I’m a fan of Seth Godin’s blogs … short, sometimes sweet and always stimulating. Recently, he wrote a headline: Striking a chord. From beginning to end, it was delivered in six sentences. A blog that generated an “Oh YES” outspoken response from me.
Here’s the beauty of it … Godin’s blogs are rarely long—certainly, this one above wasn’t; yet it’s powerful. I felt no dissonance as it sang to me.
As a writer, do you fill your paragraphs with words that ramble; that really don’t move the story or premise forward because you feel you’ve got to fill up space? Or maybe you just don’t know where it will all work, but you will add it in anyway and figure it later? Or how about someone told you that you had to have so many words in a chapter on a genre type of book and you need the word count?
In writing a blog, you don’t have to deliver a tome, just a course—appetizers that could be teasers, leading to reader to a multiple part blog; main courses that deliver ideas and solutions; or the dessert that sums it all up in a tidy package.
You want something that creates a salivating morsel that is enjoyed and often creates tasteful ahas and takeaways for your reader. Some blogs are designed to create action. Others contemplation, even cautions. Or, just a sharing of information. Some are long; some are short, like this one.
If another 1,000 words or bust is your motto, think again. Sometimes your story, concept or solution needs breadth in its rollout. At others, a short, succinct, even punchy method is all that is needed.
Do your words, your sentences, your book series, your branding, you … stand as a cord? Or do they create the harmony that brings the music of what you write into chords of pleasure for the reader? And with readers’ reactions, for you?
Attempting to write a minor essay is one of the many mistakes, authors and writers make. In an attempt to “fill a page”—the chord gets lost. Your writing; what you deliver to your reader—should have a yen and yang to it. A harmony that strikes the desired chord for your reader. Does yours?
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