Writing for someone other than yourself

Photo by P. Lynne Design (c) 2016

Writing is what cures all.  It cures all sadness, anger, confusion, you name it.   Not really, but sometimes I wish it would. For instance:

I have a personal online journal.  It is not really online.  I type in Ms. Word, and it is a document.  I type out what I am feeling for that day.  Yesterday was about how disgusted I was at my finances, and how my bank treats me and my money.  Don’t worry, all banks do that to a degree.  Another post for another day.  Another time it was about how happy I was to find my business coach, Renae.  That too I will tell for another day, but the point is I feel better when I write.  It calms me down to a level where I can type out my thoughts, and read then back at any time.

Sometimes, I feel like sharing.  This is where My Ambiance Life (comes into play, and even then sometimes I feel like I am oversharing.  I try not to let all of my feeling out, and make sure that I keep you in mind when I write my posts, especially when I write about human injustice, i.e. recent events with #blacklivesmatter (such as Alton Sterling) or Pulse Club killings.   Some people want to read what I have to say, while others want either ignore, or want me to shut my mouth and let go.  However, your feelings are my concern, but not to the point where I stop and think every time I place my fingers on the keyboard.  The way I work is I think about the subject, then title, the rest flows as I type.  If it is not right, as I have said in a previous post, I do not post it, and it goes into my “work on it” folder for each month.  So far, December 2016 looks like a busy month for MAL

So, what am I trying to say in this post about your writing?  If you write a blog, think about who your audience is, how they feel, and write based on that.  In other words, research.  Read other blogs with your same topics, but do not copy their style, for your style is of your own making.  If you want to put your own spin on the subject matter, fine. Consider the time of year you are writing about, especially if you are writing a lifestyle blog (such as my now deleted Simply Organized Crafts blog).  For example, you would not write about all things Christmas in the middle of May, but it would be appropriate to say something about the after Christmas sale in January, or do a Christmas in July type post on July 20.  (Not July 4th, if you are in the U.S.).  Be mindful of these things.

Next time, I will explore this a little further to talk about writing for content-mill sites (BlogMutt, BlogHer, Et. Al).  There are some things that I have learned about these types of websites, which are not bad, but if you are not careful, you can be removed from them permanently.

5 reasons why I do not like to write…

Photo by www.plannerisms.com

I do not like to write.  I have said it a dozen times and now I feel like I have to explain myself to you all.

1.       The first reason why I do not like to write is this stigma that you are only as good as the red marks on your school papers.  That seems to be true.  I am the #1 queen of the red mark papers.  I would get started on a thought, totally screw up the sentence, and the teacher would come behind me with his/her red pen.  I hated those pens, and if I had a second chance, I would have banished those red pens.  (Hummm, I would like to know how they grade now with all of this technology.)

2.      The second reason why I do not like to write is criticism.   Criticism can come in the form of not liking the subject matter to the style of writing, to that equal of the red pen marks.

3.      Third reason why is I am afraid that I will write about the same subject over and over again. 

4.      The fourth reason why I do not like to write is if I am stuck, I have nothing to write about, and if I do not have nothing to write about, you do not have anything to read.

5.      The fifth and finally reason why I do not like to write is….I LOVE TO WRITE.  I found that out when I started my journal a few years ago.  These are the reasons why.

a.       I overcame my first problem by first telling myself that I am no longer in high school, so therefore, I no longer have the red marks.  I found out that teachers have red pens to point out what a child has to correct, but the problem with that is when a child has a question, some teachers’ zone out, and never answer that child’s question.  The last two years of my high school was the most critical, but guess what people?  At that time, English was not a required subject to take.  I graduated in 1982 and according to the curriculum that I was given, I had choir, music theory, and a few study halls. I had really finished my schooling in the 11^th grade.  Thank God they revamped the curriculum.  You learn by doing, and so it was practice make perfect or else.

b.      So people criticize, no big whoop there.  Well guess what, it is a big whoop if you want to monetize your blog, and you want readers.  That is what I have to tell myself, and I still tell myself that as I put fingertips to keyboard.  You have to know what you are talking about.  You have hold an interest to not just the person who has the same passion that you do, but to a person who is looked for something new to do.  It is not easy being a blogger.

c.       This brings me to the third problem…the same subject.  You have to know your subject, which some people call a niche.  Now if you are talking about coffee, and you love the taste, the aroma, and all things coffee.  Do not just have subject after subject about Starbucks.  It can get rather boring even for the people who worship Starbucks.  You may even get sick of writing about Starbucks.  If I was to start a blog about coffee, I would first introduce myself and my love of coffee, and why you should read about it each week.  Next post, I would talk about the beans and why it is important to have the perfect beans.  Next post, I would talk about the different types of coffee, and so forth.  When you get enough, a few friends told me about spinning it in a different way. 

d.      This bring me to the fourth problem…being stuck.  Now, in the last paragraph, I started talking about spinning the post.  There are different ways to do this, but to me the write (right) way is to take a piece of the parent post (original post), and elaborate on it to make a child post.   Again using “coffee” as our subject, say you could create a post about the different types of coffee; pod, whole bean, and ground.  You have 3 child posts from that one parent post.  Here is how…Your first post, you may talk about pod coffee and the different types of pods, and what machines uses that pod.  Next post would be about whole bean coffee.  You would talk about what to look for in a whole bean coffee and that you may want a grounder for that type of coffee and why.  The last post talks about ground coffee and what is the difference between the “real” stuff and instant.  Now you have 4 posts (the original and three child posts).  From that, you may be able to break it down further.   I will write more on how that is done at a later time.   DO NOT USE SPIN SOFTWARE! It will only make the Google gods mad at you, and cause your blog to shut down.

e.       Finally, do not just like writing, love writing.  If you are a freelance writer or just started out to be one, it can be the most reward thing to do, once you get started.  Research every subject, unless you are just writing for yourself, but research things anyway.  You do not want the wrong information to get out.  Even if it is how to spell a word.

 Pour your heart and soul into every piece, but give yourself time to relax.  You have the same rights as a musician (I do both, so I know), only you are a composer of words instead of music.  Having those rights means you follow rules and you are mindful of everyone’s works.  Know when a person is copying your work, because words cannot be duplicated if they come from the heart.   I say to you…WRITER, KNOW THYSELF.