Are You A Lazy Blogger?
Wednesday
Mar 7, 2007
AhmedF says bloggers tend to ramble a lot, and oftentimes it’s easier to go on rambling instead of going back to edit your material to make sure it’s organized and sensible.
Blogging can be very narcissistic. Classic narcissm involved people who loved to ‘hear themselves speak’. The blog world replaces that with ‘love to write excessive text.’ 90% bloat comes free.
Of course his point is that more words = lazy blogging. Good writing involves a lot of editing. Free flow of information is great, sure. But then for your writing to be effective, your point must reach your intended audience in the most efficient way possible. Sometimes, less is better—less words, that is.
If you need X words instead of Y words (where X < Y), only lazy people go with Y.
(That discounts creative writing, of course.)
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Comments
jhay
March 8th, 2007 at 7:51 am
So it’s a choice between creative writing and technical writing? I guess it depends upon the blog your write and the niche you’re in.
ade
March 8th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Oh my god. I’m lazy!
ia
March 11th, 2007 at 9:07 am
I disagree. The trait of a good poem, for example, is that it says everything it needs to say in the fewest words possible. (I’m trying to remember where I heard that. Probably in CW 10.) One might dispute that with more flowery poetry—-and prose, actually—-but I believe it’s still true for those works. There are flowery words, and then there are unnecessary words. That goes for design, programming, and practically everything else.
There’s a saying by Eintstein about it. And there’s Occam’s Razor. Not exactly the same but emphasize simplicity, nay, elegance.
Adam Mordo
March 13th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I wouldn’t say that the delineation itself is between technical and creative writing. As ia pointed out, some literary genres actually require the economy of words. (e.g. poetry, vignettes, etc) I suppose it boils down to intent. For instance, rambling can be humorous or it could reiterate exasperation. The way I see it, if it’s purposeful, then it’s ok.