friday forte: not a lot
ms griz inspiring yet another belly rub (go on, you can do better)
I do have a post in prep ..... but not for this week. Actually I have two up the sleeve of my hard drive, so to speak.
But this week, it's almost 10pm on Friday and I'm mindful about not writing 'meh' ;)
This week .... this week?
I've been musing over something from Social Media Camp at the beginning of October (btw, there was a call out for speakers/seminars for the 2011 event), about writing "exceptional, not acceptional" blog posts (can you tell it's been on my mind?).
And lately, I've been further pondering on the topic of keyword stuffing* (not that I would know a keyword if it came up and bit my nose) and writing "meh" (following a comment by @unmarketing who I think coined the "acceptional" phrase above).
So to blog or not to blog? To only blog when the output is exceptional, well crafted, brilliant, adds to the debate? To only hit publish when your words add meaning to the internet? To only write online when you have a cause to follow, or an idea to publicise, or a message to send out into the ether?
I think not.
I think blogging can be great practice, wonderful exercise for one of your many creative muscles. You can't shoot hoops straight off but imagine where you be if you didn't even try because all you shot were misses.
Mastering the piano takes more than opening the page at Für Elise and bashing it out note perfect first time.
Prepping a whole meal requires the baby steps of beans on toast followed by tinned fruit, before launching into boeuf en daube with all the trimmings for ten.
Imagine stopping at this (my first ever wire and fibre cuff) and not keeping on going to try and improve to all of these (more adventures in wire and fibre)? My first attempts were, shall I say, hideous but I didn't hide them (maybe I should have) - I watched customer reaction (!) at craft fairs and modified my techniques. I've just finished teaching another wire and fibre workshop, my pieces have been in one exhibition and will be in one, possibly two more this Christmas, and they sell.
Writing is just the same - perseverance and practice, and blogging makes it less lonely. Blogging makes you write it down if you want to stick to a schedule (damn this friday forte nonsense ;) ). Some posts will be stream of consciousness and possibly of no interest to anyone apart from your critics, other posts will stimulate discussion if you're lucky, a few posts might make it to a writing portfolio. Blogging starts you thinking beginning, middle and punch line (though don't hold your breath for one in this post). Blogging leads you into editing and proofreading and carrying a notebook to jot ideas down in ....
Fear of writing "meh" could stifle That Blog Post .... yes, the Pultizer prize or whatever the equivalent is for blogging award blog post that lives inside each and every one of us (stirring film music now plays along in the background) .... don't not write.
music dies away to a whimper ... ouch!
*OK, I am guilty of keyword stuffing - I know that if I tag a pic on flickr with toes, wellies, pussy or foot then that image will receive stellar views ;)
