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Source: Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n
I did it! I published my first blog post<\/a>. That post of about a thousand words started as more than twenty-five-hundred-word essay. So, not only did I have to change the tone of the writing for my new audience but I also had to cut-out concepts in order to reduce the word count. This meant I was essentially creating a new, but similar,\u00a0thesis statement. I underestimated the amount of work it would take, so this was a bit of an eye-opener in terms of respecting the blogging community and the work they do.<\/p>\n The Pre-Blog Assignment<\/strong><\/p>\n The original assignment for my English class was a six to eight-page synthesis of four sources. We had to choose a section from our book (either technology, inequality, or gender) and read articles within the section to pick a broad theme. I read articles from each and then settled on gender for my theme. I met with my professor to discuss the paper and she helped me come up with my specific topic; the lack of women in leadership in comparison to the abundance of women in higher education.<\/p>\n Getting Rid of Excess<\/strong><\/p>\n Our next assignment was to take that paper and turn it into a blog post of a thousand words. As I said, this was no cake walk. It was pretty much an entirely new piece with a different premise and some of the same sources to support it. But, when I started writing it I didn\u2019t realize how different it would be. Cut out the first seven\u00a0hundred words by taking out any mention of women in\u00a0the educational system. I knew my argument about women in leadership could not have that much specificity. So\u00a0even though it added some complexity to my opinion, I had to cut it out.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when I started having trouble. I didn\u2019t know what was critical to my thesis because I was still trying to make the same multi-faceted argument as my seven-page paper had made. Once I cut off some fat from my paper I was able to focus on the importance of women in leadership.<\/p>\n With a new thesis statement at my fingers tips I was able to pick and choose what evidence would support it. Even though I couldn\u2019t use as all of evidence I wanted to, I was still able to make my point and provide evidence.<\/p>\n Changing Octaves<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to finding a new thesis I had to use a voice that my audience of younger, tech-capable, liberals would be comfortable with. It was like changing octaves, I still wanted to play the same note, but I had to jump up an octave so my readers would hear it. As I was<\/p>\n Source: Wikimedia<\/p><\/div>\n rewriting I subtly changed words and phrases to construct a more conversational tone. I would change a however<\/em> to a but <\/em>and an additionally<\/em> to an also<\/em>. I did not want to compromise the statements by making them too casual, but I wanted it to be accessible to the casual blog reader\u00a0who probably doesn\u2019t want to decipher complex sentences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Designing the Blog Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n And I have saved the best for last. Though this may disappoint my professor (I\u2019m sorry, Dr. Lueck), my favorite part of blogging was the design aspect. Not only did I find it entertaining to craft the home page and aesthetic of my blog, but also to manipulate the design of the text. \u00a0I got to find images that furthered my piece while giving the text an eye-catching shape. Not to mention, I had the chance to experiment with subtitles which give<\/p>\n Source: GetEntrepreneurial.com<\/p><\/div>\n text shape, organize my thoughts on the page, and help keep the reader\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n All of these design elements meant that, for once, I could use my passion for visual art in my writing. As a photographer I work with moving the eye of the viewer so this was just another application of that skill. The main goal for a blog is to get the eye to move down the page. To design my blog, I looked at it\u00a0as if I were taking a photo of it. How would an image in the center of the text effect the shape of text? Would a subtitle here give the text a pleasing shape? If all the images were on the left would the page seem uneven?\u00a0Solving problems like that is something I find entertaining and satisfying.<\/p>\n What I realized in actually writing my first\u00a0blog was that it takes both the skills\u00a0of a writer and\u00a0an artist. \u00a0The writer side of you must know how to speak to the audience, because the writing\u00a0is more than sloppy opinions slapped on a page. And your inner designer must\u00a0 tinker with the text and images before it becomes effective. Whether you are a writer, an artist, or neither, \u00a0you can learn these skills. In fact, blogging is a safe space to practice these skills without high stakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I did it! I published my first blog post. That post of about a thousand words started as more than twenty-five-hundred-word essay. So, not only did I have to change the tone of the writing for my new audience … Continue reading ![\"Source:](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/4\/4e\/Range-second-octave.svg\/2000px-Range-second-octave.svg.png\")
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