Booksquare

Though we are (typically) late to the game, we are going to play along with ProBlogger’s “Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers” game. This, of course, suggests that we are a highly effective blogger. As it turns out, the habits that make for good blogging also make for good writing. Who knew?

So, what does make a blogger highly effective? Heck if we know, but this is what works around here:

1. Consistency: Writing every day (or as close to every day as is humanly possible). While we’ve settled on a Monday through Friday schedule, with weekend posts as the spirit moves us, we believe that still qualifies as “every day”, office worker-style.
2. Point-of-View: While we cover the same ground as many other LitBloggers, we have our own perspective. A lot of writers are very protective of their ideas. It’s not the idea…it’s the execution.
3. Voice: The mother likes to say that we were born talking (correction: we were born complaining) and haven’t stopped since. There are a lot of competent writers in this world; what makes writing compelling to us is voice. Readers have to connect with your voice in some manner. To us, voice is intrinsic, not something you can acquire. It is something you pull from inside and hone. Voice is also faceted: you do not have the exact same tone and style for every piece of work. There’s consistent core, yes, but also variety as the situation demands.
4. Fun: Sure there are times when we look at this site as a chore. Those are rare moments and usually indicate that we need a) food, b) sleep, or c) a long vacation on a tropical island. All of which can be readily accommodated. We’re writing about a topic we love and that keeps us motivated.
5. Focus: While this site sometimes wanders out to the far edges of our varied interests, mostly we stay focused on writing and publishing. You aren’t coming here to learn about the care and feeding of cats (though we can certainly help there), and we believe most people leave with the information they’re seeking. If not that, then at least they’ve had a good time. We have found that sometimes you need more than one blog/site/place to accommodate your writing needs — hence Medialoper, PaperbackReader, and our regular stint at Romancing the Blog.
6. Community: Writing is a solitary business. You can work with another person, sure, but ultimately the words come from your head (or fingers, depends). Blogging offers a chance for writers to connect with a community. We have made a lot of wonderful friends via this site, and we have managed to maintain relationships with friends we’ve had for a long time. This community offers support, food for thought, and even help when we need someone to drive the blog while we sit on that tropical island.

• Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers – Group Writing Project