Writing an article for your blog
Writing articles
Writing is not something that comes easily to everyone; for some its just a matter of putting pen to paper and out it all pours and great article is produced while others can spend hours and produce very little content.
I must admit that I come into the second category rather than the first. Even at school writing or composition as it was called in my days was not a subject I ever looked forward too. It was a chore. However as in life writing skills are a necessary form of communication and it is something most of us make an effort to accomplish, at least the basics.
When wrting an article for your blog the first thing you need to do is to decide on the subject of your post, your targeted audience and then just make a list of points that you want to cover. The simplest way to start is to write a draft. Just write and let it flow, writing down exactly as you would be saying it. Personally, at this point I save my draft and go do something else for a short break.
Going back to my draft I see it with different eyes and here I make a few corrections, spelling corrections, restructure points, etc. Again I will leave this draft. Coming back to it, re read, correct. All this I do in notepad and not on the blog. Once satisfied with the draft I then paste it into a new blog post, give it the required headings, add the images,[you can import images into your editor or use a plugin like 'Tagaroo' that will help you add relevant images to your post] save and preview.
In the preview I check the layout/headings/images/categories/tags and signature. If totally satisfied, publish. A blog does not require you to be a top class author so do not hesitate to hit that publish button. If you don’t publish you end up with a whole collection of drafts and an empty blog. If I am really not sure about my article I will ask a friend to give me an opinion, give it the once over and make any neccessary corrections.
This may not be the way most people work, but it works for me. Somedays of course things just flow and I get more done as far as writing is concerned, other days its really a ‘no go’ chore. You can get very techie as to the sort of structure your article should/should not have, layout etc and there are whole books written about the subject on the ‘how to write a book or article’ but unless you want to be a ‘professional author’, I feel that for a blog its really a matter of finding what suits you, your style best as long as you convey your message to your targeted audience.
Of course, the more you practice writing blog articles, the easier it gets as in most skills that you want to acquire. Your articles do not need to be long. Short to the point is fine, but do write. I’m no author but I am finding that writing articles for my blog can be fun!
