My 5 Suggestions For Writing Better Blog Posts

January 18, 2012August 28, 2018 / Ally Bean / 13 Comments

Even though I’ve blogged off and on since 2004 [read more here], I’m not sure that I’ve ever written about how to write a blog post. When I first stumbled upon blogging years ago nothing like this list existed. Back then blogging was all trial & error, but eventually I figured out how to write a post that was understandable & interesting. Now, of course, advice on how to blog is EVERYWHERE. Which got me thinking that maybe what I’ve learned might be of value to someone. So, without further ado, I give you…

My 5 Suggestions For Writing Better Blog Posts

[from www.thespectacledbean.com]

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1. Have a thesis statement for your blog.

this is vital. you need it to help keep you grounded as you write each post. without it, you’ll flounder and your blog will go nowhere.

2. Be specific.

details, baby! tell us exactly what interests you and why. show us how you did something. explain your point of view. i’m not talking about being wordy, here. i’m talking about presenting your life in a clearly defined way that tells us about you.

3. Write each post with one or two people in mind.

pretend like you are writing– or talking– to one or two people who you know care about what you have to say. tell them your story, and don’t worry about what anyone else will think of it. you can’t please everyone, so you might as well focus on the few people who will appreciate what you have to say.

4. Give your readers something to say “YES” to.

can’t emphasize this concept enough. readers engage with you because you are sharing ideas & experiences that ring true with them. they want to talk about things, and it is so much easier to comment when there is a way to say “yes.”

5. Make it stylish.

each individual post must look inviting and polished on its own. you need to become familiar with all those little buttons in your text editor that allow you to do jazzy things like bold, italic, font sizes, font styles, font colors, text placement, image sizing. effective communication is much more than a string of words on a page.

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Bath Time + Snack Time

January 14, 2012January 14, 2012 / Ally Bean / 9 Comments

Sometimes a person needs to stop and smell the hibiscus flowers. Or, as in the case of baby sloths, stop and eat the hibiscus flowers.

‘Tis a sweet little video. Enjoy!

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[… I’d like to give proper credit to whoever showed me this link, but I can’t remember who it was. My brain is a colander. So, if it was you who showed me this–and you want me to give you a H/T here in this space– then let me know that it was you. That is all.]

When A Presbyterian Decorates Her Coffee Table

January 12, 2012September 19, 2016 / Ally Bean / 18 Comments

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Two weekends ago after we put away our holiday decorations the coffee table in the living room was looking a bit puny— despite the fact that I keep a crystal bowl filled with jingle bells on this table all year round. [The jingle bells are from my childhood. Remind me sometime to tell you the story of how they came to mean so much to me.] Clearly the table needed something more on it, but I was all out of ideas.

Then a few days ago while I was shopping at the grocery store I saw a small houseplant of ivy for sale. It looked very healthy so I bought it, brought it home and transplanted it into the first pot that I found in the garage. However, once I got the pot inside the house I realized that it was too small for this table and that it needed some height. So I pulled some gardening books from the adjacent bookshelves and placed the potted ivy on top of the books.

Still I wanted something more on the table, so I took the plain vanilla candle that had been in the screened-in porch all summer/fall, brought it inside and put it on the table. Suddenly, I had a pretty look for the coffee table. Very coordinated & cheerful.

Or so I thought at first….

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It wasn’t until the next day when I lighted the candle and sat down in the living room to read a book that it dawned on me that I’d set up a tableau that amounted to the Roman Catholic Church’s time-honored excommunication ceremony.

“The bell represented the public character of the act, the book the authority of the words spoken by the presiding bishop. The candle was believed to symbolize the possibility that the ban might be lifted by the repentance and amendment of its victim. The ceremony was performed in some conspicuous place….”

~ Encyclopedia Britannica

After I stopped laughing at myself I got worried that maybe I’d really offended Someone– or some System– or some Being. You know how I like to live a harmonious life. So I did a bit of research about how one gets himself or herself excommunicated, and discovered to my relief that:

“The purpose of excommunication isn’t to allow you to quit or make a political statement or pursue some other private agenda. It’s to allow the church to throw you out. If you’re already out — that is, if you don’t partake of the sacraments or otherwise participate in Catholic activities… — excommunication is likely to strike church authorities as a waste of good holy water.”

~ Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope

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Finding out that I couldn’t excommunicate myself while decorating a coffee table has set my mind to rest about this situation. Also, considering that I’m not Catholic I figure that the authorities won’t want to waste holy water on me either.

Of course, I have to admit that upon closer self-examination during this situation, I’ve come to realize that as a [lapsed] Presbyterian I really need not worry about how I’ve inadvertently offended the Roman Catholic Church, as much as the fact that I rarely go to church. Which I suspect is going to reflect more poorly on my character when I reach the Pearly Gates– than my accidental excommunication-themed decorating tableau. 🙂

Of Head Colds & Door Handles

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012 / Ally Bean / 11 Comments

Last week both Zen-Den and I had bad head colds. Z-D soldiered on going to work with a determined attitude and a box of tissues by his side. I took the opposite route to renewed health and became a hermit at home, nesting with a book on the sofa in the TV room. With a box of tissues by my side, too, of course.

By the weekend we were on the rebound– moving slowly with stuffed-up noses, not tired enough to want to sleep through the day. We had some energy and the relaxed calm focus that comes from not hearing very clearly. We wanted to do something productive that wasn’t too mentally complex or socially interactive. So…

We decided to start replacing the handles and hinges on all our interior doors. Good-bye cheap shiny brass. Hello stylish satin nickel. This is a project that I’ve wanted us to do almost from the first day we moved into the house 13 years ago! I’m not a fan of shiny brass as the featured metal in northern homes; imho, it’s much more tasteful as an accent color here and there around the house.

Turns out that this project was easy enough for two sniffly, tissue-toting adults to do at their own speed without much need for thinking. It went smoothly and provided instant gratification– unlike so many home improvement projects that drag on for months. And the results of the transformation are stunning. Perfect, even.

Oddly enough we’ve never done this sort of hardware change before in any of our houses. Now that I’ve seen how much better everything in the house looks and how much calmer I feel with the proper color and style of hardware on our doors, I know that I’d do it again in a heartbeat if a new home didn’t have [in my opinion] the proper hardware on its doors. Happy is in the details. And blessed are they that make it so!

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