Thank you everyone for your lovely comments so far! - I am reading them and making little neurotic notes in my head about what you like on my blog, so that I can be sure to do more of it this year in 2010. (Have no idea what I'm talking about? Enter the giveaway here ....)
As an aside, I think one of the comments that makes me happiest - and they're all lovely - is about the length of my posts, which I agree are usually waaaaaaaaay longer than your average blog post.
The fact that this doesn't make you all want to tear your hair out is a great comfort to me, because when I was starting out last year I read one of those How-To-Write-A-Blog thingies online, and as one of its Absolutely Essential Rules it declaimed "make your posts short, because people don't want to wade through endless reams of your boring crap" .. or something along those lines. I may be paraphrasing.
This shot terror into my heart. Right away, I thought: well that's it for me then, I'm a goner even before I've started.
I've always been a verbose writer you see - to put it diplomatically- and I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep my posts short. Hell, I didn't even want to. I never had any trouble with word counts in essays and exams, my issue was always taking out the extra dross and just leaving the gold. Too much sandwich and not enough meat, as one of my music teachers, the excellent Mr Genner once said. Though of course I didn't appreciate it at the time. [An excellent way of ensuring you have more meat, by the way, if you're writing something and it's too long, is to go through every single sentence and take out an adjective. Or more, if you can. For example, when edited, that sentence just there could read "A good method of editing is to eliminate superfluous words." But see how much less interesting it is? I rest my case.]
I find it really challenging to be succinct and pithy. I'd much rather give you the unedited stream of consciousness that babbles away in my head. After all, this is my blog! I'm totally allowed to do that! There are no rules on the interweb!
(PS and this is for Jennie: today's post included the words "declaimed", "dross", "superfluous" and "paraphrasing", just for you!)
5 comments:
'Dross' was my favourite. I like to imagine it being said by Frau Farbissina from Austin Powers.
I adore Grimth, what a beautiful cat! as for the length of post, Love it! the longer the better, i am like you and have no problems writing what comes right off the top of my head, I don't try to filer it nor should you. When i writer e-mails to friends i am the same way, You need a cuppa to go through some of the letters i write.
So I say to you. Blog as you have done exactly the way you want to.
Keep the sandwiches coming.... it's just like High Tea at the Windsor - delicious!
Kittie is gorgeous!
I read that "how to create a blog" as well and whilst the majority of mine seem to be short and sweet, but like you, I have a few posts that are a bit more meaty.
Given that your posts are passionate and informative, all is forgiven :) Especially when there are pictures of lovely kittens
i love a good wreath and i don`t have one for our place yet.
Work from home India
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