I’m studying tech writing and I happened upon this site (blog) and I’m asking myself what can I get from this thing called
“blog” and what can I give to it. It seems that most of the people who respond are lecturers or advisers in the field and not , per-se,
regular sloggers trying to make a living.

It would be really refreshing to get advice and info, and give it through experience, without feeling that I am naive and perhaps even stupid beginner and without having to buy the book, or attend the lecture and then buy the book. I do appreciate the blog, it gives me an insight into the high-end world of Tech writing – but even digital watches and Ink cartridges need operating instructions.

Thanks for writing, Nick. Here’s a video that explains more about blogs:

I found the video from the Key Content blog. The video author is Common Craft.

A lot of tech comm bloggers are professional technical writers, but I’d hardly consider any of us lecturers. We’re full of advice, I’m sure. And blogs can sound like lectures. But we’re all sloggers trying to make a living. Eileen Brown, a UK technical evangelist for Microsoft, sums it up best:

“Social media has enabled ordinary people to connect with other ordinary people.”

(For the full context, see Anna Farmery’s The Engaging Brand podcast, “Blogging Within Microsoft,” 6 min)

Blogs are the thought journals of our [professional] lives. You’re invited to comment on others’ blogs and begin a blog of your own. Social media can be entirely free, and you do gain insights in the high-end world of technical writing.

…Much of the really appealing blog content is being generated by former “non-leaders” — those who have valid, insightful opinions, and who have become recognized in our profession through their blogs. (see comment | see Alan’s blog)

In other words, people who don’t hold high-up leadership positions are often the ones with more interesting blogs.

At first this seems a contradiction: one would think people in high-up positions would have more interesting content to share. High profile leaders are often key decision-makers, flying across the country for important meetings, working all day on proposals, acquisitions, organizational strategies, and new initiatives. Shouldn’t they be overflowing with interesting content, while the rest of us wait for them to speak?

Actually, although leaders may be privy to interesting information, many are crippled from sharing it in an edgy way because of their role. They face higher public scrutiny, may have little desire to write, and have to concern themselves with the political effects of their posts.

When corporate leaders blog, their words are scrutinized, fact-checked, quoted, and read by hundreds of people — including employees, shareholders, board members, organization members, media, the competition, and critics. The wrong tone, a biting remark, or an unfounded assertion can create a host of problems.

Consequently, many leader blogs water down their content to make it agreeable. The sanitized text lacks the edge that would make the blog successful. Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book, explains:

“Many corporate blogs are pretty boring. They’re just not going to be as edgy, generally, as a personal blog, or as the Technorati top 100 blogs, many of which are written by professional writers … .” (see “Corporate Blogging” from The Engaging Brand, an interview with Debbie Weil — podcast hosted by Anna Farmery)

I associate “edgy” with a variety of meanings — sharp, witty, critical, authentic, unrepressed, suspenseful, advantageous, clever, front-line, radical. John August, a prominent screenwriter who has worked on films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish, defines edgy as

A term used to describe a story or writing style that is unusually unsettling, exciting, or dark. Everyone claims to want edgy material, but then they end up making generic comedies. (my bold)

An edgy blog post, then, is one that is both unsettling and exciting. It may present alternate viewpoints, make you rethink your assumptions, and even hint at a darker world view.

Because the consequences of writing unsettling, exciting, or dark views may surround the leader in controversy, leaders gravitate towards safer, more boring content.

For example, in the November 2007 STC News and Notes, president Linda Ostreich makes the following opening statement:

My first six months as president have been nothing like I had envisioned. I have learned a lot about myself, my colleagues, and the Society, and although the reality has not been like the vision, it’s been satisfying and productive.

An eye-catching intro, but can she elaborate on what she means by “nothing like I had envisioned”? Provide detail for unrealized expectations? Explain the sudden resignation of a key officer? Express her frustration for certain proposals? Convey her possibly radical opinions on other matters?

Not really. At least not without extreme tact and euphemism.

I enjoy the messages in Linda’s News and Notes, but people would be outraged if the STC president or any other leader wrote a post like this. (Not that I would consider such a diatribe an example of “edgy,” but it’s outside the bounds of any leader’s decorum.)

In another scenario, can you imagine the U.S. President, George Bush, writing a blog post that contains sloppy sentences, poor grammar, extreme right-wing positions, and thoughts that suggest he’s spent time watching the Simpsons? No, the U.S. President’s blog (if there ever is a real one), would be carefully sanitized, toned down, washed free of anything exciting, unsettling, or dark.

So much more weight rides on the blogs of leaders. Newspaper reporters can use their words as fodder. John August finds himself quoted for a “vulgar” post in the New York Times. The NY Times reporter writes,

Instead of confronting the studio executive, Mr. August returned home and wrote a vulgar blog entry about what he would have liked to say. One part of it that is printable here said: “Everyone knows the C.E.O.’s are talking out of two sides of their mouths.” (see New York Times article)

How would you like to be reading the morning newspaper and discover that your quick post the other night was quoted out of context in a major newspaper, and they called you vulgar? Everything you write can and will be used against you in the media and blogosphere.

Additionally, if you change your ideas on an issue, you’ll have to carefully crawl through old posts to update your position. Or if you state a position on an issue, readers may corner you into a more extreme position than you really hold. Darren Barefoot, a popular blogger, explains:

This is one of my frustrations with this blogging medium. If I write criticizing one aspect of a particular thing, you tend to get pigeon-holed as unilaterally opposed to the entire thing.

Beyond the problem of public scrutiny and boring content, many corporate leaders also lack writing skills in the first place. They don’t have “blogging DNA,” Weil says. (Granted, there are some exceptions, such as Jonathan Schwartzberg’s blog and Richard Edelman’s blog.) But blogging is ultimately writing, and it takes an articulate, creative person to craft interesting posts on a regular basis.

In contrast, leaders are often outgoing organizational gurus, people who know how to get things done, manage departments, create and follow through with strategies and initiatives. They’re company leaders, not writers. To think they will suddenly take to the keyboard and spend a good chunk of their time writing is nonsense, especially if writing is not their strength.

In fact, over dinner tonight my wife pointed out that many leaders may be paralyzed with fear of public humiliation about their lack of writing skills. A leader may be a brilliant speaker and a motivational coach, but when he or she tries to communicate the same ideas in writing, the words fall apart, they lack coherency and sound cliche. Leaders are highly successful people. Will they really jump head first into a text-heavy medium where they won’t excel?

While leaders might feel condemned to be boring by the weight of their role, non-leaders have free reign of expression. Non-leaders can be as edgy as they want, and their edginess gives them an advantage among readers. They’re perceived as being more true, authentic, real — all the qualities blogs require to be worthwhile.

Many people praise blogging for finally leveling the playing field: everyone has a free voice, and you don’t have to be a leader or big name to get your ideas published. But the playing field has moved beyond level — corporate leaders actually have the disadvantage. This is the era of the non-leader blog.

The only problem is that one can only stay a non-leader for short time. As the non-leader’s popularity grows, he or she may transform into the very position that would cripple his or her voice.

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credits: photo from the Onion

Book writing is more about initiative and effort than confidence and creativity. …

Confidence is acquired in tiny doses… You ski a few feet on the kiddy hill after you get some good instruction …

The great new tool for writing a book today is a blog. I blog on a regular basis. …. Part of the reason I blog is to discipline myself to continually be thinking and writing. When I can do a 50 or 100 or 200 or 500 word blog and bang it out and realize that I can always go back and polish, improve, and change it later, no harm done, that’s a good example of skiing 3 feet without falling down on the kiddy hill….

Writing a good book that you’re proud of, that finds you standing on top of the mountain with the ability to make it all the way down, comes from doing all those little things, those tiny doses. Because if you don’t start small, I guarantee you 99 out of 100 people will never start. (17 min. mark, “The Art of self-confidence, show #130″)

In other words, writing a book may be too challenging of a goal in itself, but writing a blog post is easy. If you write scores of blog posts during the course of a year, you’ll build up the confidence to actually write a book.

If you compile your research into little blog posts, the blog can also function as a tool for writing the book. Although blog posts individually probably don’t cohere into a book, you’ll have all the research ready — the facts, quotes, and ideas — which you can then print out and arrange on little index cards (or whatever) so you can write the book. (It’s not as if you can just string together the blog posts into a book, unless you’re writing them as mini-essays that magically link together.)

I wrote about the topic of blogging and writing a book earlier with this post, Guy Kawasaki’s Impossible Burden: After Blog and E-mail, There’s No Time to Write the Book. For Kawasaki, the blog is a distraction to writing a book.

But the blog can be a tool you use any way you please. You can use it to write your book, post by post. You can use it to distract yourself from writing the book. You can use it to gather feedback from essays you post from the upcoming book. You can use it as a chapter-by-chapter fiction writing project. You can use it to compile your research. Or you can use it to write about everything and nothing. Blogging is essentially writing.

What I like most about Sanborn’s point is the approach to tackling large problems. At this time of year, everyone makes grandiose goals — lose 25 pounds, write a best selling novel, be elected governor — whatever. These goals might be more easily accomplished with little steps.

Personally, I want to write engaging non-fiction essays, and were it not for this blog, I would probably devote more time to them. My goal for the upcoming year, then, is to use this blog as a tool for creating the kind of non-fiction essays I want to write.