And to write better is to be a better blogger
by Lorelle VanFossen
Bloggers and would-be bloggers, allow me to cut to the chase and begin this article with two important questions:
1. Are you really a good writer? If you know you’re weak in this area then you need to get some help. Take a writing course at a community college, or at the very least have someone proofread your work before posting it. A poor writer can make the most interesting topic boring, while a great writer can turn the most mundane task into a true joy to read. (Example: Dr. Seuss on morning breakfast.)
2. Do you enjoy writing? Trying to be a blogger without a fundamental love of writing would be like trying to be a dentist who finds halitosis repugnant. These things just don’t go together, and eventually you are going to quit.
So says John Pozadzides in 16 Tips for Blog Idea Brainstorming, on the two most important tips to consider for successful blogging. Iagree. In order to blog well, you must know how to write well. In order to blog better, you must enjoy the process of writing, thus the blogging experience. (By the way, you’ll find links to all the sources quoted here in “Blogging Links and Leads.”)
While blogs are many things, including podcasts, videos, and galleries, a blog is about writing. Search engines collect words into their indexes. People search using words, even when searching for images, podcasts, and video. It’s all about the words. If you lack good writing skills, or if writing is a pain and a bore, then blogging is going to be painful.
As you consider your career or hobby in blogging, whatever the format, ask yourself if you are a really good writer and if you enjoy the writing process. If the answer to both questions is yes, then you’re on the right track.
The Art of the Written Word
Ask a published writer what it takes to be a successful writer and he or she will likely respond with the Carnegie Hall cliche: practice. Writing is a skill. It’s also an evolving and ever-changing art form.
In “The right word without pause,” Jaded Listener explains:
Each time Iread a British political biography Iam struck, as Iwas recently by William Hague’s life of William Pitt the Younger, by the importance of oratory in British politics. The ability to speak well on one’s feet is the most important prerequisite to exercising power in that country. In the House of Commons, where the only real power exists outside the judiciary, nobody achieves prominence who has no capacity to express himself — or herself — lucidly and extemporaneously.
Without the skill to express yourself well and lucidly, your blog may lack the energy and clarity needed to convey your message, as well as attract and keep readers. You must hone your blog writing skill to talk with, not just to, your readers.
When it comes to developing story ideas into published blog posts, it’s constantly a question of whether or not you write well and if you enjoy the writing process. The two questions at the beginning of this article are critical to the success of your blog. Let’s look at the second question first.
Do You Enjoy Writing?
Once you’ve gotten past the stumbling blocks, you will start to enjoy writing. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it will come with practice and determination. In Pozadzides’ article, he makes another important point:
I’m always blogging — even when I’m not at my computer. When I’m not connected, Imake notes. Lots of them. Reminders of URLs Iheard mentioned on TV or by someone in passing. News that Iheard on the radio while driving. Topics of interesting discussions Ihave with people which are intellectually stimulating. There are note pads and pens in the arm rests of my cars, and Itry to keep a little pad of paper in my back pocket at all times. Iguess I’m just like a reporter in this sense.
If you enjoy writing, then story ideas come calling at your door. Anything is a potential blog post.
Or should Isay “everything” is a potential blog post.
No matter what you blog about, anything and everything can be turned into a blog post. You start with a concept, which turns into an idea that you can then turn to match your blog’s content.
Ideas for blog posts can come from reading your feeds, the news, comments on your blog, searching the Web, reading books and magazines, or even walking down the street. Ideas can just pop into your head or be triggered by some incident or overheard conversation.
When your mind is open to the thought that anything and everything can be a potential blog post, writing becomes exciting.
I’ve read powerful posts written in response to a conversation heard during lunch at a nearby table. Or stories that had me laughing in tears over the act of bending over to pick up a penny, which was easier when you were 10 than it is now that you are 60. Or had me crying as the blogger shared feelings over the loss of a pet, something that all of us go through, but this story gave it new meaning — just in the telling.
I’m often asked how Ican write so much about blogging. Once you’ve covered the basics, what’s left? Because Ilove the concept and ability blogging offers any human being in the world to share thoughts and ideas, Inever run out of story ideas. There is so much to write about blogging — from every angle and perspective, some of them my own, and some of them found through the eyes of other bloggers — that Iwant to share with my readers.
When you’re passionate about your blogging topic, you’ll find that everything is a blog post, and there are stories everywhere you look and listen.
Engtech of Internet Duct Tape shares an important point for writing blog posts in 7 Ways to Find Your Muse:
You have a hidden weapon of mass communication in your blogging arsenal: no one else is living your life and the unique point of view that it gives you. Having multiple interests lets you see something common in an entirely different light.
If you enjoy what you write, then use your weapon well and share your unique perspective on the subject.
Each of us comes to a subject from our own point of view, with all of our experiences, life lessons, and knowledge that brought us here to the “now” in which we blog. We must honor those experiences as we write, sharing what we’ve learned as we develop our blog posts.
For those who really enjoy writing, their passion for the written word inspires learning more about how the language works. About how to turn a phrase to make your point stronger. About choosing the “right word” in the right way, even pulling from foreign languages and current language fads to stay au courant. To paraphrase a famous quote by James D. Nicoll, “English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.”
To write better, you have to dig through those pockets of learning to improve your blog writing skills.
Are You Really a Good Writer?
Anything that gets between you and your blog’s publish button can halt the idea on its way to being a published post. If you’re not a good writer, the process of writing the story can slow you down, and even stop you.
If you don’t have the writing skills to publish your thoughts, ideas, and knowledge, then the process of blogging isn’t fun as you struggle over words, spelling, sentence structure, and how to get your idea across. The more frustrated you get, the less enthusiasm you have for writing, thus, the faster you lose interest in blogging.
Good writing skills come with practice. They also come through learning, educating yourself, or taking classes on how to write in your chosen language.
Here are some tips for improving your writing skills:
» Get a Word-a-Day Calendar: A simple thing like learning a new word every day, especially how that word is used in a sentence to convey an idea, and then using it yourself through the day, enriches your vocabulary. It also stimulates your brain with how words work.
» Take on a Carnival, Meme, or Blog Challenge: Many bloggers who blog about blogging and writing offer writing challenges to their readers. Most have a theme or a question to blog about. These help you practice your writing skills with directed topics. They also create invaluable link and personal relationships with the bloggers and fellow participants.
» Take Online Classes: There are tons of schools, classes, workshops, and even university-level classes you can take online to expand your writing skills. The more you learn about how writing works, and the more others evaluate and test your writing skills, the better you learn to write.
» Take Classes and Workshops on Writing: Try human contact for a change and take classes and workshops on writing within your community or region. There are many writing workshops at community centers, bookstores, and local schools. Or consider turning your vacation into a writing holiday at one of the many writing workshops, writers’ camps, and weeklong seminars around the world.
» Read: Few things teach you more about writing than reading what others have written. Read books, magazines, newspapers, online publications, and other blogs. How do they develop their characters? How does the plot flow through the story? How are things described? What do you like about how they use words to convey thoughts, meanings, and descriptions? By reading books, especially books with subject matter similar to your blog’s content, you can study how others say the things you want to say.
» Read Books on Writing: I recommend two types of books on writing worth reading: books about the technical aspect of writing, and books about the enjoyment of writing. Stephen King’s book, On Writing, is a great look at his writing technique and how he writes. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, by Lynne Truss, is a funny look at the perils of punctuation, a cross between a technical guide and an enjoyable novel. Strunk and White’s Elements of Style is a must-have on your desk, as is the Reference Manual for Stenographers and Typists, The Chicago Manual of Style, The Associated Press Guide to Punctuation, Grammatically Correct: The Writer’s Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage, and Grammar, and other technical writing guides. Check out the many magazines on writing and poetry in your local bookstore or online. The tips and techniques they offer each month will help you learn how to write, and how to improve your writing skills.
» Learn to Edit Yourself: Learn how to edit your own work by studying how others edit. The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself and The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Writing Fiction and Nonfiction are two of the many books that will help you learn how to edit your work, so that you say exactly what you want to say. Use them to help you sift through the words to clean up the ums and ahs of your written language, and refer to them as reference guides. If in doubt about a bit of grammar or punctuation, look it up.
» Subscribe to Writing Magazines: Subscribe to a writer’s magazine and each month tips and techniques arrive to help you improve your writing skills. Such publications also list workshops and classes around the world and other educational programs for writers.
» Join a Writer or Blogger Group: When you spend time with others who write, you learn more about writing. You can’t help it. You share ideas, you challenge each other, you ask questions, and you learn about how writing works. There are also writer’s critique and review groups within many metro communities, and online. These groups exchange written material in a variety of forms, providing an opportunity to review and critique, and possibly even edit, each other’s work. It will help you learn more and improve your writing by having others review your work, and you will improve your editing skills by editing the work of others.
» Learn a Foreign Language: Few things teach you more about your own language and its structural elements than learning another language. Living or spending extensive time visiting an area where few speak your native language pushes you even further with your language skills as you struggle for each word to communicate. It teaches you how a language works, and how important words are to communication.
The more you learn about writing, the easier it becomes. It’s a never-ending process to improve your communication skills, learning equally to write pithy blog posts and lengthy diatribes on your blog.
Lorelle VanFossen is a veteran blogger, host of one of the longest running blogs on the Web, Taking Your Camera on the Road (www.cameraontheroad.com), and the popular blog about blogging and WordPress, Lorelle on WordPress (lorelle.wordpress.com). She is a contributor to many blogs and magazines, and writes daily for the Blog Herald (www.blogherald.com).
Blogging Links and Leads
Here are the links to the blog posts quoted in this article.
John Pozadzides | onemansblog.com
16 Tips for Blog Idea Brainstorming | lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/16-tips-for-blog-idea-brainstorming
Jaded Listener’s The Right Word Without Pause | jadedlistener.wordpress.com/2006/01/02/pitt-the-younger-and-the-right-word-without-pause
Engtech of Internet Duct Tape’s 7 Ways to Find Your Muse | lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/7-ways-to-find-your-blogging-muse
