discover. As you discover, you teach. As you teach, you meet other teachers. It’s like microbes gathering on a rind to break down a bloomy Brie. Mmm, yes, I’m hungry already.

For all these things, I am grateful to you. Yes, you out there in the ether. People say our culture is dying from lack of connection, and yet I feel more connected than ever. Merci beaucoup.