Dear Bloggers,

Many of you (including yours truly) write too much!

I want to point you to A List Apart which wrote on ‘How to Write a Better Blog‘ back in 2002. A number of bloggers write like ‘amateurs’. I don’t mean that literally, that’s just how the article labels these individuals.

I think we can all agree there is almost too much content to keep up with. I submit that we all do each other a favor and become more aware of our own writing styles.

Declarative sentences are good. Web readers demand pith.

Steve Rubel is very good at blogging. If everyone emulated his style I could get through my feeds a hundred times faster and absorb a thousand times more content. For example, see how long it takes to read the following:

Pheedo launched a new RSS ad unit that displays PR Web press releases. In other words, press releases – dressed up as ads – are coming to an RSS feed near you. (Micro Persuasion)

By the end of that second sentence I know everything I need to know. If I really want to get more information I’d either read on, click the link, or do both. Steve is a very good writer (good thing, given his job) and is very good at getting to the point.

Short-and-sweet is easier to do when creating news-like entries, but what about in-depth original content? Well, Seth Godin is an amazingly concise, yet extrmely insightful writer:

Human beings respond to emergencies. It’s easy to get everyone to take action if we’re in the middle of some sort of security crisis… but fixing the educational system isn’t going to happen. (Seth’s Blog)

Again, these sentences are quick and to the point. There is no dancing around with extra descriptions and examples. This makes reading his blog extremely useful.

I hate to say this, but when a post from Business Logs shows up I often ignore it. Their entires are great, don’t get me wrong. A full page of words is hard to read though. For example, the following:

“I’m a little torn here, so I’m in need of some good comment-based advice ? it’s regarding my impending purchase of a laptop, or should I say, a palm-top.” (Business Logs)

…could quickly become:

“I need some advice regarding a laptop (or should I say palm-top) purchase.”

Mike, no offense, I too have found myself saying more than I need to.

I also found a post the other day that seemed to drag on. I wanted to find out about how to make my PC look like OSX. The following:

“To make a long story short, I love the fluidity of the Frutiger font family, so I tried (unsuccessfully) to snag the Frutiger Next type face. I did, however, manage to snag the original version of Frutiger, which I don’t think you’re supposed to be able to get without a license. Believe it or not, I got the font courtesy of Microsoft, simply because they bundle the font with Microsoft Reader.” (pearsonified)

…is really just saying:

“I looked for Frutiger Next because I love the fluidity of the Frutiger font family. I guess you don’t need a license for Frutiger becuase I snagged it via the Microsoft Reader.”

Like I said, I don’t mean to offend, Chris. My point is, I’m less likely to subscribe to (or read) paragraphs of ‘stream of consciousness’ (but I did try out FlyakiteOSX; thanks for the pointer!).

I could go on highlighting long-winded individuals but I think the point has been made. A little bit of editing could go a long way…

Keep in mind I’m not trying to be as constructive as it may seem. I’m selfishly asking people to get to the point so I have more time to read my long-winded accounting textbooks… ;-)

The inevitable has finally happened. Google set the bar pretty high for itself (and others) and they’ve finally reached the top. This news should come as no surprise; we just weren’t sure when it would happen. GOOG dropped 13% yesterday in after-hours trading.

Kathy Sierra has a nice post on risk aversion which I especially like because of her awesome ‘USAToday approach’ to explaining concepts (using pretty pictures). If you don’t feel like reading everything she has to say, you can at least loose yourself in a picture of a tree for a few minutes. That point aside, Seth has always said that safe is risky, etc. In my case, I love being a ‘leaf node’ and the ‘manager’ at the same time. I guess being creative and creating your own products allows you to do that. Fortunately for me I’m not tied down by a big company. I’m in college and can play around with whatever I feel like. I can’t wait to release my current ‘project’…

Dave points to a great article from Fortune on soft skills: The war for top executive talent. The consulting group I work for actually provides classroom based soft-skill training to large (Fortune 500) companies. Interesting quote: “Ask your company’s best leaders to name the most powerful learning experiences they’ve had.” They will hardly ever mention a class and will almost always name a real-life experience in business. The challenge is to find ways to replicate those experiences.”

Here’s a classic from the Muppet Show, “Mahna Mahna“. There’s some fascinating background on this over at Wikipedia.

Another dual-purpose post. First off, Facebook has added ‘Spring Break Plans’ to profiles so you can let your friends know how cool you are. Personally, I’m tossing around the idea of going to Spain. I have a friend studying in Barcelona and I figure it would fun. Anyway, I hope my friends check my profile and realize how cool that makes me.

Scott nails it again: read his inappropriate responses. I often find myself caught in the ‘how are you loop’ or I’ll pull one of these: “Hey Devin, whats up?” “Fine thanks, you?” I almost feel bad at that point but then I remember… most people don’t really care how you are nor want to really know what’s ‘up’. It’s just one of those ‘filler greetings’: a greeting that takes up more words than it needs to. My treatment of this superfluous Q&A session often throws people off guard. Often in line at the grocery store it’ll go as such: “Hi there, how are you?” “Pretty good.” Which then leads to 20-60 seconds of awkward silence as the “momentum” of the conversation comes to a screeching halt. I just wonder why they didn’t ask something more meaningful like “So, looks like you’re out of toothpaste, sliced ham and milk? I go through that stuff pretty quickly too” or “Wow, you’re the first teenager I’ve ever seen buy 12-dozen eggs and 14 rolls of toilet paper. Is that typical?”

The other day I talked about my bad flight experience, but I think as far as ‘storyworthiness’ is concerned, Heather’s wins by a mile. Not that it’s a good thing… but it certainly is an interesting coincidence. But seriously… how weird is that story?!

Back in the good ol’ days I had some funny stuff up on my site. I’ve been prompted to bring some of it back because, well, people miss it. So do I. So, to kick off the fun, here’s an oldie (but oh-so-goodie) entitled ‘Badger Badger Badger‘. Happy Almost-Freaking-Monday!

dna 11 creates abstract art from your DNA. They basically put your genome on canvas. Looking to say ‘I love you’ this Valentine’s? Get a combined portrait. A beautiful blend of science and art. Oh, they’re kinda expensive though ($400-1000).