The Blogging Journey

Blogging is Fun

Most people think blogging is just an online journal or something techies only do. When I started this journey into the blogosphere, I never imagined the work that went into writing for a blog.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways I have had so far.

·      Research your audience, write for them.

·      Short sentences and paragraphs keep your audience.

·      Use expressive writing.

·      Tell a compelling story.

·      Blogging is fun, so have fun.

Those sum up the big picture of my new knowledge on blogging and hopefully those takeaways can help you get started and excited about blogging.

Change Can Be Good

It’s interesting to look how my blog has evolved both visually and content wise. Visually I went through different variations of how I thought my blog should look. After I went through two or three I realized I needed to stop thinking and be simple. In design, simple and clean wins the audience. Being able to read the content without anything else getting in the way. So focus on content!

Speaking of content, I found that as I learned the takeaways above, my writing was more interesting and more fun to read. Expressing my fondness of technology was not easy to control, but it got there and my last few post have been much better, easier to read, and enjoyable to read.

Blogging and My Career

Interestingly in the Professional Media world, (This includes TV News Broadcasting, Radio, and Traditional Print Journalism) there are multiple uses for bloggers in the industry. Many of the industries I listed have blogs and need people to maintain them with current news. The skills I am learning now will go a long way to being multi-talented, instead of a one dimensional employee.

The Classiness of Blogging

Being in Dr. Clark’s blogging class has been a joy. Overall I feel like I am learning different ways of expressing stories in a shorter form. This is important going forward in other classwork and in the media market. Media people don’t like to drag things out. Get to the point or get out!

Last Takeaways

I summed up my main takeaways at the very beginning, but here are some other observations I’ve had.

I found out very earlier that our class was a cult! We have our own teachings, beliefs, and even our own gospel, “The Gospel of Clark”.

“The Gospel of Clark” isn’t your normal biblical gospel, but a gospel about Dr. Clark’s biggest annoyances in punctuation and how to fix them. Even Clark himself gave us his Sermon in the Classroom. It included six commandments on writing and possibly more.

The last takeaway I will leave you with is the importance of relaxing and focusing on what matters for you and your blog.

Remember to write for yourself and your audience. Write with purpose and fluidity. I always follow a quote that Google personifies to its employees, “Do not think, but think when your not thinking.” Essentially this idea is that we do our best thinking when we are not thinking.

Don’t be afraid to write down what you don’t think.