Seven Blog Essentials
Wednesday
Jan 16, 2008
Of some of the great blogs I’ve run across since I started this one, Melissa Donovan’s Writing Forward has yet to disappoint me. Today she has some great blog essentials that I feel the need to share. Go take a look!
7. Last but Not Least
- Intriguing, informative, or educational posts
Genius Level… Is it such a bad thing?
Thursday
Dec 20, 2007
In catching up with my Google Reader subscriptions I see a post on Writing Forward about the reading level of one’s blog. This little widget allows for a nice bridge into writing for the broadest audience possible. In my infinite curiosity, I went and had this blog analyzed.
Is this really a bad thing? Blog author Melissa Donovan seems to think so:
Writers who use big words and fancy phrases will not reach the broadest audience possible, and in fact, will turn many potential readers away. Who wants to expend a whole lot of energy to decipher a short story or understand a blog post? When a writer tries to come off as brilliant by using complex language, the effort usually outshines the material.
Personally I’m not so sure it’s a bad thing to exhibit my intelligence. I wouldn’t say that I write in a manner that excludes people… I’m pretty sure that anyone I know could chime in and join the conversation. And I don’t know many geniuses. So what is it about a post that makes the reading a genius level read? I’m very curious what standards this particular website is using on making that assessment.
Thoughts? Do I need to dumb this down, so to speak?





