Writing a Blog People will Read: A course review, Part 2
July 6, 2015
Welcome to the second installment of my blogging the Write A Blog People Will Read Course!
NOTE: This is a review of how I’m learning from the course so this is just one possible experience.
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In Module Two, we’re learning not to write just for the sake of having words on the screen, but to write what matters. By that measure, at best, 5% of the early years of this blog (no, no, don’t go see, take my word for it, please) were anything but flotsam.
Most of it was meandering bits of daily jumble. Not at all compelling unless you were just wondering what I’d done or worried about that day. (No one was.)
Writing something that matters.
Much like the difference between living to eat and eating to live, there’s a vast gulf between churning out text for the sake of posting things and crafting a piece that, well, people want to read.
This lesson hits me square between the eyes. Great writing is a revel and a joy to read. The writing here doesn’t meet that standard in my not-so-humble opinion.
I don’t cookie cutter my money posts just to have something to post but does it have value to anyone else? Beyond exercising my writing muscles and keeping my money mojo going, what does my writing about money and family and so on really do for my readers? Is it informative and engaging that you know my month to month thoughts or am I just shouting into the wind?
(In)accessibility
A good friend from the blogging world, not so incidentally a successful blogger, told me once that my posts are too long and “vocabulary is far too extensive”.
I understood that to mean that I fail hard at the general rule of thumb that in order to write for the broadest audience, you ought to be clocking between a sixth and seventh grade level. This is a valid and valuable criticism. Even the NIH recommends this level of writing!
I’m not sure how not to write like I think. That means using words that taste right in my mind. What you see here is the voice I hear in my head. And like a perfect, warm apple pie with the exquisitely flaky crust, and five dashes of cinnamon, using precise words to communicate is so satisfying. Even when I sound like a nerd.
(It’s because I really AM a nerd.)
D’you suppose that’s what keeps my audience to the elite few? 🙂
Does my blathering feel inaccessible to you? (Is blathering a common word? I have the worst trouble with this.)
Killing your little darlings
Maybe this is where my efforts should most be concentrated.
I do edit most writing, truly. First drafts are painful to read. But sometimes, final rounds of edits leave me with posts that have tripled in length and I suspect that your eyes probably start glazing over by the time you scroll a third or fourth time.
Reflection
There’s a lot to digest in this second module and learning how I should apply the lessons. Good advice is only useful when you implement it, after all.
I suppose it’s up to the individual reading. I hate reading posts over 800 -ish words because I read a LOT of posts in one day and I need to move on pretty quickly.
Fair point! I try to be direct but mental maunderings happen occasionally. 🙂
I read your blog strictly because I like your “voice,” and think you are an intelligent person with an interesting life. We have little in common. (I’m a childless, retired, cat-loving person who manages her money adequately enough.) The way you express yourself is what draws me in; for me, your “grade level” is perfect.
But I’m not a member of your target audience, surely. Who are you writing for? If they are young, educated professionals like you, they should understand you just fine. Such folks are no doubt super busy, and like Tonya, may prefer shorter posts.
I agree with Luisa in that I read your blog because, well, you seem like a cool person with interesting thoughts I want to read about. I mean, sure, if you want to expand your readership then streamlining + lowering reading level would certainly help, but would it be as fun to write?
Taylor, that’s a good point. I don’t write unless I want to and feel like it – there’s a reason this never became a teaching tool blog. I simply cannot write how-tos and advice that doesn’t resonate with my personal experience without withering away from boredom.
Luisa, thanks for taking the time to comment – this is one of the higher compliments I could be paid.
As far as a target audience, I must admit I never truly considered that question because it never occurred to me that I’d *have* an audience. I write because I can’t not write and I say what’s in my mind and heart. Fairly unsophisticated as these things go 🙂
I love reading your blog. Seriously! It’s one of the few that feels authentic and doesn’t sugarcoat hardships or overdramatize daily struggles. Sure, it’s nice to read fluffy feel-good posts every once in a while, but I love reading about your journey and how you got from point a to point b and everything in-between. Maybe I’m a little weird, getting glimpses of your life and personal finance, but it’s awesome to know that with enough perseverance and even stubbornness, you can accomplish great things and still have a life that brings you joy. 😀
Jess, that’s very kind of you to say. And of course I don’t think it’s weird that you enjoy reading this sort of thing since it’s pretty much the stuff I like reading 🙂
I used to keep up with a shit-ton of blogs. Now I just keep up with a select few that I find compelling. Yours is one. Keep writing how you do – I keep coming back because it’s honest.
<3
That course is rubbish. No one should dumb down their vocabulary for the ignorant masses. Fuck that, in fact! I love your blog because it is so inherently YOU, money posts and all.
D’aw, I appreciate the defense but you’re defending me from me 🙂 This is my personal interpretation of what I should take away from the course, not what it’s specifically telling me about my writing. Though I have accepted some similar critique in the past and I can see why it was made. <3
Claire: The course does NOT recommend dumbing-down one’s vocabulary! I know this because I wrote it.
In fact, I am a total word-nerd. More than once, a reader on my personal website has left a comment to the effect that some of my posts send him or her running for a dictionary. I consider that a compliment.
The course specifically advises that writers use richer words in order to make their work stand out. A snippet:
“Here’s the problem with autopilot writing: We forget that our voices matter. We forget that we’re supposed to be WRITING the blog post, not building it.
“We’re not using words as poles to hold up the ‘500-word essa’” tent. We’re using words to inform, to persuade, to teach, to entrance, to share.
“Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
“Did you know that there’s a word that means ‘being thrown out of a window’? A word that means ‘having all the blood drained from one’s body’? A word that means ‘words that imitate the sounds associated with the items or actions to which they refer’? (Hiss! Meow! Woof!)
“The right word will light up the page. The almost-right word barely registers.
“Don’t type directly from your word-a-day calendar. But do get interested in language. Try to work ‘defenestration’ or ‘exsanguination’ into a post. Use an adverb that you’ve never spoken aloud. Play with words whose spellings you aren’t sure about, because when you look them up you’ll find new and interesting words on the same page.
“Yes, PAGE. Flipping through a dictionary is an infinitely richer experience than typing ‘onomatopoeia’ into a search engine.
“Challenge yourself. You’ll be surprised by what you’re capable of once you view writing as a playground rather than a punishment.”
(Sorry about the late response, but I just now saw this. D’oh!)
If I may weigh in, please keep your “fancy vocab;” do not dumb down your posts! I like that you write intelligently and love that I sometimes just have to stop and admire your unique turn of phrase. Plus your life is interesting due to the every day, relate-able details that you insert into your posts. I could imagine, for example, you going about your day during your ‘this is what a day here looks like’ post, and it was enjoyable to get a glimpse in. (I could not figure out a way to say that in a non-stalkery, creepy way, but hopefully you get me.)
I do not mind long posts. I read very few blogs nowadays–just the ones I really want to keep up with–since my non-PhD time is so precious. And I have to say, every time my feed updates with new content from you, I am excited to click on the link. I know it will be well-written, insightful, interesting, and witty. I say keep doing what you are doing–I think you’ve already found your voice.
As a nearly lifelong mediocre writer, this blog has done wonders for my writing and voice, but I’ve remained skeptical that it’s truly been developed so I appreciate the vote of confidence and your time!
And I do get what you mean, in a non-creepy, not-stalkerish way 🙂
I tend to read blogs because the person behind them has interesting things to say or has managed to make me curious about his/her life. I don’t think any of the blogs I read regularly have much connection to my own life– they’re generally things I’ve stumbled across in one way or another.
Personally, I would be against dumbing down your language or consciously shortening your posts. I’ve seen blogs where the person uses simpler language and grammar and keeps it to a single short paragraph or so… and those are the blogs that I don’t return to very often because the person behind them just doesn’t come across as very bright or thoughtful. You should just stick with being yourself. I like seeing what you’re thinking about and how you’re expressing yourself.
(Although if you rethought the way you’re handling the gender neutral language about your baby, I wouldn’t mind. I know it’s a deliberate choice on your part that you probably put a lot of thought into, and that you aren’t going to change because it bugs one person… but I find it to be extremely jarring. Every z* sends such a loud “I’m Being Gender Neutral” message that it overshadows anything you’re actually saying.)
That’s a fair point, I only look for good writing rather than relatability when I read blogs as well.
I would argue that being concise shouldn’t be dumbing down, at least not if you’re good at it!
I appreciate your being polite about preferring gender-specific language. Because I’m doing it to protect LB’s privacy, rather than for any style or statement purposes, that won’t change until ze gets to consent to having any aspect of hir identity shared. That will probably be a few years yet 🙂 I understand that it’s not common but it is a useful tool for us, like my pseudonym, that makes it possible for me to write like I do.
It’s hard to find PF blogs that are still “personal”. That’s why I enjoy reading your blog. I think to gain a large readership, you have to give more advice and have a black/white viewpoint of finances.
I’ve often thought the same, myself, about being more polarizing. But it’s not really how I view money so I’d probably be terrible at writing it that way!
i enjoy the tone of your blog. I don’t feel the need to learn anything while I read it. I like that we are in a similar phase of life with children and i find your experiences interesting. I agree that means you may not become a mainstream blog but I don’t write to earn a million dollars and I guess you don’t either. I write more like a journal and your blog reads like a journal too.
In a lot of ways, this is a journal and a reference. It’s nice to have some reminders of what’s happened over the years.