Writing

[I often write personal essays on Medium. The following post originally appeared on Live Your Life on Purpose — a Medium publication, on April 6, 2019, as I contemplated my reasons for and resistance to writing about my life. The content may not apply to what I blog about on TSB, but it does to some of the other pieces I’ve written on Medium and elsewhere about my life and struggles. If you’re in the same boat and questioning whether you should be writing at all, regardless of your niche, I hope this article will help.]

One of them is that I do what I want regardless of what other people think I should or shouldn’t do.

When I started writing, that’s the approach I adopted. I wanted to write for the pure pleasure of doing so. I didn’t care who read my articles or if I made money off it.

Well, I think that’s what it was at least in the beginning. Somewhere along the line though, things changed.

…

“Should I be Writing?” — My Attempt at Answering This Question with a Little Help from Seth Godin.Read More »

And I understand why. The legitimacy of spending hours crafting titles comes down to a simple rule of “hook and skinker”.

Let me explain.

The internet is full of information, correct? Let’s say you’re a blogger. Pick a topic, any topic, and chances are, someone somewhere has blogged about it. If you happen to pick a popular blogging niche, chances are that a simple Google search for a popular keyword will result in tens if not hundreds of blog posts on the same topic. Which one do you think gets more clicks?

The ones on the first page 🙂 Yeah, SEO plays a huge role. But let’s forget SEO for a minute and focus on which title on the very first page of Google’s search results gets the most clicks.

In other words, it all comes down to the copy. …

How to Write Epic Blog Post Titles That Are Irresistibly ClickableRead More »

My prose has a natural enemy. It’s called an “adverb”.

Adverbs have relentlessly raided my prose and now it is severely battered.

Now read again.

Adverbs have raided and battered my prose over and over again.

I don’t know about you but I like the second version a whole lot better! Yes, it’s devoid of fancy words such as “relentlessly” and “severely”, but let’s face it—did I need these two words to convey the message? Did the second version fail to express the severity of the situation? I doubt it.

Now let’s try a third version.

Adverbs have relentlessly raided and battered my prose.

OK, I think I prefer the third version! And yes, *gasp* it has a fancy adverb!

The point I’m trying to make is this:

While sometimes adverbs can be useful, many a newbie writer, myself included, tend to overuse adverbs, when there’s no need for them. Our beloved author Stephen King writes in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,

“The adverb is not your friend.” … “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.”

I believe King is a great author, and so, I take his opinion to heart.

…

How to Battle Your Enemy, The “Adverb”Read More »

The world has gone up in flames just in the last few days, but the most pressing question facing us bloggers, especially the newbie ones like myself, is this: HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL BLOGGER WITH MILLIONS OF MONTHLY READERS?

Hey, it’s important! After all, we bloggers are striving to help our readers. It’s our BIG WHY! One reader at a time, we are enriching the lives of those we reach through our blogs every single day.

And, at the heart of this “success” we’re all striving for, is the content itself.

Let’s face it. The pre-requisite to being a successful blogger is… no, not a clever domain name, and no, it’s not a chic WordPress theme either… it’s a love for writing. Without that, my fellow compadres, we’re all doomed to mediocrity, if not worse. …

5 Writing Tips from One Newbie Blogger to Other Newbie BloggersRead More »