NaBloPoMo - Day Three

It's funny the things I think about at 2:00am in the morning, lying in bed listening to the wind howl through the bedroom window that is not sealed properly and I'm too darn lazy to get up to close it snugly and lock it so it stops making that howling noise.

I felt pretty stupid this morning when I got up feeling completely exhausted because I couldn't sleep for the noise, until Tom said he couldn't sleep because of the noise either. Two stupid people in the same bed too lazy to get up and seal a window and feeling completely comfortable blaming the window and the wind.

All I can think of lately, no matter the time of day or night, is that it is already November and I don't know how I'm going to get everything done by Christmas because I'm making most of our gifts this year. Focus. I definitely have a problem in that area.

I mentioned this on Facebook, but I don't know if I ever mentioned here. There was talk between the publisher of the local newspaper and me to do a weekly cooking video for the online version of the local newspaper. He wanted me to do something like this cooking video, Cooking with Carla. I was flattered that he asked me because he also publishes a local magazine which consistently features food articles written by two local chefs and I've only maintained a food blog for the online version of the local newspaper (without any compensation) for a little over two years. The thought, Did he ask one of the chefs? If not, why not?, crept into my head a time or two, but I pushed it away because when I initially balked at the idea because of my lack of cooking credentials, the publisher appeased my ego with, "Your blog is very popular. I think you'd be perfect!" Wow. Me?

We started discussing the format. He wanted one finished dish and additional ingredients to film the prep. I would give him a list of ingredients, his staff would apparently purchase them and deliver them to me in advance of the filming. That would be the only compensation that I would receive. I'd cook the dish, prepare the additional ingredients for prep and film the segment in my kitchen.

It seemed like a pretty big project to do just for "exposure" or "giving back to the community," so I started doing some investigating.

The cook/host of "Cooking with Carla" is Carla Morrical-Frederking, a the family and consumer science agent with the Kansas State University Extension (recently retired, but continues doing the show). She has done the cooking show for two years. The weekly video is a collaborative effort between the University Extension and the newspaper and is sponsored by three very large corporations (Walmart is one), probably because of the University affiliation. Carla also does a weekly demonstration at the local Walmart in Hays, Kansas. In other words, the cooking "show" is a paid gig.

Well. What it amounted to was I'd do a weekly video for free so the online version of the newspaper would get more hits, translating into more revenue. Now, there's a deal for ya. Um. No, thank you.

So, I declined. The publisher's response: "No biggie .... we have a chef who regularly writes for one of our magazines who we wanted to use for this sort of thing anyway. Just keep posting your blogs and photos, please." Hmmmmm.

That was in the middle of September. They haven't developed or posted one cooking video. Probably because the chef wanted to be compensated for her time.

And, yes, I wrote a few more posts...okay a total of seven more posts on my newspaper blog and uploaded more food photos. But yesterday I decided to stop. I only posted on my personal food blog, Terri's Table. If my newspaper blog is providing substantial traffic, then I think I should be compensated. Period.

I'm getting a little uppity in my old age.