How you say it counts

David Reich's outstanding blog "My 2 Cents" recently offered some helpful advice to aspiring business bloggers. I suggest taking a look at what Dave had to say.

The only thing I'd add to David's observations is that as the prospective author of a blog, you should learn how to write. That sounds obvious, but too many blogs fail not because of what the author has to say but how he or she says it.

The appearance and content of a blog are important, of course. But what good is the window dressing if readers can't grasp what the writer's trying to convey.

I'm not suggesting that if you can't write lyrical prose then you shouldn't be blogging. But at a minium, you should be able to string together words in a logical fashion that adheres to the general principles of sound writing.

Wondering what those are? Well, scroll through this blog, which tries to capture what I've learned in nearly 25 years of professional writing. It also includes much of what I try to teach in my university writing course.

If I had to recommend just one book on the craft of writing, it would be Strunk and White's "Elements of Style" (see my suggested reading list to the right). This slim volume speaks volumes about the fundamentals of solid writing. And best of all, you don't have to be a grammar expert to understand it.