Power to the Pen

Let your fingers do the walking with a twist!  Literally walk your fingers over your keyboard to give the power of a ‘virtual pen’.  The written word is a powerful tool, it can weald pain and sadness as well as humour and joy.  Thank you two little words when uttered mean the world yet write them down give them substance and the receiver has a permanent record.  Royal Mail has used ‘I saw this and thought of you’ slogan to encourage the British public to put pen to paper , email and the world wide web gives everyone the chance to spread joy through the ‘net’. 

Mobile phones have encouraged everyone to ‘text’ with a whole new language evolving. I am sorry but I cannot join the multitude the written word needs to be punctuated perfectly be it written on paper, word processed or typed into a mobile phone keypad.  People are not only losing the art of conversation they are losing the basic learned process of writing.  We hear the cries of teachers when marking scripts children migrate the ‘text speak’ into their written language, heresy we cry.  This reflects society’s constant clamour of further precious time. A snatched minute here an extra half an hour there rush, rush, rush. Is it any wonder that this urgency has filtered through to the use of written language itself?  Ultimately will our quest for precious extra minutes make the written word illegible?  Shorthand was designed for speed this does not resemble the language it derives from.  Will language itself go the same way?  Answers on a post card, responses welcomed.

This thread will be continued ...

To blog or not to blog

Now that is the question.  Do you write your own personal blog or is this a task for the professional?  There are many points to consider when entering the ‘blogging arena’. 

• Time available for article writing
• The aim of your blog
• Your target audience often considered in conjunction with the above
• Length of composition
• Preferred subject matter – personal, business, humour or specific message orientated

The suggestions above are by no means an inexhaustible list; just a few ideas to consider when approaching the idea of a blog. Once you have decided on the chosen arena for your audience it is easier to choose whether you write for yourself or if you take the commissioned author route.  Professional blogging is now recognised as a career, lets face it blogs have been considered for writing awards. As with all forms of writing it is a case of having the faith in your conviction and just going for it.

If you feel that you do not have the time to produce your own blog there are a vast array of freelance bloggers that are happy to produce copy for you, myself included.  Typing ‘blog writing’ into Google will give you a plethora of choices.  This can have a knock on effect, where originally you felt you could not write an article a small amount of surfing can give you a choice ‘to blog or not to blog’ or alternatively this will be a mine of ideas for future topics you can write on. 

Ideal book to refer to for beginning blogging shown below:

I will re address this topic on a regular basis and welcome comments. Reciprocal links are welcomed.