The Joy of Blogging

After writing over 100 blog articles between my two blogs, this one and http://goodideasfornj.blogspot.com/ which is more a state government/business/NJ blog, I feel qualified to write a little on the subject of blogging mechanics, since my earliest blogs are now a few years old.

So I'd like to break it down into two major categories. Using and Posting.

First, use a free blog site. There's many, Wordpress, Weebly and Blogger are very popular, each with over 10 million users. And the majority are free. Don't ever pay to do this. Don't ever let others write your blogs and tweets for you (in my opinion). The one I use is Google, i.e. Blogger. So I'll restrain myself describing it, even tho my blog addresses are "blogspot" and not "blogger." That still confuses me.

Using a site comes down to two things: ease of use for you, the creator and author, and the abilities of the site/company you choose. The most important part of having a blog at all, straddles both: Signing Up More Readers. At no cost to them, right now. In any blog, its the most important metric, which is why you get a daily trending/numbers chart, a mandatory metric in any business, especially for sales. And blogging is a business. Well you can make it one. Many have. For example I like the Huffington Post (issues of the day), and Jane Friedman (on writing), among others.

When I get on websites I think I can trust, I look at their "About" and "FAQs" first thing. Blogger doesn't have those (every site should), so as a blogger you almost only have your posts to explain why and what you're blogging. That leave's your masthead to do the job for you. 

Your masthead is what your reader sees first, so be aware. 

Readers, like you, never really know what they're getting into until they get into it, and hopefully "like" your blog. That's why I have a masthead logo I purchased cheaply from iStockphoto. And I sweated out the few short sentences I used there to describe my blog. Have any suggestions?

Also on Blogger I can list sites I follow, which are Proust.com, an intimate, family and close friends FB site, only 10 times better,  and my son Jesse's Blog, based on his 2010 book A Secret Peace. Both excellent. That's a nice feature and tells your readers more about you, but subtilely. So please list your top favorites.

So what should ease of use mean for you? Mainly there's compose and post functions, and a dashboard for other things like past blogs, earnings (?), stats, and more.

When composing remember it may not be WYSIWYG; Blogger is not, so don't hyphenate words. That's another reason to check your fully posted blog. 

You should be able to edit, update, save old posts, save drafts, and delete a post at any time, all helpful as I skim thru my blogs to see what I've written about and not duplicate them. Also helpful for writing Part Two's or follow-ups, these functions become important. I've updated and re-posted many times, sometimes miutes later, a day, a week, or a month apart. This one I re-posted 8 times. I haven't deleted one yet.
  This is heavenly! You can actually remove or change what you wrote, it doesn't have to haunt you forever when you take a lot of flak because of your opinion. To hell with them! "Delete." (Unless someone who really hates you printed it out.) It should also have decent editing tools like Blogger does.

Second is the ease in which new readers can subscribe, your number one concern, and where it posts to, number two. Blogger uses extra gadget buttons to do this for FB and Twitter, and they're obtuse. So with my blog, when I post Google+ comes up automatically so I can share it there, which is great. They have a feature to do that on FB and twitter but it's hard to find. Gadgets only do what they're creatyors let you, for example, I can't just add a plain vanilla FB button by itself. Everybody has to make a buck after all. But, if you post, and proof your day's blog, which you should always do, click the "more" button on the toolbar and then you can send out your post to them. 

And you automatically want to post an announcement of your new blog on Google Plus. In no time they'll be an automatic way to announce it on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, I hope. Blogger lets you enter a + message as soon as you hit "post." Invaluable. But -- it would be better to also do it easily on other sites as well. So check out the gadgets you add very carefully. 
 
Like too many supposedly "Intuitive links" if your blog reader clicks "Subscribe," thinking they'll just give their email address, thinking that's supposed to be it, sadly it's not. They must first sign up with Netvibes or Yahoo!  Why? I have no freakin' idea. A sure way to turn potential readers away. No explanation or description is given as to why you need to do that, like 50%+ of all links on the Internet that I've found, whether on Google look-ups or businesses, organizations, and especially government sites. 

Getting the day's news out is key if I want to grow readership. Or you don't have to care and write diatribes for fun. Good luck with negativity on your blog. There's enough of that in the media. But there's always a chance "if you build it they will come."

Posting, i.e. writing the blog itself.
1. It should be easy and comfortable - Show facts, thoughts, experiences - and opinions based on the first three.
2. Be as honest and forthright as you can. Don't flip-flop, don't guess (unless its about the future - that's okay, we all do that - that's the most fun.) If you speak from your spirit it'll automatically be interesting.
3. Get to the point.
4. Make it flow logically from each concept, sentence, paragraph, to the next.
5. Use colorful language, mostly verbs and adjectives that you chose from a good Thesaurus to avoid duplication; and the five senses. 
6. Use all the exclamations and adverbs you want to, like I do, despite what Stephen King and good writers/editors/publishers say. But don't go overboard.

7. You are free to follow current universal writing rules: 
1. There are no rules anymore, they're gone except for Elements of Style.
2. Write your blog piece when you're hot if you can (no, not under a sunlamp), when the idea, memory or issue is hot and fresh. This could be the first rule.
3.  Edit, cut, rewrite, polish and format after the story is on that blank blog page or Word sheet on your computer. I do all that after I write the piece in full, post it, and review it again days later. The tools Blogger gives me has make it much easier, but I agree, it can get tedious unless you want to produce your best work.

Always remember: Everyone likes good stories -- just like good jokes. You're not writing a textbook with no thoughts, opinions or dialogue.When you've done a bunch, go smell the roses and treat yourself to a getaway with your most intimate friend. (Gee, maybe I should do that.)

And don't worry about your audience, but keep one or more of them in your mind as you go along. For my first book Episodes (due out next month on Amazon), its for me first, come hell or high water. Then for acquaintances, friends and family, psychiatrists and bipolar folks like me. If the public buys it? Well and good, I hope they enjoy it. But I didn't write it to create fans. You shouldn't either. Just be yourself. You've been given this gift, this expressive ability, and truly it's the foundation for individual development and a great society.

Take me, since being home after retiring in 2009, I found I love writing honest prose -- essays and books, even a few styles of haiku, even fiction, which is brand new for me.

And that's all you need do -- find a quiet place and -- Start!

By Rodney Richards