When I have time to kill, I like to read other people’s blogs. I especially love the ones that get a lot of views, because DUH!! It means they’re doing something right. One thing I’ve always wondered when blogging, was how to write about stuff and not sound like I’m whining, or talking about stuff no one cares to read about, or like I like to call it: download your brain.
At the very beginning of my writing journey, I used my blog like a journal. And for some strange reason, people didn’t walk away! They actually read my stuff. Shucks, that tells you when you really work hard at something, results always pay off. But after a while of journaling like a crazy lady, I took a break and asked myself: why should I blog? Why should people read my stuff? Am I trying to teach them something? Am I trying to sell more books and reach a wider audience? Am I still using the blog as a journal, or have I evolved? Can I really do this????
*Deep breath*
One: yes, I can do this. Two: I will write about writing. Three: Writing about writing (hehe) can be about my upcoming book, my struggles as an author, my tips and tricks, my thinking process, my ramblings, and bam, why not post a cute picture of my cat?
Alright, I got this one off my chest. One thing I’m not going to blog about, is my brain download. Because brain downloads are just not cool. Let’s say it how it is. You don’t care to hear about every single thought that crosses my mind. It’s none of your business, and it’s boring.
The issue with brain download is that it can affect all of us at any given time. I have brain download when I work on my novel. It’s a diarrhea of thoughts that have no purpose but fill out some space. Just like when you try to do NanoWrimo and your 50k words consist of pure gibberish. Brain download should be reserved for special forums where it’s welcome. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of such forums, but in today’s world, anything’s possible, so I remain open-minded on this one.
Blogging is great when the message is clear, the style is neat, grammar is proper and vocabulary is diverse. I don’t do convoluted paragraphs of complex words that don’t belong together in one full sentence. I don’t do effed up imagery. I don’t do lack of punctuation. I don’t do clusterfuck of ideas.
Once I start working on a blog post, I realize it’s more than just pouring thoughts on the screen. And the same process that happens to a book, should happen to anything I write.
My blog is an accurate representation of myself if I stick to the basics, which are:
– stay true to myself
– don’t overdo it
– keep it short, simple and clean. And when I say clean, I don’t care about profanity, I’m talking about clutter.
I’ve seen blogs that are a mess of icons, pictures, widgets left and right, oh gosh, where the heck have I landed? These blogs remind me of cars covered with stickers. You don’t really know which direction the author was going for but he/she sure loves sticking random crap on his/her site!! Therefore, as much as the brain download is a no-no, gathering all sorts of stuff on my page is a no-no either.
I’ve read somewhere on the internet sphere a blog post should consist of a catchy title, text and picture(s). Whether it’s a photo album or just a thumbail, I don’t really care about pictures. If the text is good, hell yeah, my cherry (and hopefully yours too) has been popped! The title doesn’t necessarily make the post good, but it doesn’t hurt to attract crowds with something that sounds good.
Have I omitted anything? If I did, let me know your thoughts!
Have a great weekend, folks!
The Manicheans 