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What do 4 P’s, 7 H’s and a bunch of E’s spell?
Simple. It spells ‘G-E-T O-V-E-R Y-O-U-R-S-E-L-V-E-S‘.
;o)
Seriously, though, turning blogging into a formulaic science is not a good thing. Why? Because it’s just not a science. It’s much, much looser than that. It’s writing. It’s an art. There are no rules. There are no P’s. No H’s. And certainly no E’s.
There is no formula to follow. There’s no ‘right’. And there’s almost no ‘wrong’.
I look at it like this: if you constantly try to meet a checklist of forced criteria in your writing, you’re seriously going to limit yourself as a writer - and probably as a blogger, too.
At the end of the day, there’s only one ‘P’ that really matters when you’re blogging: P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L-I-T-Y. Stick to a formula too closely, and the personality of your blog (or your company’s blog) will be the first thing to suffer.
Oh, and one last thing. Try not to take yourself - or your blogging - too seriously, OK.
And don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
Contributor profile: http://wurk.net/profile/admin
Website: http://barrybell.com
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February 22, 2006 @ 7:25 pm...
Excellent advice.
February 23, 2006 @ 3:18 pm...
Hmmm, good points. I wasn’t trying to lay down rules for blogging, but talking about a self-awareness process for finding a “voice” that comes from values and . I admit, I have always been kind of a geek that way.
February 23, 2006 @ 8:53 pm...
Hmm, I think my post was more of a thinking exercise than any kind of science or rule definition. Blogging is easy and everyone’s main motivators could be summed up in a few words. Simple as that. ;-)
February 23, 2006 @ 9:20 pm...
All in good humour, guys. ;o)
I just pictured all these bloggers re-writing their posts over and over again because they don’t meet the latest set of criteria from such-and-such A-list blogger.
Stuff like that can really stifle creativity sometimes.
Cheers for the comments, though.
B
February 23, 2006 @ 10:51 pm...
Hah I can picture the paradigm shift, Barry. People sitting thinking ‘How can I be passionate AND still educate? Damn this is hard..’
I agree, do as you will, it’s your blog for goodness sake.
February 23, 2006 @ 11:09 pm...
No, not hard at all. In fact, I made sure that this post was passionate, purposeful, topical, positional, based on principles, prioritised, facilitative of discussion, understandable and synergistic, and that it promoted physical, mental, and emotional health, whilst also being educational, entertaining, emotive and engaging - all at the same time.
It hasn’t earned anything yet though. Damn. It’s actually tougher than I thought.
February 23, 2006 @ 11:19 pm...
Damn, if I were you next time I’d try -oh I don’t know- promoting more physical health? That’ll certainly earn you something..
February 23, 2006 @ 11:27 pm...
Well, I forgot to mention that I was actually doing push-ups as I typed that post.
Does that count?
;o)
February 24, 2006 @ 1:34 pm...
Good post Barry, and one that should be added to the recipe.
I think that those new to blogging are looking for guidelines or some checklist - and then when they get over the technology part, they just start being themselves.
Sometimes, these bulleted lists can add extra motivation or even a focus if someone’s frustrated with how things are going.
I’m glad you’re not among those. Stay contagious with your voice - it’s a good one (and it’s yours)
February 24, 2006 @ 3:38 pm...
I think that you really have to do push-ups while writing a post or it doesn’t count. Really, this stuff is hard!