Write a Blog People Will Read

You’ve been given a gift.

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thEver question why you need to write? Not want, need. According to Gary Garrison, it’s because you have “The Gift.”

That’s the name of a short essay that Garrison sent out to fellow members of the Dramatists Guild of America. A friend sent it to me because she found it inspiring and, well, true.

Although Garrison was referring to playwriting, his words apply to bloggers, short-story writers, novelists and others of that ilk. All of them “have the ability to create whole, intricate, dimensional worlds and to people them with infinitely interesting, complex beings.”

Wait…Bloggers create worlds?

 

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Writing vs. singing.

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thEvery day I do the Swagbucks* daily poll. Yesterday’s question definitely got my attention:

Would you rather be an excellent singer or a superb writer?

Today I checked the results: More than half (55 percent) the respondents want to be superior wordsmiths.

Naturally I wish the percentage had been a little higher. But as a writer and a writing coach, I’m glad to see that scribbling edged out singing.

I’m also curious as to why.

 

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A writing retreat for women.

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thBack in the early 1980s a writer I know earned a residency at the Hedgebrook writing retreat for women writers. The experience crystallized writing as a concept. Specifically, it defined it as a vocation.

That happened when the writer tried to help clear the table after dinner and the residency director told her to knock it off – she’d already done her work for the day. It was the first time anybody had said writing “was a real job,” she said later.

The writer was Dana Stabenow, and she went on to hit the New York Times best-seller list. Since then she’s published nearly three dozen books and shows no signs of slowing down. And now Stabenow is creating her own writing retreat for women.

 

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60-second tip: Forget exclamation points!

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th-3F. Scott Fitzgerald allegedly said that using exclamation marks is “like laughing at your own jokes.”

Believe him!

It’s pretty simple, really: The exclamation point connotes “a high degree of surprise, incredulity or other strong emotion,” according to the Associated Press Stylebook, which strongly suggests that you “avoid overuse.”

Yes! Please do!

 

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Freelance survival skill: Napping.

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thIn my late 40s I went back to school to earn the degree that was interrupted by single motherhood and the need to make a living.

At the same time I was undergoing a drawn-out divorce (after a long-term abusive marriage), managing an apartment building, babysitting and writing three times a week for MSN Money. Tired? Always.

Without naps I probably wouldn’t have made it through, let alone graduated magna cum laude. Kept snoozing even after graduation because I was traveling regularly and taking on freelance gigs in addition to the MSN job.

Turns out I was in good company. According to an article by productivity author and coach Michael Hyatt, the list of famous nappers includes Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison.

Naps feel luxurious, even when you’re taking them because you know you’ll be pulling an all-nighter. Especially when you know you’ll be pulling an all-nighter.

 

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What stories will you tell?

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thNot that long ago, people without access to publication (newspapers, magazines, books) would never have a chance to be heard. These days, blogging and social media let “lots of different marginalized groups” share their stories, according to Canadian blogger Anne Theriault.

The Toronto-based writer tackles some difficult subjects on her website, The Belle Jar. The toughest one was her first essay on postpartum depression, because she hadn’t done mental-health posts before.

Although worried about the potential reaction, she found – and continues to find – that posts about mental health issues get tremendous positive feedback.

“Allowing myself to be vulnerable creates a safe space for other people to be vulnerable,” Theriault said in an interview on WordPress Discover.

Think about that for a minute. About how putting yourself out there – being real, being honest – can make a difference in someone else’s life.

 

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8 things to do before blogging.

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th-1

Recently I invited my newsletter subscribers to contact me with their blogging questions, issues or stumbling blocks. (I’d like to extend the same offer to blog readers, but more on that a little later.) First, I’d like to share one of the reader’s questions.

It sounded something like this:

“How much do you need to have pre-written before you start up a blog? I feel like I need a lot of them done in advance.”

The subscriber wants to buy the blogging course* and also hire Grayson Bell to set up a WordPress site for free.** However, she didn’t want to do either one until she felt more ready.

Naturally I want more people to sign up for the course. But I didn’t push her to get started now-now-now. Here’s why.

 

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60-second tip: The phantom deadline.

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thToo tired or uninspired to start writing? Maybe a little pressure will do the trick. I call it “the phantom deadline.” You can do this in a couple of different ways.

1. Make believe that you have an editor. Specifically, pretend that he’s an editor screaming for copy. Choose a topic, sit down and start writing. You should get into the flow within a few paragraphs and be able to create something readable.

And if you don’t? You’ve got something to edit later on. Point is, you’ve got something.

 

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Things to say to writers.

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th-1(Note: A version of this article originally appeared on www.donnafreedman.com.)

A Twitter hashtag called #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter really got my attention a while back. Bet you can imagine why.

Some well-known writers (Jodi Picoult, Harlan Coben, S.E. Hinton, John Scalzi, et al.) played along with the rest of us lesser-known and unknown scribes. Collectively we whirled and howled about stuff like:

  • Low pay and no pay
  • Folks who question why we have to use so many cuss words
  • The assumption that we’ll never get published, i.e., be “real” writers
  • People who treat what we do as a hobby
  • Those who swear they could do this too, if only they had the time

Were we being thin-skinned? You be the judge. Here’s the kind of thing that writers report having heard:

“It’s pretty impressive that you spend so much time on something that has so little chance of success.”

“I downloaded your book for free online. Could you please sign this printout of it?”

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