Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Friday, May 30th, 2008
I don’t want to waste a lot of your time so I’ll get right to the point. If you follow these tips you will be well on your way to writing a blog post that can easily become your best. There are only 5 steps and a two year old could do them. Isn’t your blog worth a little effort?
- Get to the point
- Tell your readers exactly what you are going to do immediately. Don’t mess around with wordy prose just stuff it in their face and tell them how things are.
- Follow through on what you tell them
- If you promise the moon you damn sure better show up with the moon. People don’t like to be jerked around or lied to. Deliver as promised.
- Make it interesting
- It’s not the subject that is interesting it is what you do with it. Make your blog article to be interesting by what you do with the information and how you present it.
- Spelling and grammar count (for something)
- The internet isn’t an English class, but you can’t expect to be taken seriously if your “best blog post ever” is riddled with basic spelling and grammar errors. Take a few seconds to proof-read what you’ve written BEFORE you publish it
- Be interested in what you write about
- No matter how much you might pretend people will know immediately when you’re writing about something that doesn’t interest you. Don’t bother trying to fool them. Write about something that interests you and don’t waste anyone’s time.
Posted in Blogging, Writing | 3 Comments »
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
Do you aspire to be a writer one day? I mean a
real writer. More than a writer even, but an author. You know what I’m talking about, right? Do you want to be
that guy? The household name who’s fame isn’t measured in television appearances or celebrity endorsements yet it’s a fame that will endure long after many others have burned themselves out.
Think in terms of John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath) and then consider Lauren Bacall (The Big Sleep). Now tell me, of those two who are you more likely to have heard of? Allow me, every kid by the time they are in 8th grade has read something by Steinbeck. Any bets to how many have watched anything with Bacall in it by the time they are in 8th grade? I’m willing to bet not many. That’s enduring fame. And with the help of several well known, dare I say famous authors, I’m going to help you do the same.
- Tip 1: Make your point (Stephen King)
- Stephen King admonishes us in his book “On Writing”
not to make our reader wait around while we drivel on and on with a back story. Get to what needs to be said and say it. You can always flesh it out with a backstory afterwards!
- Tip 2: Tell the damn story (Tom Clancy)
- In the January of 2001 issue of Writers Digest Clancy advised readers to be persistent and not get themselves caught up in committing art. Just tell the damn story you want told because no one else will.
- Tip 3: Designate time (Clive Barker)
- Horror darling Clive Barker advises to set aside a specific portion of time each day dedicated to writing. From my own personal experience that takes a real level of dedication. Especially when it comes to family and friends as they often times just don’t get it. By that I mean they see it as your free time and not “work” time and they expect you to be available to them during your writing time. So designate it and set it in stone that you write during that time and are NOT to be disturbed (except for emergencies of course)
- Tip 4: Stretch yourself(Me)
- Don’t be afraid to write outside of your comfort zone. If you write about making money with stock trading try writing something new. Like city gardening or whatever. Point is that you should endeavor to write about things which put you under pressure and make you “think on your feet”. I once heard you should spend 5% of your time writing in your comfort zone. The rest you should be stretching yourself. I try to take that advise to heart.
What about you? What kind of writing tips do you have for us?
Posted in Writing | No Comments »
Friday, November 30th, 2007
Have you ever tasted your own foot? Doesn’t taste very good does it. No matter how much scrubbing, and exfoliating, and moisturizing, and soaking in bath salts you do it is still just a smelly foot. The same thing is true with what you write. The difference is that with writing you can turn it into a beautiful gem, an inspired piece of literature. A foot will always be a foot. Stinky, ugly, and foul.
- Write a letter
- If I had $1.00 each time I read something devoid of life and personality I’d be rich. Not technical manuals on how to set a VCR clock, or how to replace your brake pads. I’m talking about other blogs, even this blog!
Why does this happen? Because we write for our readers. We write in a way that forces them to take possession of our writing. We beat them over the head with it saying “You wanted it? Well you’ve got it!”.
Instead write a letter to your readers. You want your readers to feel cozy. Like a friend who just came in out of sub-freezing temperatures to sit down with us for while. Letters are cozy. You want your articles to be cozy.
- Write like a child
- The Bible says, But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:16) Basically it is saying to come as a child. In wonder and awe. With a sense of amazement.
Write in the same way. Like a child. Why? Because, if people wanted to read a technical manual they’d buy a new computer. People read blogs because they are enjoyable, quick, and easy. I see blogs out there with awesome content, are right on the money about everything but the stuffy air of authority makes you not want to go back
How does one write like a child? Here are a few pointers:
- Limit your vocabulary - Search for and use the simplest words that get your meaning across
- Ask questions - Kids ask lots of questions because they don’t know everything. Copy them because you don’t either AND because it invites participation.
- Know when to shut up - All kids know when to shut their mouths. They don’t always do it but they know. You on the other hand should not only know when to cut the writing short, but also be merciless in doing so.
- Write everyday
- Name one person who is good at something without practice. Anyone? I’ll save you the trouble. It can’t be done. People get good at what they do because of practice. Natural talent helps, but only doing makes you better.
Writing is the same thing. To get good at writing, write! Everyday. Write on a variety of topics. Some you’ll use others you won’t. The exercise isn’t about pumping articles out it’s about writing for the sake of writing.
- Be brutal
- The fiercest critic of your writing should be you. In the old days, back when people used pens and pencils, writers (and teachers) were infamous for making their draft/students pages look like they were bleeding. Not really, but they relied so heavily on red ink pens for editing purposes that the paper would often be overrun with red lines. Prune it down to the bare minimum. Your best written articles will come when you take a minimalist approach.
Posted in Writing | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
If you enjoy horror fiction…
Have you ever heard of
Clive Barker
? If you’ve been into a bookstore lately no doubt you have. His novella
The Hell Bound Heart has been popping up in book stores all over the country as a promotional tool for
Mr. Barker’s remake of his stunning 1988 classic,
Hellraiser.
That’s all well and good, but Barker’s true talent lies not in his ability to make another slaughterfest movie, but in his amazing writing abilities. If you buy no other books from this man then pick up his “Books of Blood” series which is a collection of superior short stories penned by Clive. These stories were originally released in 1987 and have gone through many incarnations, especially in the United States. Either way they are classics with a couple of them in the process of being ruined made into movies.
Here’s an introduction to a few of them.
- Dread
- There is no delight the equal of dread. If it were possible to sit, invisible, between two people on any train, in any waiting room or office, the conversation overheard would time and again circle on that subject. Certainly the debate might appear to be about something entirely different; the state of the nation, idle chat about death on the roads, the rising price of dental care; but strip away the metaphor, the innuendo, and there, nestled at the heart of the discourse, is dread. While the nature of God, and the possibility of eternal life go undiscussed, we happily chew over the minutiae of misery.
- The Yattering and Jack
- Why the powers (long may they hold court; long may they shit light on the head of the damned) had sent it out from Hell to stalk Jack Polo, the Yattering couldn’t discover.
- Human Remains
-
- Some trades are best practiced by daylight, some by night. Gavin was a professional in the latter category. In midwinter, in midsummer, leaning against a wall, or poised in a doorway, a firefly cigarette hovering at his lips, he sold what sweated in his jeans to all comers.
I could go on and on, but if you’re looking for an excellent read you MUST checkout Clive Barker. Be forwarned they are not tame like Stephen King so it’s not something you’d buy for most kids.
Posted in Potpourri, Writing | 5 Comments »
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
3 ways to defeat writers block
From time to time we all have to deal with writers block. Overcoming it isn’t always easy, but there are ways to do so. I’ve presented three of the most tried and true methods. Keep in mind each person is different. Some people can try any one and that will work. Others will need to find the specific one that helps them. While still other will need a combination of all three methods.
- Exercise
- Exercise has several benefits including:
- Improves your mood by stimulating chemicals in your body. Rueters just ran a story about exercise being “on par” with drugs for releaving depression.
- Combats chronic disease such as osteoperosis, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressue, and high cholestrol
- Weight management. This doesn’t need more explanation I hope
- Strengthens your heart and lungs. Again this doesn’t need more explanation why this is good for you
- Better sleep. Burns up the extra energy
Beyond those benefits exercise helps you defeat writers block because it gets your mind off of the subject for 20-30 minutes and often that is exactly what is needed to tackle it from a fresh perspective.
- Read
- Reading can help in a few ways.:
- Give you new ideas to write about. When you feel like you’re saying the same thing again and again try reading and finding new ideas
- Give you a break from writing. Just like exercising can give you a break reading can do the same thing and often times that’s what is needed to overcome writers block
- Introduce more vocabulary. Sometimes writing that next article is as simple as having some new words by which to express it
- Write
- Writing will help stimulate the brain and often times stokes up new ideas you had never thought of before.
- Spend 10-15 minutes just writing. Write about the floor, or the hole in the wall. Write about your first dog. Write about the book you read last night, or the birds you saw on your morning walk. Just write. The idea is to get your brain moving, not to turn out master pieces
- Don’t waste time editing or revising. In fact for the most part plan on tossing the writing in the next 3-5 days, but hold it that long to allow yourself time to revisit. Chances are you’ll just toss it then, but there’s always the chance you’ll have produced something usefull for future writing projects
- Do not write for yourself. In other words don’t be overly critical of what you write at this stage
Posted in Writing | 8 Comments »
