How to Write a Web Log

First, select a topic you care about. It's not possible to predict what others want to read about, but if you care about a topic other people should care too, at least some of the time. It doesn't hurt to explain why you think other people should care about this topic.

Second, outline the points you want to make, for example:

• Select a topic
• Select points which support that topic
• Write

If you can't think of points, start writing a draft, then outline your points and start over; writing from an outline will be faster and better than continuing your draft.

By now either you have a clear vision or you're out of ideas, or something in-between. Either way, the internet loves pictures, so select a picture. If you're uncertain which pictures are good, take inspiration from authors like Kingscrusher-YouTube. (Only use images you have permission to use.) If you are visually impaired, perhaps select a song, or someone else's writing for inspiration.

Now that you've selected the perfect cat picture, people are guaranteed to click on your blog post, but it doesn't hurt to actually write something. After all, there was something you wanted to write about, right? So this is the hard part: write your article, explaining the points you outlined earlier. If you don't like the points you outlined, change them, for example:

• Select a topic
• Select points which support that topic
• Select sources of inspiration
• Write
• Revise
• Publish

After you've written a few paragraphs, try reading back what you wrote. If you find that any paragraph isn't making sense, or that the flow from paragraph to paragraph doesn't make sense, again feel free to revise your outline. Most people can't extemporate like Yasser, but actually need to rewrite things many times until they make sense to themselves and to others.

Finally, after you've written something you enjoy, imagine your target audience. I know authors say to do this first, but honestly... trying to pander to an audience while writing about something you didn't care about isn't enjoyable. If you can't figure out who the target audience is, that's called a diary - you are the target audience! If you've written an article about pronunciation of the schwa in 16th-century England and your audience are chess players, consider publishing on a web site for pedants (although there's nothing wrong with trying to persuade an audience; just make sure to explain things in terms they would understand).

Was that so difficult? Probably, but with practice (or if there's something you strongly care about) hopefully it won't be as difficult the next time. If a cat picture didn't work, maybe pick a dog, or a fish, or a flying spaghetti monster... play some Mozart or Dethklok to set the mood, sit down with your pet tarantula, a truffle soufflé, and a shot of ouzo, and away you go!

Image credit: naobim