Short but sweet
Just came across an entry at Random Suprises regarding bite-sized blog posts that got me thinking.
I’ve been blogging for about 8 years and I used to post quite a few times a day when I was younger. I would post links, videos, and images that I found interesting and other musings in posts that were anywhere from a few sentences (10-50 words) to a few paragraphs (hundreds of words) long. Sometimes I didn’t feel like elaborating on why I found something interesting, or how I felt, or why I posted something… it was just a short blurb, something I wanted to quickly share, and nothing more.
Looking back on it, that was when blogging was fun for me- when I didn’t worry about how long a post was, how frequently I had to update, and how a post would be perceived in terms of “quality.” Granted, doing daily memes has restored some fun to blogging, but it’s not quite the same as when I was young and would post short entries on a whim. Posting several short entries on a daily basis seemed very real and personal.
Some may argue that short blogs often lack depth and even quality, but I believe just the opposite is true. There’s a lot to be said for a simple, short-but-sweet entry. Why scrounge for ideas to fit a long, “scroll down 3/4 of the page to read the 30 paragraph entry” blog post when something can be summarized with 200 words or so? Short musings are powerful, and let’s be frank: it can be boring to read a long blog entry about the events in a person’s daily life, unless it is about something particularly engaging.
Aside from the sponsored posts, which I actually very much enjoy writing (and not just because I am paid to write them), I don’t force myself to pick a topic and write about it for the sake of updating my blog on a regular basis. Therefore, if I have nothing to blog about because nothing is going on in my life, and there isn’t something interesting that I came across that I willingly want to write about, then so be it. Writing on my blog is supposed to be freeing and enjoyable- not a daunting, monitored task like I’ve sometimes made it out to be by worrying about perceived quality and word counts.
With that said, I would encourage other bloggers to follow in the same trend and relax already. Don’t be a slave to the word count, which could force you to write more than needed. Try posting a blog entry of 200 words or less and write it in Notepad if you find yourself constantly checking to see how many words you have. Hell, try posting an entry that’s 100 words or less, or summarize your feelings in a sentence or two. It’s liberating.
Tags: blogging, Internet, short posts, Writing
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June 7, 2009 1:46 pm
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By Karen (17 comments), June 7, 2009 @ 8:08 pm
I have a friend who writes reviews on her blog. I cannot get through them. They are so long that my eyes glaze over. I feel guilty.
By Nhil (2 comments), June 7, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
I just found out your post through a ping back. It is a relief that I am not alone in this journey of bite sized blogging.
It is all about communication and just like blogging, you are successful in it when you got your message across. :) When a lot of people are tied to count the words, I hope that the rest would learn to count the thoughts instead. :)
Great post! Thanks for the mention. :) Have a great day!
Nhil´s last blog post: Just Joined Linkshowoff
By Manda (1 comments), June 8, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Sometimes, the shorter the blog post, the better. If you can be succinct, why bother being verbose?
By Lindsay (40 comments), June 19, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
I agree. As I realized last year, sometimes you’re too busy living your life to write it down. There’s something to be said for tangible memories, but in the end, you can’t live your life on paper.