Blogs and Columns- All the Same and All Different

Blogs and Columns – All the Same and All Different by Debra H. Goldstein

Engaging blogs or columns don’t simply come out of thin air. Just as there is an art to crafting a short story or book, writing a blog requires a careful balancing of words. A good piece has a central theme or point the author wishes to convey. Consequently, from the opening to the end, the work produced must stay true to itself or it won’t be effective.

 

A successful blog or column begins with a topic sentence that catches the reader’s eye by being informative or provocative. After the killer opening, the next sentences set the tone for the piece and make the reader want to keep reading, but don’t delve into the subject matter. That is left for the body of the work.

 

Unlike the first paragraph which establishes what the blog is about, the next few paragraphs must again name the topic or concept being discussed, define it, and explain it through example or application. The final paragraph, whether referring back to the opening or standing on its own, must tie up the loose ends and bring the piece to a tight conclusion.

 

Although the mechanism for delivering the blog or column’s concept seems cut and dry, it isn’t. Word counts differ, voices range from somber to comical, ideas are delivered factually or with unsupported rationale. Writing styles also vary, but to stick the landing as a gymnast would do, the work must evoke an obvious or subliminal reaction for the reader. Ann Patchett is adept at reaching into the human soul in her blogs or essays, Art Buchwald used humor to deliver pointed satirical commentary. We, the members of Writers Who Kill, reflect a dichotomy in our presentation styles, but we all produce blogs that we hope inform and engage you.

MY FIRST BLOG OF 2018

Today I’m starting my first blog of 2018, my 6^th year of blogging with Writers Who Kill, and my 318^th blog over those five years of blogging.

This monuments is for my great-great grandparents & my recent ones.

In my first blog I wrote about becoming a writer and what led up to it. I wrote 39 blogs that year. I wrote about Valentines for Vets, The Girl Scouts, Creating Characters, Happy Father’s Day about my father, of Graveyards and Gravestones,, A writers retreat at Seascape,.

One of my son John's graduation pictures.

I wrote about Life Changing Events which was about the death of y 18 year old son to cancer,

Shari, Me, Paula and Jim in the back.

 And every year  I wrote about Malice Domestic with input from other Writers WhoKill embers who went, too, and so many other blogs, too.

In other years I wrote about writing a journal, poetry, and my Catherine Jewel Mystery Series. I interviewed a few writers: Amanda Flower, Casey Daniels, Shelly Costa, and Judy Hogan. I wrote about self-publishing, and wrote reviews of books I’ve read and thought were worth writing about like Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. I belong to two book clubs and wrote how important they are in reading books I might not have otherwise read...I’m an avid reader with a house full of books. In 2017 I read 90 books in all and 87 the year before.

My grandmother on a Canada vacation.

I wrote a blog about ghosts and whether or not they’re real, and got a lot of comments on that blog. I wrote about family members who meant a lot to me and had passed on like my brother, father, and a special and funny grandmother.

I also wrote about people who died that I admired like Pete Seeger, John Muir, The Car Talk guys after Tom one of the two brothers died, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrey, Robert Frost, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Paul Robeson, Elie Wiesel, and probably others, too.

I wrote about actually finding a real body in the woods one November morning. That blog probably ot more comments than any of my other blogs.

My beautiful sweet Maggie.

I wrote about cats, dogs, getting my first horse and other critters like butterflies, ants and skunks, and maybe others, too.

My sisters & me at the Lincoln Museum on a camping trip.

I wrote about giving back by delivering Mobile Meals, visiting a morgue, vacations I’d been on each year, and yes, I wrote about writing, too, and why I like writing mysteries.

I’ve been asked why I blog every week, and yes it is hard coming up with new ideas for blogs every week, and I have to admit a few times I used a blog from that first year of writing a blog because there are so many new members of Writers Who Kill, and those from the beginning probably wouldn’t remember a blog that was five years old. Still I enjoy writing blogs and my fellow bloggers on Writers Who Kill and don’t plan on quitting anytime soon.

Do you enjoy blogging?.