Sunday, February 23, 2014

Writing Online -- Learn by Example

pen and composition book with writing
Writing online, especially when sharing stories about a subject you love, is easier than you might think. Writing for the internet is a far cry from what was taught in English - Language Arts classing in high school.

While you should still watch your grammar (or have someone proofread for you), online writing is better described as "conversation writing". Write like you would tell a story to a friend. I actually have a friend that talks to herself while working through writing a story online. In essence she is dictating to herself as she goes.

It's funny, I read mine out loud after I've written it to make sure it's easy to understand -- she does it as she's writing. There is no right or wrong, just what works for you.

Storytelling Everyday


At parties, in the bleachers or around the water cooler at work, we tell stories everyday. Simply start writing the stories that can be helpful to other people in some way. The internet is about helping each other by sharing our passions, experiences, successes and even failures. (I personally believe there is no such thing as a failure as long as you learn something from it.)

I have recently written 2 articles (lenses) on Squidoo that revolve around party planning. One was about a baby shower I co-hosted and the other was my daughter's sweet 16 party. In both instances, I shared what we did and made suggestions others can use when they go to planning a party for any occasion.

They didn't take much time to write but can be found by the right person searching for ideas for their particular party or shower. 93% of online activity begins with a search engine. Hopefully, my stories -- my articles -- will be indexed and displayed for those searchers.

Learn by Example


The contributors on Squidoo write their own stories as well as promoting the stories of others to help get the word out. Learn by their examples and the examples they feature.

Writing a story from personal experience, about a topic you have passion for, and publishing it to the web will help others find you too. You can be a writer -- you just have to write from the heart!


Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


6 comments:

  1. When I was in my 20s and just starting my writing career, I read a lot and I read the works of a lot of different authors. I learned how to make words flow and how to organize my thoughts. Now that I'm in my 50s, I feel I have achieved a place in my writing where I can experiment without making foolish mistakes. Thank you, Mandee, for the great reminder to learn by example.

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  2. Indeed, the more I read, the better I become at writing. And yes, writing articles online is a form all its own and the talent for doing so is honed by following examples by those who we see are successful at the task. I do believe in poetic license and writing with my own voice, even if that means I occasionally (and believe me, I do) break all rules of writing.

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  3. Writing from your personal experience about something you are passionate about is rather like writing a 'memoir', isn't it Mandee? I know you are a memoir writer yourself and have written about that very thing.

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  4. As always, you give most excellent advice and writing tips. I have to admit, I have not only learned a great deal about writing online from Squidoo by reading what others have written, but I have also learned a lot from the articles about what people share. I have also discovered several new interests.

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  5. Thanks for sharing your writing tips. I think one of the most important things is to be yourself and your personality certainly shows through in your writing.

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  6. I personally love when someone shares something that wasn't perfectly executed the first time. It makes them more human and approachable in my eyes. I think we learn most from things others might call a mistake. Like you said, they're not failures. They are just opportunities for fine-tuning. Appreciated your writing advice here. Thank heavens online writing is more fun than most of the English classes I experienced in my youth! Please don't make me diagram a sentence. I'm begging you. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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