I have been blogging for almost 2 years now and it is something I enjoy doing. I started blogging because I missed writing. Writing is something I enjoy doing. I am not a very creative writer, but more of a productive one. Depending on the topic, I can write up an entire post in 30 – 60 minutes. That is the average time it takes me to write the actual text. It is without taking pictures, cropping etc. Since I also teach writing courses, I tend to put some of the tips I give my students into practice and I thought I would share how I go about writing my blogs.
1.) Think up topics
I keep a list of possible blog topics in a little notebook, as well as on a sheet of paper. The notebook tends to contain very general ideas for posts. Since I’ve been using it quite a bit, the structure of what I already did and what I would still like to do is lost. That is why I now write down possible blog post topics on a sheet of paper. I keep a post it with the blog posts I want to write throughout the week tacked to it. This way it’s easy for me, for which posts I still need to take pictures, or for which ones I still need to organize something.
2.) Have a plan
Depending on the topic, I make a list of the things I want to write about. I don’t do this all the time, but for more complex topics it is often handy to have it ready. I just do this in a Word file on my computer. I use the same file to gather interesting links to articles, tags and other ideas that I might have.
Another thing I try to do is to plan when I put which topics online. I try to change up the topics, so you won’t get 5 topics on make up followed by 5 topics of music. For this I use my post it and I also use it to plan when I take pictures when I need any.
3.) One idea per paragraph
When it comes to writing blogs I don’t really do anything special. I try to stick to the basic rules of writing. One of them is that you only put one idea in each paragraph you write. This way you get a structured text that is easy to follow. I also try to organize my paragraphs, starting with a short summary at the top, than the actual post and I always try to end the post with a question or a request for the reader.
4.) Use linking words
Linking words are the key to a well structured text that is easy to read. You use them to link your ideas (i.e. paragraphs and sentences) together in a logical way. I try to use them as much as I can, without over doing it. I have been told numerous times that my texts are easy to read and I’m guessing it’s because of my use of these little buggers. The ones I am using here: finally, this way, when, depending on the topic, another thing, that is why, also, one of them.
5.) Change up vocabulary
Finally, what I try to do is change up my vocabulary. I try to use a different wording for the start of each blog post. What I also try to do is change up the words I use within the post. In this particular piece of text you may have noticed that I use the words blog, blog post and post to refer to the same thing. By changing up the vocab the text also becomes more interesting to read.
That’s it! That is pretty much all I do when I write the texts for my blogs. Do you have any general writing tips?