I like to write and it needs no telling but it just seems to me like a great post starter for this one so brace yourselves for how I’m about to bless you with another one of my pieces. In my eyes, there is a huge difference in my writing style (at least in the blogging arena) from when I began to write here, I think I found a plausible reason to keep writing here. I don’t write for the readers but I write with the readers in mind. I write because I find pleasure in organizing my thoughts and delivering them in a coherent and sometimes poetic fashion by use of the written word, that’s all. I admit, I am enthused every time I get new readers or my traffic stats hits a triple digit number in a day, but it doesn’t upset me when that does not happen. However, I love my readers regardless, lol.
So when I open the ‘Add New Post’ page I come in with a lot of zest and the sight of the page alone is a motivator. It speaks to me, it says Wyndago this is it, this is your playground begin to play. Most times I don’t know what I’m going to write about, I just open the page and stare. Countless ideas jet through my mind and I grab one and go with it, developing it as I go. Few times do I show up on my playground with things to write about in mind. Albeit I have noticed that when I have an idea of a post, it may not go away until I unleash it, the one you are reading now is one of them.
Over the years I have been blogging I formulated rules for myself along the way to guide me in my blogging. I compare myself with me so I don’t know about the rest, these are just my thoughts so please no lawsuits, lol. Ever since I found myself at the epicenter of controversy on Twitter I’m bound to be cautious about what I say in public but that’s a story for another day. Without any further ado, here are my blogging 101 tips, for me by me;
1. Keep It Short
This has been evident in most of my posts. This I came up with because I realized how hard it is to capture and hold on to a reader’s attention for long. That reader is me. I see myself when I read other blogs, for the long ones I can’t help scrolling down every now and then in the middle of reading just to check if the end is near. I want the reader to catch the concept of what I’m saying fast so he can move on to the next blog, he most likely has a long list of better blogs to read and less time at his disposal. But this is a nice blog to read no doubt about that, I know because I write it but you know what I mean. This keeping it brief tip is also convenient for me because I’m lazy and lack the patience to write a long one. I have something to say so I just want to blabber it out at once so I reckon it serves both me and the reader fine. I allow myself a range of 530-700 words per post.
2. Keep Your Private Life Private
I am careful not to reveal too much, this I started not too long ago. When I was growing up people used to have diaries, now they have blogs. I kept a diary too but I don’t want my blog to become my diary but rather a medium where I can dump my not-so-private thoughts and at the same time share them. A place to share my point of view and get feedback… that sounds about right I think.
3. Say Something
I fail at this sometimes but the idea is to have a theme and surround the whole post around it without being distracted into digressing to something else. I basically strive to have some sort of message or notion that I want to put across.
4 Break The Rules Occasionally
I had to throw this one somewhere because I’m past the 700 word mark. I do break the rules at times and that is part of the rules.
5. Have A Photo On Your Post
The rule says; thou shall have a photo on each post but ye is allowed up to two consecutive posts without photos after which the third one will by any means have a photo. This is to ensure that the homepage does not miss at least a photo at any given time since The Synctum displays three posts at a time, for aesthetic value.
Photos shall at all times be relevant. The rule goes ahead to state that; thou shall not have a white person’s photo on a post that is distinctively Kenyan, strictly for pertinence reasons, not racist. Talking about road rage on Kenyan roads and displaying a picture of a bunch of white folks squabbling in a traffic jam is rather conflicting to me (no pun intended). On that note, it is fair to add that photos of black people, let alone African, are hard to find on the internet if they are not celebrities.
That’s blogging 101 for you.
wyndago.wordpress.com 