This summer marks my second year of blogging, so I thought I’d celebrate by adding to the five lessons I learned in my first year. 1. Blogging connects you to lay readers and fellow scholars.  While having my post, “Tofu & Tapenade? The Unspoken Rules of Football,” Freshly Pressed in January brought 600 new followers my way, blogging has also connected me more closely with just a handful of folks in a meaningful way. Jan Whitaker (who blogs at Restraunt-ing Through History) and I routinely read and comment on one another’s work, which made finally meeting her in person at this summer’s ASFS conference all the more enjoyable. Blogging is also one of the ways I connected with Rachel Lauden, famed food historian, who also blogs and tweets up a storm. If you put your work out there, not only does someone other than your mom and prof read it, people who you cite, admire, and would like to work with can read it too—and that’s when the magic happens. 2. Blogging provides a publication platform that’s always accepting submissions.  I (mostly) love writing papers from scratch to fulfill specific CFPs …