When I started this blog, I had planned to write maybe one or at least two posts per week and even then, I try to make my posts as shortest as possible. I hate doing long winding essays, I'm not very good at it and I guess that rules out the possibility of doing a romance or spy-thriller novel one day for me.
I am also not a talented writer, most of my blog posts contain lots of crappy stuff and hentah hapa2 inside and my english (read: manglish) is somewhat a mix of rojak buah topped off with generous amount of crushed peanuts.
As the saying goes, you are what you write. I don't know where am I going with this. Start ler merapu tuh...
I sometimes feel the need to write substance in my blog but as usual, I have no ideas what to write or how to go about writing it. When I do have some ideas, there'd be another problem of putting and arranging those words nicely in that blank white screen that will take up an enormous amount of time for me to do it. So it bugged and wondered me how some people can come up with great posts at such speed, say an hour's time or less than that? He or she must be one super duper writer.
So, in my pursuit to write that perfect post, I have browsed here and there looking and searching to find ways to improve my writing blog posts. I would like to share with you a few tips I learned and picked up about blogging, My blog wouldn't be where it is today if it hadn't been for these valuable tips. Having said that, there's a lot more to improve in my style of writing and I hope that perhaps in some small way, these ideas might help you too.
These are not my exact words but summaries of blogging dos and don'ts I picked up and gathered from my extensive findings in the blogland.
- Stick to one topic whenever possible.
- If you have no idea what to write, write whatever that comes to mind. Look for general topic that stands out and make it the focus of your post. Clean up and remove any unwanted clutter and unnecessary things as needed and continue writing following the path you've created.
- Write only what you're comfortable sharing.
- Be wary about writing public posts about certain subjects (or people) which may compromise your situation in real life (work, relationship etc). You'll never know who might be reading it.
- If you're going to rant, try to do so without using strong abusive language. There are much more creative and powerful ways to express emotions such as anger or frustration through the written words. Your readers will feel less alienated and thus find it easier to make connection with what you're going through if you refrain from using profanities.
- Break up those long paragraphs into short ones. Similarly, try keeping those sentences short and simple. More powers lie in brevity.
- Organize your material so that it has a clear beginning, middle and end.
- Add appropriate visuals (personal photos, funny or serious images etc) to bring your ideas alive and engage your readers.
- Aim to use more colourful vibrant words to make a stronger connection with your readers. For instance, "I'm bubbling with joy" evokes so much more than an everyday statement like "I'm pretty happy".
- Find your inner voice by speaking from the heart and being yourself. This voice through your own writing style will tell your readers who you are and will help them connect to you more on a personal level.
- Re-read your posts at least 4 or 5 times for cohesiveness, spelling check, grammar and typing error before the final publishing. This things are bound to happen.
I hope to write more meaningful posts in many many years to come and I wish my readers (hehe, perasannya minah sorang nih) would grow with me as well.
This blog of mine is here to stay.
