Blogging 101: What Should I Write About?
Posted By Cynthia Hartwig on May 12, 2011
© Cynthia Hartwig
The number one question people ask us in our course on blog writing is: what should I write about?
There are as many answers to that question as there are writers. Our favorite solution that works for all is writing about what you know that your readers want to know about.
Each one of us, by dint of living, has stored up a lot of wisdom learned along the way. Emily and I share unique backgrounds as both business women and writers, so we’ve chosen to focus our Two Pens’ blog on what we’ve learned about business writing that we think will help other business writers.
We might include peripheral information about rowing (we both row on Lake Washington for Conibear Rowing Club) or possibly, bird watching (I just got back from seeing sage grouse courtship in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge), but these incidental facts will only be used in the service of explaining something useful about business writing.
If one of us mentions the mindfulness required to sit tall in a rowing shell, it will be because this tip might help business writers prevent injuries from slumping in despair at the desk. If I describe the fascinating gurgling and popping noises that male sage grouse make by inflating the air sacs on their chests to attract their mates, it’s to provide an example of how a business writer can use specific sensory detail to ground their white papers and trade articles in the natural world.
Get the difference? I can’t just describe how sage grouse tails stick up like popping quills because it interests me. It has to interest you, in your quest to write more effectively to a business audience. By the way, that popping sounds more like a grunt.
