Frenzied Daddy

I found these over at A List Apart. They’re excellent advice for either webloggers or print-loggers, err, paper-writers. These are their headings, with my explanations or synopses, or just plain ole ’shoot from the hip responses.’

1. Write for a reason
   Well, duh. And make the reason more than just “I burped today. It tasted like pizza.” Although that could be interesting, in the right context. A few of my posts have been more filler than content, I’ll admit, but that falls into the ‘Write Often’ category.
2. Write often
   What if nothing exciting has happened since the last post? Write about something mildly interesting happening in the news. Write about something dorky. Do a book review. Prove to your readers that your life is more than “get up, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, get up.” Sometimes, I’ll admit, I do things just so I’ll have something to blog about. Or I’ll write about something really dull (woo, running over to the school and back).
3. Write tight
   Definately. Don’t use very too many words, ok? And also eschew obfuscation.
4. Make good friends
   Get some. Some of mine are better than I thought. Find like-minded webloggers who you can link to in times of stress.
5. Find good enemies
   Joseph Conrad wrote of enemies: “You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.” (more enemy quotes). A good enemy is a foil for your own beliefs, someone strong who you can argue with. Be careful about treating them with respect. They may read your weblog too, and they can write … too.
6. Let the story unfold
   You’re a storyteller. Do it.
7. Stand up, speak out
   If you see an injustice, you have a voice. Use it.
8. Be sexy
   Sex is, according to my nonscientific poll, roughly 85% of the Internet Business Section is related to sex. The other 15% has to do with refinancing your home mortgage.
9. Use your archives
   Link to yourself, in your archives. Make your archives search-engine friendly. When someone is reading an archive page, make it easy to find out who you are and what you’re currently writing about.
10. Relax!
    We’re all just people. Well, maybe if Thomas Jefferson was blogging, you could feel a little shy. But he’s not.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 8th, 2005 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Writing tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.