The Tattered Coat » Print

How to Blog

Posted By Matt On 15th February 2005 @ 22:19 In Blogs, Internet, Technology, Best Posts | 7 Comments

What rules does your blog live by?

Tony Pierce provides a provocative starting point in his post How to Blog.

(found via the Bloggies; Philly’s own Eschaton and Pesky’ Apostrophe are up for awards).

These are some of the more provocative “rules” Pierce sets out; which ones (among this short list or his longer one) do you agree or disagree with?

1. write every day.

4. cuss like a sailor.

6. have comments. don’t be upset if no one writes in your comments for a long time. eventually they’ll write…

11. say exactly what you want to say no matter what it looks like on the screen. then say something else. then keep going. and when you’re done, re-read it, and edit it and hit publish and forget about it.

12. link like crazy. link anyone who links you, link your favorites, link your friends. dont be a prude. linking is what seperates bloggers from apes. and especially link if you’re trying to prove a point and someone else said it first. it lends credibility even if you’re full of shit.

13. if you haven’t written about sex, religion, and politics in a week youre probably playing it too safe, which means you probably fucked up on #5, in which case start a second blog and keep your big mouth shut about it this time.

15. don’t be afraid if you think something has been said before. it has. and better. big whoop. say it anyway using your own words as honestly as you can. just let it out.

19. push the envelope in what you’re writing about and how you’re saying it. be more and more honest. get to the root of things. start at the root of things and get deeper. dig. think out loud. keep typing. keep going. eventually you’ll find a little treasure chest. every time you blog this can happen if you let it.

20. change your style. mimic people. write beautiful lies. dream in public. kiss and tell. finger and tell. cry scream fight sing fuck and don’t be afraid to be funny. the easiest thing to do is whine when you write. dont be lazy.

23. constantly write about the town that you live in.

26. don’t be afraid to come across as an asswipe. own your asswipeness.

Pierce’s notion of blogging is maybe a little too punk-rock for my taste, but I do like his general advice to write as much as possible; to visit, comment upon, and link to other people’s blogs as much as possible; and to be unafraid of offending people or looking stupid (as much as possible; some of us don’t have a choice in the matter).

Many people view bloggers as incorrigible, self-referential maniacs; James Wolcott—-a relative newcomer to the medium who has immediately become one of its brightest lights—-recently referred to the “the enveloping racket of the increasingly ego-berserk blogosphere.”

He’s right of course, and maybe Pierce’s ‘Rules of Blogging’ exacerbate that trend. But that’s also the wonderful thing about blogs: they give all of us, especially the small fries, the ability to set our thoughts out there for the world to see. They give us a forum to air our petty grievances, our snarky asides, and our enthusiastic raves. And they complete the shift from the static HTML pages of yesteryear to the constantly fluctuating, ever-growing online communities of today.

And that, in the end, is what I love most about blogging: the ability to write, read, and respond to others in an organic medium (digital, yes, but organic in its way) that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Fuck yeah!