About Chris Williams
Location: Dallas, Texas
Occupation: Web Designer
Bio: Webmaster for PopSyndicate.com and other sites. You can see more of his work at his web design site, Martini Lab, and his blog as well.
Posts: 163
More from this author
A few years ago, Dave Winer (CEO, Userland.com) bet that weblogs would outrank nytimes.com on google for relevant news by 2007 arguing blogs cover more angles on a news story than a regular newspaper can with its limited number of writers. This was before Google started its own news section, after nytimes.com arrived as one of the first online newspapers. Google currently still favors the large media websites versus blogs for things like news and movie reviews.
However, blogs manage to turn out some very relevant content. Sites like nytimes.com have had to come up with new ways of attracting readers. MSNBC features its own blog section. Found between travel and local news, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann supppliment their shows with blog posts while users chat on their message boards.
Blogging can be an online journal, a place to post pictures of your cat, a political soapbox, whatever. The free services available make it possible for people to start blogging instantly. The difference between blogs and the nytimes.com, what Dave Winer didn’t take into account, is that newspapers and media sites come with editors. For the most bloggers, grammar and spelling are overlooked and come across as something written in haste and left for the entire world to suffer through.
This is where I have to confess that I have terrible grammar. Who-vs-that always gets me mixed up. I’m lucky if I get my there, their and they’re right. And my spelling? Well, the word processor I’m using now is littered with red underlines. Chances are that you are cringing at my errors as you read this. Looking back, I’m a little embarrassed when I read old blog entries. When I started this weekly column, I knew my writing would be an issue. So in an effort to better myself and others, here are five suggestions for better writing.
Grammar Girl, a podcast I highly recommend to anyone in the English speaking world. This podcast covers plenty of topics in the world of grammar. The episodes are short and to the point. The examples given are easy enough for everyone to understand. Surprisingly, grammar covers more than just ‘which witch is which’. Grammar Girl covers style guides, language history and tips for approaching subjects. You’ll have to go back a few episodes, but there is a really great episode on how to approach proof reading. Go to http://www.qdnow.com and subscribe to this invaluable podcast.
Write more. Practice makes perfect. Even if it’s not related to blogging, writing more is a great way to become better, not just with grammar but all aspects of writing. Take part in the National Novel Writing Month challenge (NaNoWriMo). 50,000 words in one month! David Hopkins is in the middle of his challenge right now. With two weeks left David, a school teacher and comic book writer is taking his second attempt at the challenge.
“My students have done a good job of shaming me, since I post my word count on the black board. This is the second year I’ve attempted it. Last year, I gave up after the first week. The story hit a brick wall, and I didn’t want to push forward. This year, the problem I’m running into is two fold: (1) I get too easily distracted with things like posting on forums, e-mail… like right now… and tinkering around on my website, (2) I don’t know if I have the personality that lends itself to NaNoWriMo’ing. I lack that playful attitude about writing. I’m a bit of a grouch behind the keypad. I’m very much an ‘end-product’ writer. I’m hoping for a second wind, as soon as leave my website alone and refocus! That being said, I love the story I’m doing. I’m thinking of adapting it to a longer comic book series. My own Twin Peaks,” wrote David.
Find a buddy. Share you work with others before posting it. It’s one thing to blog about the rude person who cut you off in traffic this morning, a post like wouldn’t benefit too much from a grammar buddy. But writing a review on the book you just finished might benefit from another set of eyes. Google’s online word processor (http://docs.google.com/) makes sharing documents easy. Find another writer, someone who also could use some help, and have them proof your work while you proofs their’s. It’s a lot different when you read your own work because you already know what you want to say. Also, if you are trying to meet a deadline, leave some time for your buddy to help you. Don’t ask for help at the last minute.
Read a book. Experience others writing styles and notice how the author develops his/her paragraphs and sentences. If your goal is to write the news, or cover a developing story, a periodical might work better, but comparing that writing style to that of a science fiction novel an also be helpful. For example, I read technical programming books. In fact, I think I’m addicted to them. Unfortunately, their stale explanations and technical prose affects how I write. Maybe I should find a book with more personality or humor instead.
Listen to the elite. Search for sites offering writing advice. There are plenty to choose from, but many of them aren’t very nice. Writing snobs may be cruel and unforgiving, but pay attention to their examples. The phrase, kill them with kindness, won’t be found there. Instead you’ll find phrases like suffer though, nothing worse than, drives me crazy or (my personal favorite) makes me [sic]. Just remember not to take it too personally. Self proclaimed grammar nazis might dish out scorn, but it’s largely undeserved.
There are plenty more suggestions, but these five are good starting points. Bloggers are an embedded part of journalism as well playing a vital role in expanding online communication. Maybe someday, the trouble areas of writing will be resolved with smarter software. But I hope that everyone will continue to challenge themselves to write better, blogging or otherwise.
Chris Williams is illiterate.
