CQ HQ May 2008

I didn't even get around to writing CQ HQ for April, but I have really enjoyed writing my CQ posts lately, after February's period of soul-searching and doubt.

As I look back over the last few months, I have some positive points to report:

1. Readership -- or at least page viewing -- is way up on CQ. In fact, it has surpassed my truest blog love, La France Profonde. Someone pointed out that this is normal, because there is a lot more interest in French cooking than in the Aveyron department! Oh well...

I'm not a big stat-follower, but it is still encouraging to see an upswing of interest in this site -- and it has led to more enthusiasm for the posts I write. So if FP comes from my soul, CQ is finally starting to come from the heart.

2. I joined a bloggers' network, Foodbuzz, a while back. I honestly don't go to it enough or use its social networking function, but it is a perky food site and I recommend you take a look. They have come through with an early promise to fund some redesign on my cooking blog, and that will be taking place over the summer. And I have just taken in FOUR BIG DOLLARS of advertising income from them for January. Hey, that's a Starbucks coffee this summer in the USA, right? (Although not in France where I recently learned on a trip to Paris that Starbucks drinks run at almost 5 euros -- I can imagine the chagrin of American tourists paying for their Starbucks fix under the current exchange rate!)

3. I have let go of the pressure to post often to CQ, having decided that a well-developed post once a week may be all I can handle for the moment, and is more pleasant to write than "posts just to post."

So basically, I'm looking forward to cooking since spring has finally sprung here, I'm planning on posting perhaps less often but well, and I can't wait for Madeline's redesign over the summer!

Cheers!