Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Types of Blog Writing

        Since I've been shopping around blogs this last while, I have noticed that there are many types of blog writers. Since I'm looking for blogs to follow I have been looking with a somewhat critical eye. I'm looking for something to follow which is interesting and related to areas that interest me.

        Many bloggers blog about their daily lives. I'm amazed at how many of these writers are able to make their daily activities very interesting. Some just have interesting lives so that makes it easy. One blogger I follow hikes at least once a week and sky dives from time to time. Others have the knack for telling an interesting story. They provide detail and description. They are able to build up their story to some kind of climax.

       Other bloggers have an area of expertise which they tell about. Cooking, gardening and bird watching seem to be popular. I've also seen some pretty neat art blogs. A personal friend and former teacher blogs about teaching strategies. He's really good at it and new teachers could really benefit from his blog. (It's too late for me! I retired fourteen years ago but I still read his blog.)

      Many bloggers develop a special column which appears in their blog on weekly basis. One blogger only posts a picture on Sundays. I always look forward to this photo. Another blogger has a special Wednesday feature which I look forward to. Other bloggers set up contests.

     Some bloggers have a personal writing style that makes their blog posts interesting. One blogger who expressed concern about her writing ability and wished she had learned more in her English class brings authenticity to her blog by her use of country language. It works well. She has many followers and she can skip the grammar. Another blogger who constantly worried about his posts was a natural at telling a good story. His stories built up to a climax. You were drawn in to read his posts.

     Photographers have great fun taking pictures and posting them to tell a story or to show off places, flowers or birds. Many artists use a blog to display their art or to produce art. I asked an artist friend of mine what I could do to improve my blog and his instant answer was , "More pictures!" He thinks visually so he helped me develop another aspect of my blogging. I really had to work hard at this one. I finally had to take a picture and then build a post around the picture.

    So in shopping around for blogs to follow I have pleasantly learned more about blogging.