Preaching to the Perverted

June 17, 2004

Blog Advice

Tony Pierce has some excellent blogging advice which is pretty valuable. However, I do take some issues with a few of his points:

8. dont worry very much about the design of your blog. image is a fakeout.

Don't worry much, but still think about it. Completely neglecting the layout/design of your blog can lead to something that is just down right painful to look at... although many readers may never actually see your blog (thanks to RSS) it's still worth a little time to make it look presentable. Hell, with so many templates, it's a no brainer to make your blog have a little style.

9. use Blogger. it's easy, it's free; and because they are owned by Google, your blog will get spidered better, you will show up in more search results, and more people will end up at your blog. besides, all the other blogging software & alternatives pretty much suck.

If you have a blog worth reading, it will spread regardless of the tool. Blogger is fine, but there are many other good choices out there. Don't get hung up on the technology. If you find one that does works the way you want it to work, but it ain't fee, so what? Pay for things you find valuable. I started on Radio, which has some pluses and minuses, and now I'm on Movable Type, and I love it. Being owned by Google doesn't mean much, you'll still get indexed. Google indexes your mother.

13. if you havent written about sex, religion, and politics in a week youre probably playing it too safe, which means you probably fucked up on #5, in which case start a second blog and keep your big mouth shut about it this time.

Everything is about sex, religion or politics. Anything you think isn't really is, you just haven't put it in context yet.

25. dont use your real name. dont write about your work unless you dont care about getting fired.

Boy howdy. That one should be the #1 on the list.

Most of Tony's advice is applicable to writing in general. I think that's the best approach to "blogging". Fuck blogging. Blogging is for chumps. The best "blogs" are in reality collections of essays by writers, with a few exceptions (which are just collections of cool stuff). So be a writer and do what writers do: write. Stop trying to "shift the paradigm" be an "early adopter" or "embrace the revolution" just write. It's about the writing.

Posted at June 17, 2004 11:53 PM | TrackBack

Comments

"although many readers may never actually see your blog (thanks to RSS)"

Although, not for those RSS feeds that don't actually include the whole entry...

Posted by: Zachery Bir at June 18, 2004 08:25 AM

Good point. Depending on how verbose the entry is, there may still be a reason to visit the actual blog.

Posted by: -Dave! at June 18, 2004 09:00 AM

hi dave,

even though i agree with most of what you say in this post. i think that some of the best blogs have nothing to do with essays. and are not written by writers, but normal people who are just laying it out there.

one reason why i recommend that people dont spend too much time on design or the mechanics of blogging, and more on the simple act of writing is because i believe that blogging can foster writers who would never have been writers at all.

diarists, cam girls, kids, dropouts, non-academics, monday morning quarterbacks are all capable of being excellent bloggers but would be horrible essayists.

i want regular people who would never consider themselves "writers" to write because they *do* have something to say, and some of them, if they practice enough, can mature into real writers if they just start writing.

and this is a great place to start.

keep rockin,

tony

Posted by: tony at June 18, 2004 09:59 AM

I see blogs and essays as completely different tools. They differ greatly in formality (or can). I'd just throw shit out into a blog. I'd take much more time and care to craft an essay.

I like it that way -- when I want to be A Writer(TM) I focus; when I want to just express, I blog.

Posted by: amy at June 18, 2004 11:13 AM