This week I’ve stumbled upon a great web link that I’d like to share with all of us who feel compelled to pound out a few paragraphs a day on a favorite topic:
Note: if the above link no longer works see my notes at the bottom of this article.
I haven’t traversed the entire website yet but the “Writing / Editing” section is excellent. I clicked through the “Fifty Writing Tools” articles and they are relevant and entertaining. Entertaining? Yes. Author Roy Peter Clark deserves respect for not only presenting his writing tips clearly but also for sampling across great literature as examples.
Dammit Jim, I’m a tech blogger not a Journalism major!
Make no bones about it, if you blog or comment frequently in a public space you are a journalist. You don’t need the degree hanging on your office wall but you should try to write like you do. Have you ever stopped reading an article because it was confusing, had spelling or grammar mistakes, or maybe the author’s laptop was missing all of the punctuation keys? We are judged both on our ideas and how well we express them.
Here’s an exercise: The next time you are reading your favorite board, take a critical look at how the posters express themselves. Which posts do you think give off a sense of authority? Which ones make the authors look juvenile or just plain ignorant?
How do you want to be perceived?
I’m by no means a successful blogger. I get maybe a half-a-person a day to come read my stuff but I do post a lot on other boards. The main purpose for this blog is to practice writing and expressing myself so that if the opportunity comes up to write professionally, I’ll be practiced and in shape. Regardless, I’m trying to write like I have a large base of constant readers.
Of Course! Head slap.
Ok, here is the bad news. These 50 writing tools are supposedly going to be taken down soon because the author has a book deal and the publisher doesn’t want the content online. I’ve used FlashGot to download all of them locally so I have a chance to go through them. Anyway, I think the site is worth a look and as long as Google stores cached versions.
Shh, don’t tell the publisher but…
Alright, have you heard of the WayBack Machine. Why, no Mr. Peabody. Well it is an internet archiving site that basically makes snapshots of the internet how it was throughout time. Want to see what the Google home page looked like eight years ago?
Well if they do take the 50 links off the main site you may be able to still find them somewhere else.
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