I have a new favorite word that really stands for a whole mindset. Intentional. Be intentional with your time, be intentional with your words, and be intentional with your actions; in the blogging world, be intentional will your posts and with your comments.
When creating a new post, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, harbor an open mind! Do not weave an opinion into an absolute fact. Not only can this be misleading but it also distances yourself from your readers. Be careful also not to generalize. Pose your ideas concisely in such a way that allows others to enter the converstaion and turn it into a explosion of thoughts and ideas!
The feedback offered on collaborators' posts should be contructive and well-thought out. You must consider the author and the purpose of the post and respond accordingly; that being said, whether you agree or disagree with what the author is saying, agree or disagree with the IDEA, not the person. Feedback should also be relevant to the content contained within the post - new ideas, meaningful insights and answers to posed questions are welcome. Personal connections to the post are interesting and welcome as well. However, when the comments veer off track it takes away from the original purpose of the post. Respect the author's space and ideas.
As Pete said in his blog, blogs can "quickly devolve into the online equivalent of grunting apes." Let's keep our blogs clean and classy. And remember, use the writing process - blogs are a published piece of writing so consider your purpose, support your ideas and polish it off with some pretty spelling and punctuation.
Dear Olivia,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. You shared wonderful ideas and I appreciated your wisdom. I especially appreciated the end--what you ended it with and how you ended it. You concisely summarized your blog, sticking to your rules very well. I also appreciated the content of your summary as you described blogs as a "published piece of writing" and how important it is to have a focus, defend your purpose, and use proper grammar. Your post was wrapped up so nicely with this statement and I agree with the guidelines you set forth.
You were very intentional with your post and I appreciate that as a reader.
Do you have any specific suggestions for how to be more intentional with our blogging? It seems so easy to get sidetracked while writing a post and lose sight of what you really meant to say in the first place (especially for a rambler like myself) so if you have any advice, i would appreciate it!
Thank you again for your post!
Courtney B.
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI also love the word "intentional". Too often do we do things that are unintentional or not intentional enough. Your post, however, was wonderfully intentional. I agree with Courtney on the whole, you did a great job of staying on topic and making sure your readers knew exactly what you were intending for us to get out of the post. It was concise, to the point, and still full of detail.
Like Courtney, I'm a rambler myself and would appreciate a mini-lesson on how to be more intentional in my blog posts!
Maggie and Courtney, thanks for your posts! I must say, it IS a little bit thrilling to know that people are reading your writing and have things to say about it.
ReplyDeleteI've recently been thinking about intentionality in all areas of my life and have found that those thoughts apply to writing as well...
When I think about my life in general, I think about where I want to get to and what I want to accomplish. Among many other things, I want to be a teacher and I want to be a world traveller. Then I think, what am I doing to get there? Well, I'm taking classes, reading books, studying abroad and keeping my mind open to the possibilities!... but what obstacles get in the way? Am I spending valuable time doing worthless activities when I could be gaining experience (not just teaching experience but LIFE experience!)? Am I spending money on temporary things when I could be saving it to jump on a plane to Norway or Peru? These are thoughts I need to reassess frequently and questions I constantly need to be asking myself so that I do not lose sight of the larger picture.
The same applies to my writing, and I think it could apply to yours as well! Where do I want to get to? What do I want to accomplish? (Thesis). What am I doing to get there? (Evidence/arguments/ideas). What is unnecessary or getting in the way of the larger picture? (Editing/clarifying). Whenever I start to let my rambling side take over I take a step back, reassess my goal and take a look at the larger picture.
I hope this helps!