Here are my reflections on some of the reasons that I think writers should maintain a blog. They are by no means mutually exclusive.
In no particular order…
Handy hints
Using your phone’s camera
Phone cameras have been getting better and better, and I believe they are both useful and usable now, from a writer’s point of view.
Blogging from Word
A really good blog editor is hard to find. But if you create your day-to-day documents in Word, why not use that as a blog editor too?
Using the right search engine
in Handy hints, How to, Technology
What’s the right search engine to use? The answer is: there isn’t one. Different search engines typically give different results from each other, so your best bet is to carry out the same search in several search engines, not just one.
Managing four diaries
in Handy hints
According to my diary, I am due at the vets today for worming. I am told that this involves nothing more terrible than having a gigantic pill put down one’s throat. Nevertheless, I’m glad that the entry refers to our cats rather than myself.
One of the drawbacks of entering appointments into a smartphone is that it’s not easy to write copious explanatory notes – but the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages.
Using Google for Article Ideas
Stumped for some ideas on what to write about? One way to tackle that sort of block is to generate ideas randomly. The trouble with random idea generators, however, is that they are usually either outlandish (for example “mobile fish typewriter”), boring, or repetitive. That’s because they’re too random. Also, you have to dance to someone else’s tune: there’s no input from you whatsoever.
How to make your web pages text-reader friendly
Pictures on websites look great, don’t they? But only if people can see them! Not everyone has broadband access; some people still have (very slow) modems. Others use a text-based browser, or a text reader that reads out the web page to them – or simply do not have the time to wait while pictures download and appear on their screen.
Making your email links more user-friendly
in Handy hints, How to
All websites should have easy-to-find contact details. It’s been found that the average time a person will wait for a web page to appear is 8 seconds, before giving up and moving on to another site. If the same holds true for locating information, you need to make sure that visitors can find your details in under 8 seconds.
Read MoreDo exercise, be creative
in Handy hints
Fortunately, I don’t suffer from writers’ block. I do, however, sometimes suffer from lack of inspiration. This manifests itself as wooden prose, ie stuff that is as dull as ditch water to read – doubtless because it was very difficult to write.
Read More8 Rules for writers
Here is a set of rules that I hope you will find useful. The way I see it, readers’ time is far too precious to waste. People are made to feel guilty, or have somehow been conditioned to feel guilty, if they don't read every possibly useful report. Or every relevant newspaper article. But as writers, or content producers, we have a responsibility too. Here are some rules which I am gradually starting to live by myself.
How to store clippings
How do you keep your clippings?
If you keep them in paper format, they take up more and more room as your portfolio grows. If you keep them in boxes in the loft, as I do, you never get to see them anyway. I think if you’re going to store them in printed format you should go the whole hog and keep them nicely bound in some sort of presentation folder, and place them on shelves in your living space so that they can be admired by you and anyone who happens to browse your bookshelves!
Some of my reference books
Just because I love technology and spend a lot of time on the web, and writing for the web, doesn’t mean I’ve eschewed books. I still use books extensively (and intensively) for my writing. Not any books either, but ones written or contributed to by experts.
I think if you’re serious about writing you don’t want to be messing about with so-called “crowd-sourced” information, which may or may not be correct.
The basic rule of blog headlines
Much has been written about what makes an effective headline for a blog article (and I should thoroughly recommend reading @copyblogger on the subject of How to Write Magnetic Headlines). For example, I’ve read on various writing-related blogs that headlines should be seeded with keywords for the purpose of SEO, or search engine optimisation. It all sounds pretty complicated, despite assurances to the contrary. Perhaps too complicated. Because the bottom line is that there is a very simple rule to observe.
Read MoreBrevity definitely IS the soul of wit
This afternoon I found myself in an emotionally challenging superfluous text situation. In other words, I became somewhat “wound up” by having to waste my time reading a long-winded sentence that was clearly designed to demonstrate the erudition of the writer rather than facilitate the understanding of the reader.
More on self-publishing
Clive Shepherd, an education consultant in the UK, has written a very useful post about the processes involved in self-publishing in paperback via Lulu, and electronically in the formats required by the iBook, Kindle and Sony Reader.
Read MoreTop tips from a self-publisher
John Betcher is publishing a series of top tips for self-publishers, in batches of 5 at at a time.
It’s all good stuff. John seems to do a lot of experimentation, and then reports back on how things worked out, warts and all.
Read More10 attributes of professional writers -- #7: Research properly
Can there be any excuse, in this day and age, for poorly-researched material? There are books, the internet and still, even in these straitened times, public libraries with reference sections.
Self-publishing
Although I have had many books published by traditional publishers, I like self-publishing. I like it because it is great for niche topics. However, it is most decidedly not an unequivocally good thing, and there are pros and cons of each approach. This video summarises the issues.
10 attributes of professional writers -- #6: Proofread properly
Last year a teenager sent me an article with a covering email saying:
Sorry, I didn’t have time to proofread it properly. Sure you can sort it out!
My blogging toolkit
in Handy hints, How to
What do you require in order to blog? Obviously, the list will be depend on what device you use, and its operating system, but here is the set of tools which I find invaluable.