Meet our local band of bloggers
Whether you are keen on knitting, kayaking or kick-boxing, somebody who shares your passion is probably writing a blog post about it right now.
Blogging has come a long way in recent times. Indeed, the day after the drawn All Ireland semi final between Mayo and Kerry, some 14,000 people logged onto the unofficial 'Mayo GAA blog’ to read reactions to the game.
For anyone unfamiliar with the medium, a blog (short for 'weblog’) is an online journal in which the author posts entries, often including photos or other forms of media, on any number of topics.
The Westmeath Independent caught up with three locals who have created popular blogs focusing on interests in cooking, craft beer, and music.
COREY MINAGH
Blog: Silver Soundz
URL: silversoundz.com
Based in: Athlone
When the nominees in this year’s Irish Blog Awards were announced recently, Silver Soundz by Athlone resident Corey Minagh was among the contenders for the 'Best Music Blog’ prize.
It’s the second year in a row that Silver Soundz has been nominated for this award - not bad for a blog which has only been in existence for three years.
Corey’s site is frequently updated with freshly-minted indie, electronic, pop and rap tunes.
The project started out as a simple facebook page. “The reason I set up a separate page was because I’ve always had a heavy appetite for new music and felt I shouldn’t be clogging up my facebook friends’ timelines and forcing my musical tastes upon them,” he said.
Like many bloggers, Corey has a full-time job and works on the blog in his free time. His page was designed by a friend, Niall Farrell, and the blogging tool Wordpress allowed him to set it up as a website with a .com address.
“My main focus for Silver Soundz is to find new music you wouldn’t hear anywhere else. For example, the Swedish pop scene is booming at the moment with exciting and experimental artists that are doing something different.
“The Brooklyn scene always has exciting electronic, indie and rap music pouring out of it and, at the moment, indie music is thriving in Brighton. Believe me, I listen to everything!”
As the blog grew, record labels began sending him material and he also spends hours each day scouring music streaming sites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp for “unsigned gems”.
“It’s gotten to the stage now where the volume of music emailed to me daily reaches around 100 requests a day,” he stated.
The increased profile of the blog has also resulted in Corey writing articles for music magazines such as London In Stereo.
The next step for the blog is a brand-new look, which is currently being created by an acquaintance who works as a Google programmer in Scotland.
Corey said blogging’s greatest reward, for him, is the satisfaction of pointing people in the direction of quality new music.
“What I enjoy the most about Silver Soundz is the times you post a track, like 'The Brae’ by Yumi Zouma, and it reaches an audience of people who never would have heard it. The feedback you get from that is just great.
“That’s the beauty of music - sharing it and coming across something that’s unlike anything you’ve heard before: that shiver down the spine.”
NESSA ROBINS
Blog: Nessa’s Family Kitchen
URL: nessasfamilykitchen.blogspot.ie
Based in: Moate
Many writers who secure a coveted book deal do so after knocking on countless publishers’ doors. For Nessa Robins, the process was simpler. The publisher came to her.
In 2012, Eoin Purcell of New Island Books contacted the Moate resident to say his office was impressed by her food blog, Nessa’s Family Kitchen, and ask if she would be interested in writing a book.
The result - 'Apron Strings: Recipes From A Family Kitchen’ - is a lovingly-prepared cookbook which earned a string of favourable reviews after its publication last year.
Nessa is now working on her second book while also penning regular columns for this newspaper, The Farmer’s Journal, and Easy Parenting magazine.
It all began with the blog, in January 2010. A former nurse, she has always enjoyed writing and started to work on a children’s novel when she was pregnant with her fourth child. Nessa was also renowned for her cooking and her computer-savvy son, Jack (then aged eight) gave her the idea of starting the blog.
“At first it was just a way of sharing recipes with family and friends,” she recalled. “Instead of emailing them out to people, the idea was to put them on the blog so they could be accessed that way.”
The stylish blog is easy to navigate and her recipes are accompanied by some wonderful photos of the finished products. Not long after starting it, Nessa began to notice that people in England and the United States were among the visitors to the site.
“It was very exciting when I’d start getting comments from people in America who said they were going to make a recipe I had put up on the blog. That gave me a push to start putting more content on it.”
A further boost came in March 2011 when she received the 'best newcomer’ honour at the Irish Blog Awards.
“The visitor numbers started to increase and, by then, I was getting work as a result of it and was able to work from home, which is something I had wanted.”
Nessa now has “almost as many American readers as Irish” and the well-known US website The Huffington Post is among the sites where her food writing has been featured.
“It has snowballed... but it is work,” she pointed out. “I would put a lot of time and attention into styling, photographing and developing the recipes.”
She has not been able to update the blog quite as often in recent times but has a mailing list of followers who are notified of new posts or upcoming events such as cookery demonstrations.
As for that next book? “It will probably be late next year or early the following year when it comes out. I’m taking my time, but with the kids going back to school I should be able to devote more time to it.”
SIMON BRODERICK
Blog: Simon Says… You really should drink this!
URL: simonbroderick.wordpress.com
Based in: Moate
Craft beers, made by small regional breweries, are growing in popularity with each passing year. Athlone native Simon Broderick has been seeking them out for some time and last September he created a blog to write about the flavourful brews which ended up in his glass.
“I’ve always had naturally adventurous tastebuds,” he said. “Even with food, I’ll try something I haven’t had before. I may not like it, but at least I’ll have tried it. I got sick of drinking Heineken or Guinness, so I was looking for something else.”
His blog features photos and reviews of new beers, along with posts on breweries, brewers, and food pairings that work well with specific ales or lagers.
“I’ve had feedback that when food is involved it’s more interesting to a lot of people - they can see that a certain burger or curry goes well with a specific beer. It opens it up to a wider audience, and visually it’s good as well.”
Interestingly, Simon doesn’t use a desktop or laptop computer to work on the blog: It’s all done on his Smartphone - a Samsung s4. He uses the Wordpress blogging app for Android – technology he’s familiar with from his day job as a branch manager for Carphone Warehouse.
The first anniversary of the site is approaching and in the last 11 months Simon has been updating it on an almost daily basis. It’s had over 11,000 visitors, most from Ireland, but some from far-flung corners of the globe. A review of a Japanese beer, for example, drew a significant number of views in South Korea.
The general reaction to the site has been positive. “I don’t really like criticism but thankfully I’ve haven’t gotten any!”
Since starting the blog he has become friendly with other members of the Irish online beer fraternity and also started an informal group – the Athlone Beer Club – which meets on the last Friday of each month to taste and talk about beer.
The Porterhouse in Dublin was one of the only microbreweries in Ireland up until 2006. This year, Simon said, the number will be up 50. None of these are in Westmeath, but he’s a fan of Bo Bristle in Banagher, Co Offaly. This small operation is “coming up with some interesting beers,” the most recent of which was made with smoked malt and is called Smokey Bacon.
His response to those who would argue that a good pint of Guinness cannot be beaten is: “try a 'Wrasslers 4X’ stout from the Porterhouse, a 'Dubh’ from Bru Brewery (in Meath), or any number of others, and tell me a pint of Guinness is just as nice. It’s not. Once you get into craft beer you never look back.”
His enthusiasm for the subject is one of the prevailing features of the blog. “In a word, it’s fun. Obviously I want to 'spread the good news’ about craft beer, if you like, but it’s also good craic. It’s great meeting people and trying different beers.”
When asked about his future plans for the blog, he said the aim was to keep it going and keep building on it. “Down the road, if a book or something like that came out of it that would be fantastic. We’ll see what happens.”