I’ve finally got a blog set up today, mostly tales of our holiday to Bali in April, but will have other shit as time goes on. If you have a minute or fifteen to spare, can you check it out for me and critique as needed? I’m a total novice at this stuff, and would welcome any advice.
It’s called madnanna btw.
Well, you asked, so here you go. It looks like you have an adventurous life, enjoy every minute of it, and have time leftover to write it all down.
As in many blogs, it’s a wonderful personal journal but is unlikely to draw any readership outside of people who know you. Without context it reads like a stream of consciousness of what you did, which would keep your friends and relatives spellbound, but not compelling for the world at large. So it depends on who you are writing for and why.
I am not a writer but I do know that one rule of writing is “Show, don’t tell.” Instead of saying, “Fred was mad” show us the scene so we realize for ourselves: “Fred rushed into the room with heavy footsteps and a red face, and banged his fist on the table as he yelled.” For example, this passage:
Then the sunset. OH MY GOD…sunsets on the western Bali coast are JUST TOO TOO AMAZING to put into words. Nothing I could say would do it justice, but it was mesmerising and all too short.
That’s just a tease. We can’t even *imagine *what the experience was for you there. Please try to tell us! It’s a blog, so words are your tool here. I have never been to Bali but here’s what I mean:
Then the sunset. The sunsets on the western Bali coast start with a splash of pastel color smeared across the sky, spreading and getting brighter as the sun goes down. The colors are more vivid than anything you see back home and the sky over the ocean is endless. The scene unfolds quickly, within a few minutes. Just as quickly, once the show reaches its peak with the sun now a bright spot just above the horizon, acting as the source of the neon rays, the sky dims again. And we are left breathless in the afterglow, with the memory of a simple but awe-inspiring natural event that is a daily show for free.
Another clip:
The look on her face? Priceless.
Wonderful if we know her; inscrutable if we don’t.
I know this takes about five times as long. It all depends on your goals and audience for the blog.
It would also be interesting to include a photo here and there. I have not used blogspot; does it support adding photos embedded in the appropriate place in the text?