Every serious blogger should read this book.
At 136 pages, The Associated Press Guide to News Writing is a lucid resource to writing that helps you to make your point in clear, strong words.
During my own newspaper days, I read 40 books on journalism. This is the only one I haven't given away, sold or discarded. I have read it cover to cover twice and constantly dip back into it; author Rene Cappon's refreshing style being not the least of the reasons.
Through a series of two-column examples, Cappon shows writers how to avoid inflated phrases, how to reword jargon, and best of all, how to do it in the service of getting your message across in a way that holds readers' attention.
The skills taught in this book are especially useful to bloggers — with the explosion of ideas on the Internet, we are all wrestling for eyeball time. To write in the fewest, clearest words ensures that readers will not be averse to returning to your entries. Good ideas told well are actually becoming more of a commodity in these prolix days.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
No greater testimonial than the fact that I zipped through what you well-wrote. :)
Those who write long-winded, seem to feel smarter the longer their posts. People who do this don't realize that even those who share their ideals are not likely to finish most of them.
Why?
Because there's too much good stuff out there to wade through a piece that's 90 percent wrist action and 10 percent excitement. If you're writing long on a blog, just realize that you are truly pleasuring only yourself.
I should end there, but I have to add, that two-sentence quickies usually don't satisfy anyone either.
If you got to this point here's your gold nugget (tell me if you got that reference). On a blog, I consider "long" anything over 1,000 words.