Make certain that your blog communications can do at least one legitimate chair push up.
Anyone remember junior high school and those physical educational assessment tests?
I remember that I had this gym class teacher named Mr. Mills and for the life of me I can still hear his merchant marine voice in the back of my head.
“Garcia, give me one legitimate chair push up and I just might find compassion for you.”
Mind you I was no physical specimen – OK, I was overweight.
But I remember digging into an old wooden chair set up in the corner of the gym with what seemed like the whole world watching.
My seldom-used tricep muscles cried out in pain as I struggled to keep my frame balanced above the chair and I held my breath as I begged my massive body downward into the abyss – “two degrees down bubble!” (submarine talk)
What happened next probably happens to a lot of other kids with my particular stature back then – I split my lip wide open after crashing into the chair.
There was no need to take that shameful walk back to the locker room to peruse the assessment grade chart on the wall – I knew what a zero would bring.
I may have suffered a loss of dignity that day, but this lesson has helped all these years later, especially when I am thinking about how best to communicate my ideas in writing.
I live by the philosophy to endeavor to write something that will inspire at least one person to “push up” from their chair.
What I mean is that the best way to engage an audience is to attempt to make a connection with the reader that will keep them anticipating the next line of your text.
If your material is “heavy” then “trim some fat” – never go by the assumption that more is better, especially when the material is for a blog communication.
I also often notoriously break writing conventions to make reading my posts easier.
Don’t be afraid to write three or four lines of text and then kick to another paragraph, you will find that your audience will appreciate it.
Experiment with both long and short blog posts and find the combination that best fits your style of writing.
So try to get at least one person to “push up” from their chair with your next blog post but be careful not to “split your lip” by giving them more material than they can handle reading in one blog post.
Make longer posts into a series of posts. J
