Tips for Writers and Bloggers

I have been blogging and writing for a while and it’s been very interesting. Words are my passion; poetry, plays, movies, rap, song writing, word play and all such ‘stuff’. I’ll quickly like to share some things I’m learning on my journey which the new writer will find useful, and which the more experienced ones will shake their heads to, and say ‘aha, that’s true!’

First of all, experiment with a range of writing styles. There is a huge difference between business writing, editorials and basic ‘blogging’ which have varying level of formality and ‘to-the-pointness’ (whew!). Besides that, play around with the writing style of different authors – and this leads to the second point.

Second, you have no business picking up an interest in writing if you do not like to read. Seriously, if you do not like to read, drop your pen and start learning to play the flute.

Reading expands the mind, perspective, vocabulary, versatility, and there are so many authors and books for everyone to find something interesting…hopefully!

Your first draft is brilliant NOT! Ok, that’s bad grammar, but you get my drift. No matter how ‘beautiful’ you think your first draft is, point your finger at it and mock it, saying a loud “hahahahahahaha! You suck and need reworking!”

Ok, that’s extreme. However, except for instant messaging, rework your article till it’s as polished as can be.

Fourth, cut to the chase, especially if you blog. Honestly, your article must be veeeeeeeeeeery interesting if you plan to allow it get longer than 500 words. I once said to my beloved cousin, have you seen my latest article, referring to an ‘epistle’ I wrote so PASSIONATELY, to which he replied, John, send me an executive summary.

I got the gist!

Stats show if your article is between 250 – 300 words, it has the highest chance of being read. After 300, that starts to drop. You are NOT writing to hang it on your wall, so make sure you understand your audience. Honestly, some think so many words are more convincing, but nothing annoys the average reader like a lengthy rambling that can be summarised as:

“Chocolate is brown”

Also, keep sentences short. Short sentences pack a critical punch because they are easier to follow mentally. Often, the individual – who truly loves to write - begins to spurt out his passion through his fingers, without thought of the fact that compound sentences, which seemingly have no end, can be an aggravating scenario for the reader, who is trying to understand what you are saying but, sadly, is getting lost through the maze, and obstacle course, that your article is becoming, because he grapples with the twists and turns, ins and outs, ups and downs of your punctuation-laden expose – and finally gets to the end of your extra-long sentence, but has already lost track of where it all began!

Im sure that last ‘sentence’ was a nightmare, but you get the point – keep the blasted sentence short!

Hope you have enjoyed reading, and on this note I’ll end with the last tip:

Don’t stop writing

Cheers