Blog like you are Hemingway

Victoria Elizabeth (@vpelizabeth), an ecommerce research specialist at Ometria, tells us to ‘Blog Like Hemingway.’

Elizabeth’s point is that Hemingway’s style of short, snappy prose delivering a clear message would have been a perfect fit for blogging.

She went on to offer 5 blog writing tips she believes Hemingway would have approved of. With a little annotating from me:

1. Short Sentences. Hemingway was fond of short clear sentences and thought little of elaborate language. I was told by an English professor at Notre Dame, 2 sentences to a paragraph, and 21 words to a sentence. Hemingway was also no fan of adjectives. Bloggers using words such as ‘great, exciting, or amazing,’ betray their creative insecurities. Such words detract from your message.
2. Research the Truth. Hemingway wanted to find the truth within stories, and his research heavily drove his writing pursuits. As a lawyer you know that research and truthfulness is critical to writing.
3. Brief Clear Introductions. Not only do short clear introductions allow your readers to gauge whether they will read on, it is also the best opportunity to hook them. Don’t tell me how you thought of having a beer, how you went out to the kitchen to get one, and how you opened it. Tell me which beer it is and how it tasted.
4. A Specific Beat or Topic of Specialty. You can’t write about all of your knowledge in one blog post, or even in one blog. What’s your point? If it gets to be two, three, or more points, maybe it’s time for a second post. You may find a consistent word count to your posts helpful.
5. Writing Habitually. Writing effectively means that you form a habit of doing it everyday. Hemingway typically wrote about 500 words a day from daybreak till noon, and tried not to think about his writing until the next day. Hemingway’s habit had a twofold benefit. First, the morning is a good time to write because your mind is fresh and the day’s distractions are limited. Second, leaving your writing aside for the afternoon allows you to digest and process what you write, while you focus on other important things. Most lawyers do not blog everyday, but we do write everyday. Emulating Hemingway in other types of writing (letters, email, memo’s) will improve your blogging.

Good stuff.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Robert Burdock.