ingredients for a blog
A strong point of view.
Good visuals. Digital cameras are the blog's best friend. The more color and texture the better. Posing the subject, alive or inanimate, like a layout from a shelter or fashion magazine doesn't hurt either.
Lively writing with a strong sense of voice.
A tone that hovers between the personal and the public, that either moves outward in subtle circles as it draws connections or draws readers happy to observe this small space. This is a genre that mimics a diary, but is open to the world to read. A very tricky tone is called for. Neither whining nor self-pitying, but self-aware, sufficiently convinced of the interest of its day-to-day activities to imagine someone else wanting to know about them.
Posts on a regular basis: every other day at least is nice for the reader and the writer.
Willingness to expose one's foibles.
Willingness to admit that you routinely use words like "foibles."
Addendum and variation to above 2 rules: a strong sense of language, irregardless of the type of language. One person's foibles are another person's snarkiness. It's not the language itself, but the consistency and mastery of that language.
Affection for the subject matter, and this holds true even more for those angry blogs. If you don't care about something, why bother criticizing it? Also known as the Last Person Chosen for Fourth Grade Kickball Rule.
Lively investigations into every topic imaginable, from faith and ethics to a response to Julia Childs' death from one woman trying to cook the entire Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days.
Willingness by the blogger to let go of the outcome. Process, not product.
Good visuals. Digital cameras are the blog's best friend. The more color and texture the better. Posing the subject, alive or inanimate, like a layout from a shelter or fashion magazine doesn't hurt either.
Lively writing with a strong sense of voice.
A tone that hovers between the personal and the public, that either moves outward in subtle circles as it draws connections or draws readers happy to observe this small space. This is a genre that mimics a diary, but is open to the world to read. A very tricky tone is called for. Neither whining nor self-pitying, but self-aware, sufficiently convinced of the interest of its day-to-day activities to imagine someone else wanting to know about them.
Posts on a regular basis: every other day at least is nice for the reader and the writer.
Willingness to expose one's foibles.
Willingness to admit that you routinely use words like "foibles."
Addendum and variation to above 2 rules: a strong sense of language, irregardless of the type of language. One person's foibles are another person's snarkiness. It's not the language itself, but the consistency and mastery of that language.
Affection for the subject matter, and this holds true even more for those angry blogs. If you don't care about something, why bother criticizing it? Also known as the Last Person Chosen for Fourth Grade Kickball Rule.
Lively investigations into every topic imaginable, from faith and ethics to a response to Julia Childs' death from one woman trying to cook the entire Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days.
Willingness by the blogger to let go of the outcome. Process, not product.
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