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Blog with Your Heart

An Ode to Combat Cyber-Betrayal

I’ve decided to turn this ruthless ‘cyber-betrayal’ into a positive spin. Today’s topic my fellow readers is a brief look at my blogging workflow. For those of you who cringe at this new-fangled term, a blogging workflow is basically a methodical review of the steps taken when publishing a blog post. The idea is that, with a systematic work-flow, comes better organization and it might reduce (I’m skeptical though) the chances of loosing your saved posts! Several experts in the field of blogging have already unraveled their own diamond encrusted insights on ‘the’ blogging workflow. There are however a minority of individuals out there who find it simply impossible to maintain a structured ‘blogging-plan’. If you are a professional blogger, then it would probably be ‘murderous’ to blog without some form of guideline. Much of this article is directed at the field of blogging in general. I’ve decided to share with you my personal workflow.

The Best Plan is Having No Plan At All

Sounds ludicrous? Well hear my reasoning first and then throw your judicious brickbats if necessary. I work as an academic researcher. Publications are the bread and butter of my work and I can honestly claim that till date, I’ve had no proper workflow. Every project and journal is a work of ‘art’; a creation that materializes instantaneously, in the spirit of the moment. No amount of systematic thinking and effort will ever produce that instance of spark and magic, the “a-ha’ moment if you like. It has thus been my policy to ‘avoid all policies’ which structure the blogging process into some kind of maternal nurturing phenomenon. “Nurturing the idea for a post” will only work if the idea first arrives. Take this blog post for example. I never did in a million years intend to write on the blogging workflow (partly because of my lack of faith in any “system”). The idea simply cropped up from my destined fate in a personal circumstance. The beauty of blogging (and even micro-blogging) in my opinion lies in the whole concept of being able to create the system. You write what you want on your own set of terms and conditions.

Blog with Your Pants Down

Blogging has now emerged as a commercial and institutionalized activity. It has become a lucrative revenue-generating source for those who ‘play their cards right’. The end-result however leaves much to be desired. Blogging is an ‘occupation’ as opposed to a loose and even fragmentary expression of ones thoughts. I’ve always thought of blogging as a contemporary modification of “the stream of consciousness”.  The “stream of consciousness” refers to a literary technique pioneered by Dorothy Richardson, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce. It is characterized by a flow of thoughts and images, which may not always appear to have a coherent structure or cohesion. Blogging should be about a psychological wonderland of twists and turns.

Enough with the Ordered Lists!

  During the course of my research on blogging, I’ve chanced upon numerous lists. An example of such lists include, “10 Ways to be come a better Blogger”, “20 Methods to Earn Money While Blogging” etc. Sure, it’s a really good and easy way to learn the tricks of the trade but where is the real meat and crunch of hard-hitting and strong opinions that provoke intense debate. That element of risk and intellectual stimulation in the blogosphere (another word coined to reflect the organized blogging community) seems to be sorely lacking in certain communities. The order of the day for most bloggers seems to focus on quick nuggets of easily digestible information. Blogs have become adverts, replete with the cheesy taglines. By subscribing to a fixed blogging workflow, we then might be taking the added risk of forcing our opinions to be contained into a specific mould. This ultimately begs the question; should blogging be one long structured essay or a series of whimsical anecdotes?

Case in Point – Carsonified.Com

I am amazed at the level of ingenuity in the postings on Carsonified’s Blog about the web, Think Vitamin. The content featured, especially the recently uploaded comic strip on “How to Understand Your Users with Personas” precisely depicts the level of flexibility, imagination and innovation bloggers can have with their content. The article provides a series of well-illustrated comic strips about how user personas are constructed and established on the web. They have certainly succeeded in capturing the core essence of blogging, which is speaking from your heart first and then your head.