Day 2 of BlogIndiana kicked off with a lively keynote from Erik Deckers, from Pro Blog Service. Erik has been making a living from writing for the last 24 years. He shared the secrets he’s gleaned throughout his career. This is a live blog, which means it is largely unedited. You’re looking at notes taken throughout the presentation. It is not meant as an exact transcript. I just try to capture the highlights along the way.
Of course, I had a difficult time capturing the details with this one. Erik’s talk sparked a lot of conversation on Twitter. Namely, the debate on whether bloggers are writers. Personally, I think my blogging style is so different that it can’t be considered writing, but maybe I’m thinking of writing more formally than Erik means. I guess I’ll concede that bloggers can be writers, but only if they know how to write first—which goes straight into his 3rd point, so I’ll let him get to it!
Bloggers are writers – if you’re putting words together to share ideas or provide information, you’re a writer.
- A word is worth 1000 pictures.
- Paint pictures with your words.
- Know the rules, then break them.
- Half the grammar rules are wrong.
- Words have power – use them wisely.
- Write the hell out of everything.
- Write intentionally.
- “Write drunk, edit sober.”
- A good writer can write almost anything.
- Your words are NOT your babies.
descriptive words vs describing a word. (i.e. ran quickly/sprinted)
metaphor vs simile (metaphors create a picture in the readers’ minds and are more powerful)
Don’t let what you learned in English class disrupt the sound & rhythm of the narrative.
Whatever you do, focus on it with everything you’ve got.
Pick a technique you want to improve, and use it in every writing you do – emails, blogs, etc.
Write when you are loose, comfortable and the ideas are free flowing. Edit later.
You don’t have to coddle & save them from the editor. Never let someone who thinks you’re awesome (aka Mom) edit your work - you need an editor who will be critical and ruthless.
Heather Sokol is a frugal, gluten free, chocoholic, bubble bath connoisseur. She’s a little bit crunchy, always opinionated and sometimes speaks geek, but not fluently. Heather is the founder of Inexpensively.com and tweets as @JustHeather.
