Bloggy Questions Archives - Page 13 of 23

How to Write an Outstanding Blog Post

April 28, 2007 by Liz

It Takes ALL of You

What does it take to write an outstanding blog post, one that I look back on months later and still think it’s the best I could write? months after I’ve gone on to write about other things?

Choose to write about your passion whenever you can, but when you cannot, be passionate about what you write.

I write the most outstanding blog posts when I bring all of me to the keyboard to write. All of me is the one who’s been writing for years and the one who still remembers what it’s like to be a kid. All of me means head and heart together in every word. It means taking time to make sure that I’m there. Here’s a way you might do that.

Before you even begin, STOP.

Reflect on what you want to say. Know in your mind what your message is. Try it on for size. Imagine what you want readers to know, want them to see, want them to feel in their bones.
Give those feelings spectacular words such as breathtaking, exhilarating, compelling, stunning, amazed, intrigued, or entranced. Imagine being a kid discovering this information for the first time. Try to capture the way it would feel.

Those two steps will connect your heart to your head. When you stop to breathe before you write, all of you will be there when you click that first key.

Capture the whole message before you edit what you say. Trust your mind and your heart to give you the right ideas first. Worry about the sentences and the words later. The ideas are what you want to share. Make the ideas big. Make them real. Tell your story by showing your readers what you want them to see.

Use your own voice. Make the words sound like you think. When you read the words through, read aloud and listen to how the words sound. Do they sound like you do? Do they have rhythm and music?

When the ideas are right and the voice is yours, then look at the sentences. Are they long and short? Do they sparkle and shine? Do they say what you mean? Do they feel right? You probably won’t need to do much.

If your heart is with you, don’t be surprised if you find yourself feeling passionate, even emotional, about what you write. To this day, I still cry when I read some of the best blog posts I’ve ever written.

How do you write an outstanding blog post?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Introducing Bloggy Tag — I’m it, You’re it, I’m it. . . .

April 28, 2007 by Liz

As we established on Monday, a meme is an idea that propagates itself. Memes (rhymes with dreams) got their name from Richard Dawkins in his book, The Selfish Gene, and are the cultural counterpart of biological unit gene.

I get bloggy tagged often by the pseudo-memes that travel the blogosphere. I’m lucky the bloggy tags that march my way are usually fun and often offer a way they can be made useful or entertaining for folks reading my blog.

On Monday, folks asked me to start a campaign to rename the bloggy memes something . . . um . . . er . . . more appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no faith in my ability or strength to move the blogosphere in such a noisy way.

Heck, I got a passel of Bloggy Tags this week to address. That’s a force to contend with. So I choose to take a quieter route — one that makes sense for me –to formally describe and name what we do and give it a button of its own.

Introducing, “Bloggy Tag.” It’s a scattershot Internet version of the children’s game. Here’s how you play.

Do a written task or answer a question. Then tag 1-5 others to do as you did.

Tag your post with the button shown to the right to alert readers that you’re playing.

Link the button to the post of the person who tagged you, if you didn’t start the game.

Tell your readers to click the button to find out who came before you. It’s a surprise for them.

One cool part of the whole thing is that everyone can tell at a glance when a post is the answer to a tag. We no longer have to write extreme explanations about who made the tag. Once everyone gets the rules down, we won’t have to repeat them over and over either. YEA!

If it works for you feel free to take the button with you and use it the next time you get tagged. Meanwhile . . . this weekend . . .

Bloggy Tag Weekend: I have named this an Official Bloggy-Tag Weekend on Successful-Blog. I plan to catch up on all of the bloggy tags recently sent my way and any I might have missed in the past.

If you have bloggy tagged me in 2007 and you haven’t seen your answer yet, please email me at lizsun2 @ gmail.com with a link to the post that has your tag. Thanks in advance for that help.

After all, we can’t have mutant memes running loose on the Internet. The meme pool could contract a memetic disorder.

That would be bad.

Now on to a few games of tag, tag, tag, tag, tag, . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Bloggy Question 47: Take It to the Edge

April 26, 2007 by Liz

How does this photo relate to what you do?

Do you even think that it does?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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What Do You Call a Meme that Isn’t a Meme?

April 23, 2007 by Liz

Yes, Virginia, There Is Such a Thing

I get tagged A LOT by memes. Some are fun. Some are not. Some hit me as downright silly.

Don’t get me wrong. Some are quite fun to write and fun to read. Some are educational and informational. Some, however, suck eggs and are the epitome of egotistical kerfuffle.

Lately memes have looked less and less like a fun way to answer questions, and more and more like a way to boost a Technorati rank. That got me wondering just what a meme is. I was sure that a meme had something to do with ideas and culture.

What is a Meme Anyway?

In his book, The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition–with a new Introduction by the Author, Richard Dawkins coined the term, meme, (rhymes with dream) to mean an idea that can replicate and evolve to spread through the culture. Memes are basic idea units that move, mutate, and adapt. They are the cultural equivalent of genes.

Beyond the personal belief about God is the idea of god as a cultural meme. Dawkins explained that God exists culturally. Here’s the page where Dawkins explained what he called the “god meme” and why it survives.

The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins, p. 193

How Do Memes Spread?

Memes mutate, crossover from generation to generation. adapt, and change. They spread in ways more subtle than blog posts and tags that branch out by five times five.

It’s suggested that memes survive the same as genes — through natural selection. Six conditions can effect the ability of a meme to spread.

Experience If a meme correlates with your experience you are likely to spread it.

Pleasure or Pain If a meme has caused a feeling of pleasure or pain, you are more likely to remember it and to pass it on.

Fear/Hope If a meme promises a future, a threat, a cause, a philosphy, a reward, or great benefit, you are more likely to believe it and spread it.

Censorship If a meme is censored, it can be destroyed.

Economics If those with money exhibit a preference for certain memes, those memes will have an advantage, will be imitated and spread.

Distinction The memes of leaders, intelligent people, and celebrities will spread more easily.

I suppose one could argue that blogging is a meme. But I’d have to say those blog posts that link back and tag five people forward would have to be memetic mutations.

I like the ones that tell more about the blogger . . . but I can’t get my head around calling them memes anymore. Anyone have suggestion about how to introduce a meme to rename the things that we have misnamed as memes?

How’s that for a problem?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Bloggy Question 46: Beware of Making Noise

April 22, 2007 by Liz

She Didn’t Believe What She Said

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . .

A young blogger, someone you have helped in the past, shows you a series of blog posts that she wrote. It’s a week of articles about the bad habits of bloggers. She set herself up as superior to and more informed than all other bloggers.

You ask her whether she believes what she’s written. She admits that she’s trying to “make some noise.” She hopes that her claims will go viral. It’s a sad attempt at gaining publicity and “get-rich-quick links.

You do your best, using words such as authenticity and relationships, to explain that it’s dangerous and unethical to take a stand that she doesn’t believe. She ignores your advice and publishes the first two posts.

A furious response results. People pounce hard. She is dropped from blogrolls. Bloggers talk, but they actually avoid linking to her posts.

You were ready for the heat. You figured that she’d face the fire and learn the hard way. You figured she would gain some humility and grow a bit. You thought you’d help her put things back together when she did.

The surprise was that she never did acknowledge the mistake that she made. She blamed the other bloggers for not getting her “joke.” She quit blogging instead.

It’s a year later. She just emailed you with a question about a new blog.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 45: Take a Long Look

April 16, 2007 by Liz

In what way might this represent a blog?

Do you even think that it does?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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