A confession - one of those awful, introspective 'me, me, me' pieces that all bloggers inevitably succumb to.

I just want to be alone with my art... not really.

Blogging is tricky. It makes me fret. It shouldn't. You see, I'm a TV writer by trade. I've had a feature film (that bombed) and a few single dramas. I think I've written more episodes of BBC Casualty than anyone else. I've just done a Radio 4 play and I'm currently working on a new drama series idea - no it's not about a home restaurant. I love writing... about other people.

Blogging is personal writing. There's no characterisation to huddle behind. Yes, it's 'all my own werk' but... but... it's like the difference between acting and stand-up. It's my tone that bothers me: all seems a little... daytime TV. I have this fear that I sound like a QVC presenter. Y'know, too many exclamation marks; way too earnest; big scared eyes;  high maintenance. Forever frantic but not really that busy. It's all a bit 'love-me, love-me'.

You need confidence to blog. This is interesting. It's too close. It's a diary. It's all about me. TV writing has much in common with cheffing. You're the creative force, it's entertainment but you're not in front of the cameras. You can hide. But Blogging exposes too many of my affectations and tropes. For a start I am far too parenthetical in my writing. Caveat, caveat, caveat, caveat. And I use the word 'just' too often. And I start too many sentences with conjunctions.

The other problem is the subject matter. It's just not possible to write about food without sounding quaint. I mean, how do you describe dressing a green vegetable vinaigrette or French gnocchi with crème fraîche without massive twee-ness. Chefs/cooks might be ebullient and punctilious and even aggressive when their path to excellence is blocked by an idiot but I don't think they're macho. Perhaps if this was a big beef barbecue blog I could man it up but I'm stuck with herbes fine.