I don't actually think I'm a brief person, I like my wordages - my first finished manuscripted clocked in at about 136,000 words. Yeah, that's right. I like them words. So when I had a few comments yesterday on my Recent Reads post commend me on the length, or lack thereof, I thought I'd take a moment to discuss the whole post length thing.
As I've stated before, I have self-diagnosed A.D.D. That and I also recognize that people have way more stuff to read than just my blog, despite how randomly entertaining I may be at times. Just kidding, random yeah, entertaining - that remains to be seen.
With the start of the year, I've been working on keeping my posts brief and hopefully insightful/useful/entertaining/etc. It's like a query, right? That single-page pitch of your (in some cases) entire life's work that is the difference between a yes or a no. Make it count.
Are there things you've made more brief or streamlined in order to make more efficient, for you as well as others?
15 comments:
I like to keep blog posts short, too. If I go to a post that's super long, I have to skip it because I read a lot of blogs every day. I think you're making a great move to shorter blog posts!
I definitely like to keep blog posts brief. I skim if the posts are too long. I also like to keep my time in the line at the post office to a minimum. And phone conversations with telemarketers. And the time I spend exercising. I could go on and on...
:) But I won't for the sake of brevity.
BJ - I totally agree. I respect that everyone has way more stuff to look at than just my blog. And yeah, if I have to scroll down more than once, it's too long & more often than not I skip too.
Elana - you make me laugh.
I said I was going to take a blogosphere break, but there are some blogs I just love and yours is one. Partly because it's informative and you have a fun personality, but partly because of length. There are a lot of great blogs out there and I want to read them all, but, like Elana, if the post is long, I will do a lot of skimming or ignore it all together depending on the number of posts following. I do try to keep my posts short for this same reason. I actually think it's the reason for the increase in traffic at my blog of late. It certainly doesn't have to do with me being entertaining. lol
Speaking of brevity, this comment wasn't. *blush*
I try to go the brevity route. Unfortunately, I am a bit long winded and tend to repeat myself...a LOT. I'm working on that ;-D
I don't know about my logs, but my MSs tend to be on the short side. I don't clutter things with a ton of description. Dialogue, action, those things. Extraneous detail? Don't make me laugh.
Nisa - *blushes* thanks! I've been working on being more concise. Oh my, I had no idea how hard it would be!
Michelle - Yeah, I get a bit rambly sometimes. I'm trying to reign myself in, so I totally get you.
Dominique - I am probably the opposite, I'd rather have too much than not enough because it's easier for me to cut than to add.
Your blog is definitely entertaining! And random. Love it! I try to keep posts short too, which isn't hard for me.
Doh! I am probably the biggest offender of writing long blogposts. I should probably pay attention to that, huh?
Anyway, I like your content so don't change a thing :)
Angie - aww, shucks. Thanks! Your posts are short and sweet!
Eric - Thanks! But I think content has a lot to do with length too. Sometimes you get into some heavy stuff. Me, I'm just a random-bug.
*blush* I sometimes get wordy on my posts. I'll have to work on that.
I really appreciated your reviews post the other day. I love a good, honest review. I quite like all your posts!
LT - As I said to Eric, sometimes the topic being addressed plays into how long a post is, so keep that in mind. Personally, I sometimes get really rambly and no one needs to hear that. :D
You've totally inspired me with your query example there. I tend to write long blog posts so I'm going to take follow your lead and see what I can do about that!
I totally 100% completely agree. Keep it brief. And I *thought* I used to be good at that. But then I thought: Hey, I don't have to time to read a whole ton of long blogs, I wish people would write snappy little blogs I could read lickety split.
And then guess what happened?
My blogs started getting longer, and longer and longer. Oy.
Thanks for the reminder that I've really gotta try to zip up!
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