Blogger's Secret

Be brief

If all you have to say fits in a few words, be brief.

A voice that is distinctively yours

Writing is like talking to the page, says my eldest son; and thus blogging is like talking to the net. You might hope that your words would sound good enough to read out loud to an attentive audience around the globe. At the very least they should sound like you when you read them aloud to yourself before hitting the "publish" button.

Blogging is a way to jot down some ideas that you've been chewing over. The chance to put words in writing is not about writing formally for publication, but instead a way to write on screen for others to hear your voice that is distinctively yours.

It takes practice to sound online like you do in person. It helps to type fast enough that you can keep up with the rhythm of what you say as you say it. However, it's not always enough to just key in the first blurt of first draft ideas. The opportunity to read and to edit your own words so that you sound just like yourself except perhaps a little smarter is a good practice to keep.

 

500 words a day by 10:30 a.m. is part of this blogger's secret

My secret blogging routine is to get up, get the kids to school, get a cup of coffee and start typing. 500 words later, I have something that can go to an editor, with a 10:30 a.m. deadline. It's generally published by 11:30 a.m. That, plus email, takes care of the morning. Things that take time to write or a lot of telephone calls or research or records searches or anything clever get done in the afternoon.

Identifying a workable routine and then sticking to it is part of the secret. If you get one thing written about a subject every morning, then you have the whole rest of the day to write something else on topic. All else is commentary.

I measure my success by my word count (at least 500 words, but not too many) and by my ability to meet a deadline. The ideal story is posted precisely at 10:30 a.m., is completely edited with no need to change or omit words, and has a nice photo or video and a solid first paragraph when it's excerpted to Facebook and a solid title when it goes to Twitter. But mostly, it's done and out of the way.

Book covers as a sign of expertise

When you are looking for art for your blog, look to collect book covers that are relevant to the things you are writing.  Cover art for books can be wonderful, and showing good taste not only in the works that you can cite but also the edition or version which appeals to you can be a nice touch.

Make sure that you link to the book in question in such a way that you can get your hands on a copy quickly if you need to refer to it - that might be a Google Books search, an Amazon link, some online digital repository or your local library, depending on which of them is best suited for rapid fulfillment of a portion that's relevant.

Image: Henry Petroski, The Book On The Bookshelf, Random House, 2000.  One available at the Ann Arbor District Library.