Archive for December 12th, 2009

When one commits to becoming a blogger, they must also be equally committed to writing.  Often, I write to understand what I am thinking.  As an extrovert, I process out loud, and writing feeds that need.  It’s a great outlet.  Blogging is a tool that meets so many purposes. Yet, it is a beast that must be fed, and fed regularly.  Otherwise, you lose your audience.

Today, I tweeted that I “composed a blog post that was 2,994 words. That’s not a blog post, that’s a research paper: back to the drawing board.”  There are two types of bloggers: those who can’t write, and those who can’t stop.  I’m in the “can’t stop,” camp.  That’s not to say I don’t suffer with writers block from time to time. Most certainly, I do. When it comes to free-form writing, without the pressure of deadlines or content, I can write endlessly.  BUT…I have to remember that my blog is not my journal, nor is it meant to be a white paper project. The challenge for me is to be concise.  Last night I composed the most amazing short story, but it wasn’t HR related, so I didn’t post it.  Earlier today, I wrote an extremely well researched post about the veracity of learning management systems.  It’s too exhaustive, and must be cut into 5 or 6 separate posts.  As I learn more about blogging, I will learn how to write for this venue.  What I now know is what to post to my blog, what to write in my journal, and what to publish in an industry periodical.  Lesson learned.  I’m not writing an employee handbook here.  I’m writing an HR blog. I’m HRMargo, yet sometimes, I just need the freedom to be simply Margo. I love the freedom of expression, but I also know that as writers, we must write for our audiences, not for ourselves.

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