What most good bloggers lack (From Bucks Free Press)
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The perfect wife and mother, Rebecca runs a home, a village magazine and is working on her novel. She does not visit the gym or jog but is in amazingly good shape. She enjoys photography, playing the piano and arguing with the TV. She lives in Amersham with her husband and youngest child (aged nine). Her eldest, now 26, lives and works in Buckinghamshire.
Anti-blog blog
12:02pm Friday 7th January 2011
Blogging has its values. It allows those who were once the audience to speak. It gives the audience insight into worlds which editors and media controllers used to edit out. That’s the theory.
I read a piece by a political blogger at the end of last year who was retiring. Passionate as he was about the blogging world and its opportunities, he said he’d made too many enemies.
Although I’m aware that there is a swathe of readers who will disagree vehemently with anything that appears on any forum, my issue is with the freedom.
The advantages of uninformed people like me getting published comes with one huge disadvantage: the lack of editing.
As mentioned before when trying to edit my own novel, the vanity of being a mere mortal and of having these unfortunate personality traits means waffle ensues. (”I can’t bring myself to cut that supreme word/phrase/paragraph/chapter out!”)
I’ve read worse stuff than my own writing. Yes, truly. Unrestrained prejudice, monotonous diarising, and over-wordy literary droning. Having edited other people’s writing, I know that 50% can usually be cut without losing any sense or flow.
So my overriding complaint with blogs is actually the very thing that is hailed as their main glory: unprofessionalism. Bloggers need to be edited.
Editors serve a purpose. I’ve read some very high-quality blogs too before readers tell me that there are some good ones out there. They are rare.
Now, having tied my pretty noose, I’m going to point the barrel firmly at my foot.
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Comments(4)
demoness
says...
5:47pm Sat 8 Jan 11
He spams the bloggers page with his opinions and gives no one a chance to query or comment.
A cynical person would suggest that he is frightened of confrontation or a suggestion that perhaps he may be wrong.
Because of this I refuse to read his blogs so he can carry on mumbling to himself.
Sorry Rebecca but this has been annoying me forever so when you posted a blog about bloggers I thought I would jump in. :))
Morag
says...
6:39pm Sat 8 Jan 11
~
Isn't a blog a platform for someone to air their views? A chance to put across their opinion and have their say?
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If it is edited then the blog is influenced by someone else who may emphasis or downplay certain points that the author was attempting to get across?
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If you write a blog then you are encouraging comments and discussion - a bit like the bloke/woman down the pub holding forth and hopefully creating a lively debate.
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I agree that if he/she just drones on then his audience will lose interest but the main point is that he has to have something interesting to say in the first place.
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Maybe I haven't understood the purpose of blogging. On this site, the well written blogs don't always generate many comments - maybe because people read and enjoy them for what they are. One is of course deliberatively provocative because its sole purpose is to generate comments and presumably income. Why do you write yours? To hone your literary style or because you want to encourage debate? Bit of both, maybe?
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Good for you, anyway. I would like to write a blog but I know that I am not thick-skinned enough to cope with the inevitable "swathe of readers who will disagree vehemently "!
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And yes, I agree with Demoness, why write a blog and then disable comments? It really is very annoying. He is that bloke droning on and on in the pub and not letting anyone else get a word in edgeways. Perhaps he got barred and this is the only place he can carry on voicing his opinions without interruption.
Rebecca Leon
says...
10:43am Mon 10 Jan 11
:
Morag: yes, a bit of both. And yes, editors will remove bits that they don't like/agree with etc. A good editor wouldn't I suppose is my thinking.
:
I'm reflecting on what I've written over the past year and thinking about how bad some has been (some good too - let's be honest!)
:
I can say that I am not thick-skinned. I'm the woman who takes things personally, goes over encounters and conversations wondering whether I said the right thing and is over-analytical, ('What do they mean by that?' 'Is that an insult?' 'Are they being nice?')
:
But part of writing on this forum is about developing a thicker skin; if I'm serious about writing at all, I'll need it.
:
I'm very much for allowing comments and that's where the two-way conversations can begin.
:
I still maintain that perhaps lots of bloggers are ignored because they can't easily self-edit when they might have something worth saying too.
:
The first paragraph/title might be a bad one when the rest is good. An editor would sort that out.
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I'm not asking to be edited, it was just a thought...
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The perfect wife and mother, Rebecca runs a home, a bad temper and is working on her novel. She enjoys photography, playing the piano and likes almost anything that's out of fashion and uncool. She lives in Amersham with her husband and youngest child (aged ten). Her eldest, now 27, lives and works in Buckinghamshire.
u5r23 says...
4:17pm Fri 7 Jan 11
A perfect description of Ivor's blog there!