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Finding the words

February 26, 2007 by: UKStevieB

I am having a little trouble finding something to blog about today. I was planning on writing about the divShare WordPress plug-in, but having set up an account with them and installing it I then found that I couldn't get it to work. Every time I uploaded an image and tried to add it to my post it was rejected and the plug-in interface disappeared, so I guess I will have to try and work out what I am doing wrong before I get to do a post on that feature. So I thought as I couldn't think what else to write about, I would write about writing, looking at finding a subject, how to get your post underway, what it should include and how to wind it up.
  • Finding something to blog about
I start off with my Google Alerts in my e-mails, flagging anything of particular interest in Outlook and clicking through to the links that I feel may be of some interest. Some of these get "flecked" by me to look at again later. Then I go to my Google Reader to see if there is anything going on in the news, in the real world or cyber world, that I might want to blog, "starring" those items of particular interest so that I can find them more easily later on. Having done this I can now usually decide what I am going to use as my subject for the day, leaving me to do a bit of "googling" around the interweb to see what anyone else has to say on the subject, saving some links that might be useful later when I start to write.
  • Beginnings
Now when it comes to actually writing my post I always find that the best thing to do is to begin, which may sound pretty obvious but can sometimes be the hardest step. Have you ever found yourself just sitting there, staring at the blank screen with the cursor blinking? Don't. Just start typing, get something down and go back and change it later if you need to.
  • Content 
Every post should have a beginning, middle and end. Once again, very obvious, but having begun it can sometimes be hard to work out where you are going with an article, where you want to end up. A basic guide should be somewhat like this:
  1. Tell your readers what you are going to blog about
  2. Blog about it
  3. Tell them what you have blogged
In other words, make sure that you let your readers know early on, preferably in your title/first few sentences what the subject matter is. Then tell them about the subject. Then in conclusion do a recap, but sum it all up in one or two sentences, don't labour your point, just make sure you have made it. Sometimes when I come to write my ending I realise that I haven't really explained the subject clearly enough, leading me to do a re-write, so I find that technique quite handy. Also, when writing the body of your post try to have a clear idea in your own mind as to why the subject should be of importance to your readers, explain how they will be benefited, how you benefited. If you find you can't do this, maybe it would be a good idea to scrap the post altogether, because if you can't find a good reason to write it nobody will find a good reason to read it. As to length, that will be determined by your subject, but always bear in mind that your introduction should be fairly brief, no more than a paragraph or two, and that your conclusion should not really need to be any longer than one or two sentences, leaving the body of your post to do most of your talking for you.
  • Continuing the Conversation 
And as a final thought, with a blog post always try to leave a question at the end, allowing your readers to be more than just spectators. Putting my own advice into practice, how do you go about finding your subjects, what techniques do you use to overcome "writers block", and are there any particular techniques you use to compose your posts?

Topics: My Life, Random Thoughts |

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