Alison Fish: Writing for Weblogs

Weblog Rust Removal

Sun, 17 Nov 2002 20:22:13 GMT

Feeling very rusty. I have not written a post in 12 days. That is the longest non-posting period since I started this weblog.

So I am posting, even though I have nothing to say. I am hoping these words will beget more words, get the writing juices flowing again.

I heard that Bill Murray, when writing for Saturday Night Live, used to insert placeholders in his scripts: "and then Gilda says something funny". This allowed him to keep writing even though he had nothing to say. This is what I am doing right now. It must make for some fascinating reading (not!) :)

I think a little bit of rust has been removed. I feel better now.

Unintended Search Hits

Fri, 18 Oct 2002 23:37:06 GMT

It takes courage to blog.
This is scary: blog gives you publicity you probably don’t want. After your name pops up at the first page of search results you're kind of expected to provide high quality content.
[Mathemagenic]

Agreed.

Ethics Discussion Dijest

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 18:21:20 GMT

Doc Searls believes webloggers need a code of ethics (and hosts some discussion, too). Nick Denton agrees. John Hiler said bloggers should follow the same code as journalists (and journalist/blogger Ken Layne responded, "Never!"). And of course Rebecca Blood's Weblog Handbook proposes six rules for ethical blogging.

But could a webloggers' code of ethics ever be accepted -- and somehow enforced -- widely enough that readers could trust a weblog more than they'd trust its publisher alone? Or is there a value to such a code without collective trust and accountability -- as a set of guidelines to simply encourage responsible publishing, perhaps?
[Blogroots]

I should have kept my mouth shut.

Sun, 13 Oct 2002 22:32:17 GMT

I should probably explain a previous post. No mockery took place, if it was interpreted that way I apologize. It is a relief to witness productive prolific webloggers experience writer's block. Witnessing inhibitions in others often diminishes them within ourselves, that's all.

If you don't believe me, see this. Also see this. I should have kept my mouth shut.

It's tricky?. I think my Blogging is Difficult post was a little corny, overdone, and maybe gave people the wrong impressions....

I'll stop the meta-blogging/navel-gazing now and return you to my normal disjointed ramblings. That is what I promised and that is what I will deliver.
[Blogging Roller]

Roller's Blogging Block

Sat, 12 Oct 2002 19:43:33 GMT

Now that Blogging Roller's creator finally has time to write, there is not as much to write about:

Blogging is difficult.

Blogging Roller made blogging easy for me
I'd just blog about Roller and related stuff

I hoped I that eventually, I would find my way to other voices
But blogging is difficult: I've got rules in the back of my mind
Don't blog about politics and start argumemts
Don't blog about family and day-to-day life, that'll bore people
Don't blog about work, because your employer may be reading
Censor yourself!

The bloggers that I enjoy reading are the ones that break these rules
I can't enjoy blogging unless I start breaking some of these rules
[Blogging Roller]

Quick - write some more software so you can start blogging again!

Repeat As Necessary

Sat, 12 Oct 2002 08:14:14 GMT

From the very funny How to Fail at Writing...

6. There are thousands of writing books. Better read them all before you start. One of them has got to have the secret. (Be sure to skip all the exercises.)

11. Whatever you do, don't finish anything. Just keep starting new fragments. (Any ideas prior to your latest suck anyway.) Or endlessly torture your existing manuscripts until you drain them of any vitality they might once have had.

12. If you do finish something, immediately share it with someone who can be counted on to tear it apart, tell you you're wasting your time, and imply you're an idiot for ever imagining you could write. Believe this person — s/he wouldn't say it if it weren't true.

13. Be sure you never actually submit your work for publication. Take the decision out of the editors' hands: reject it for them.

How Weblogs Foster Quality

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 18:19:40 GMT

Thanks [Radio Free Blogistan] for a Great Link, and thanks Seb for a great article, with an immense volume of heavy duty links for us to explore.
[Al Macintyre's Radio Weblog]

Agreed, this (Personal Knowledge Publishing and its Uses in Research) is a great article. A Great article! If you find the length too daunting, read just a section at a time and savor each sentence. Start with section three: How Weblogs Foster Quality.

Wed, 02 Oct 2002 17:25:14 GMT

I am jotting this down because of a work-related project:

UseIt: Great points about Email Newsletters.
Do you publish a newsletter? Are you thinking about it?

If so, read this article from UseIt: Email Newsletters Pick Up Where Websites Leave Off

You'll find some great information, and gain a better understanding of what's important in a newsletter by today's standards.

[via Netmarketing]

When you're done with that one, go read this one about writing headlines.
[inluminent/weblog] via [Don W Strickland: software]

The Five-Fish Rating

Mon, 30 Sep 2002 18:37:01 GMT

BlogFish has nothing to do with the 5 Fish Blog Award granted to figure-bloggers of excellence.

This site, by the way, is another look at what makes a good weblog. The judges grant awards based on three high-level categories: basic blogging skills ("This includes stroking, flow, power, speed, edge quality and form.",) technical skills (such as the triple Salchow Blog jump,) and of course presentation.

This organization has faced accusations of biased judging. "We've all been there - a competition where everyone in the arena has seen a blogger perform a best-ever program, and then the results come up and that person is second! "

In their defense, The Figure Blogging organization asserts that judges "have undergone extensive training which includes written examinations, seminars, trial judging and judging at the preceding level" before sitting on the panel of such an important blogging excellence competition.

Thanks to Al Macintyre for pointing out this site.

Tue, 24 Sep 2002 04:22:08 GMT

"I hate the name "blogs" though, which might be why I don't show up there."
[The Scobleizer]

I hate it too, but Blogfish sounded a lot better than WeblogFish. I am still open to suggestions. KlogFish? FishKlog? Sounds like something got caught in the drain.

Fishlog....WebFishLog....KnowledgeLogFish

Be your personal blogging best

Thu, 19 Sep 2002 16:43:47 GMT

Al Macintyre makes a weblog report card and Phil Wolff of a klog apart asks "What is 'Good Blogging'?"

Easing the fear of writing, continued

Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:15:41 GMT

Hopeful news for we the fearful:

David Wertheimer: 99% of Proper Grammar is Obsolete.
[via WebWord] (50 words) [dive into mark]

That reduces my list by one: ~~Fear of using hillbilly grammar~~ . Yeeeeeeeehaw! (insert banjo celabratory riff here).

Easing the fear of writing

Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:06:16 GMT

McGee had been musing again:

"...fear of writing is one relevant barrier to tapping knowledge in organizations...Lowering or eliminating those barriers is certainly a worthy effort."

Easing the fear of writing. How could you do that? First you'd have to know what causes the fear.

I can speak for myself: fear of using hillbilly grammar. Fear of speaking out of turn, upstaging my superiors. Fear of revealing something that was supposed to be confidential that I did not know was supposed to be confidential but nobody told me because to most people "its obvious what should be confidential". Fear that coworkers will discover my ignorance. (Wait a minute, everyone has some ignorance). Fear that my ignorance is much larger in scale than most of my coworkers.

"These questions started rattling around with some other ideas hanging out in my head and the result grew into 'Writing comfort and thinking styles'"

Mark Writes Great Teasers. Nicely done. You too, Mark.

Wed, 18 Sep 2002 03:50:37 GMT

MarkPasc courteously provides this option for subscribers: Content or Headline.

Top left: the Headline markpasc.org feed conserves vertical space in my aggregator . The words are small in number but well chosen.

Below left: the Content markpasc.org uses the more traditional structure: title plus body.

I prefer the Headline version. The item titles usually provide a good hint. "Wee Winget" is an update on his Winget program; he's been at it for about a month now.

Nicely done, Mark.

DiveIntoMark's brevity provokes intrigue. Read this teaser from today's news:

"Heather did it well. Michael does it. Leslie does it every day. (Dean does it with his dog, but never mind that.) As of today, I'm doing it too. (474 words)"

I just had to follow the link. Nicely done, Mark.

Mon, 16 Sep 2002 07:24:00 GMT

Thanks to [On Deciding . . . Better log] for posting the link to the [NYT] Working with Jerry article observing (among other things) Seinfeld's process for creating fresh material. During one of his daily creativity exercises, the comedian admits:

"This is really a crazy idea, you know," he says. "It probably won't work, but that will be interesting, too. You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That's how you know you're still alive. Once you start doing only what you've already proven you can do, you're on the road to death."

The comedian's techniques for evolving mundane life into stand-up bits is chronicled in a documentary titled "The Comedian". The release is scheduled for this October.

Breathe in, Blog out

Mon, 16 Sep 2002 06:25:12 GMT

Just when I start to think that this weblog, while a keen experiment, has run its course, someone's post takes the words right outta my brain:

...This means though that at some point every blogger will face issues of equilibrium. You discover what "too much blogging" means if you don't have a rock solid way of managing the time and effort invested.

[snip]....So it's thrilling after all these years to be able to exhale, but breathing out is only half the story, and frenetic blogging can take on the feel of hyperventilation. Backing off and taking a deep breath can help restore the swing of new ideas in and new thoughts out.
[Radio Free Blogistan]

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 22:24:08 GMT

Weblog Handbook's links are online: http://www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/urls.html.

I suspect that beginning bloggers and kloggers are often inhibited.

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 20:26:34 GMT

This could be a problem. When I started this weblog on July 30th, my objective was to post items that were notes to myself. I thought that the chances of someone looking at my site were slim to none.

Then my referrer page would show a few hits, and I was both flattered and nervous. Once I realized that the community was smaller and kinder than I had assumed, I posted more frequently.

If we set up a k-logging community for our company intranet, I suspect there will be an initial _hump_ of hesitation among the employees. Maybe having a few designated posters at the beginning would ease the transition. Must think on this.

Lessons learned from a large scale K-logging implementation.

Most people don't like to write. We've had a difficult time designing interfaces that encourage adding information instead of just reading.

There's no substitute for good, accessible writing. We have several people who write consistently for the system. The logs show that postings from one writer get far more attention and prompt far more linking than those from the other writers. "

[Seb's Open Research]

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 20:23:56 GMT

To Michael Rogers who asks how frequently a person writing a weblog should update (I hate calling these people bloggers, as Rogers does, that's a trademark). My answer is As frequently as something happens and you have the time or inclination to write it up. Rogers then says something provocative: "The kind of article that a writer produces after a week of thought is fundamentally different than one produced after a few hours." True. But you can keep lots of ideas in your head, and think about them for hours, days, weeks, months, years or decades; and even repeat them and expand on them, and (rarely) change your mind about something. Even great writers like Hemingway repeated themes. People who blog do this even more. It helps fill the space. Every event is an opportunity to "prove" ones' pet theories. I do this a lot. It's okay because everyone else does it too.
[Scripting News]

Writing Inhibitions

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 20:18:44 GMT

Writing inhibitions, the causes:

It is a public display of facility they may not feel they have, and may not have; one correspondent was afraid his spelling was bad.
It makes folly as clear as wisdom, but is more persistent than a comment made in the hall
It takes time and thought (and a little hubris—per Larry Wall) to put words out for others, and to make them—and think them—good enough for public consumption.
[Ron Lusk's Radio Weblog]

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 10:39:04 GMT

Steven Levy Has A Blog About Writing About Blogs. says [Ernie the Attorney]

Steven suggests that we need to be more self displined about our categories, separating different kinds of writing:

Sharing interesting links and insights.
More or less original content.
Pundit commentary on what we see in the news.

For the moment, my focus is on separating my stuff by type of subject content - computers, history, using this technology, etc.
[Al Macintyre's Radio Weblog]

I love the three styles of weblog writing listed above. What would be really cool is to come up with a way of formatting the weblog posts that indicates which of the three types of posts it is (sharing link discoveries, original content, pundit commentary). Oh, so much to do. Save this goal for a later date.