Hoo boy, are you in for a treat today.
You’re probably wondering why you’re here, or if this post is going to be a waste of time. Let me tell you in advance that yes, you could very well waste ten minutes of your life here (or however long it takes for you to read 1,000 words), or you could have the ten funnest minutes.
I don’t know which it’ll be. The only way to find out is to read on.
So what’s up?
Done is better than perfect. That’s what I’ve always believed. Not only because the stupid editor in your head doesn’t know a thing about what other people want, but also because it gets you in the habit of finishing things.
Heck, I’d never have gotten published had I not sent in my manuscript on the grounds of ‘Southeast Asian publishers not liking cyberpunk novels’.
And that’s exactly why we’re here. To dispel the myth that you need to know your fifty-seven blogging top tips before you can produce a decent blog post.
Because today, my dear friend, we’re going to be breaking some rules.
But before that, here’s a heading.
And another one, but smaller.
Ditto.
I’m sure you’ve heard these tips before: make your posts scannable, use headings with interesting descriptions, have a proper structure.
Well it looks like we’ve broken that rule already. It’s fun, too. You should give it a go.
Seriously. Try it.
Anyway…
Now that we’ve butchered the title, headings, and our paragraph, I should also bring up another top blogging tip that I see a lot, and that’s ‘choosing a compelling topic before you begin’.
I’m already partway into this draft and I don’t even have a clear idea where this post is headed. Also, I’m totally writing this on the fly, so there are no outlines involved, as recommended by the same top bloggers.
And since I’m not outlining, I’m definitely not researching either, save for the first few Google results for ‘writing blog post tips’. By golly, we’re really blazing right through the list, aren’t we?
Also, not using popular keywords, targeting a specific avatar, and studying my competitors? Check, check, and check.
2. I’m seriously not going to name my headings
Power words are like the spice of content. Just sprinkle a couple in your titles and bask in the extra layers of aromatic marketing speak. It’s also a top tip often recommended by bloggers who swear by their power of conversion.
I myself think that power words are a zeitgeist that’ll come to pass, much like guestbooks on the websites from the nineties.
Because there are only so many times you can use ‘unexplained’ or ‘astounding’ in your titles without sounding like you’re repeating yourself, or plagiarising off Buzzfeed.
It’s not to say that I don’t use them. I’m not just using them for this post. I know. Shocking.
iv. I’m sorry, skim-readers
I once had a colleague who’d called me out on my usage of the word ‘suspect’. My sentence was: “You’re sounding mighty suspect.”
To which she said, “It’s ‘suspicious’, Stu. Gosh, how could you not know that?”
First of all, if anybody adopts a black-and-white approach to writing, don’t listen to them. These are the same people who’d take parodies seriously, the same ones who’d be fuming at sayings like ‘avoid cliches like the plague’. There are rarely absolutes in the craft of writing. Unless you’re a Sith.
Also, my colleague was absolutely wrong. No ifs or buts about it.
Or maybe she was cracking a joke and I was the one who was taking things too seriously.
Why am I telling you this story? Because another top tip for blogging is to ‘avoid meandering’, or to ‘cut out the fluff’. Ha.
Yet another heading
Don’t you just find best practices to be limiting sometimes? Like images. Why do they need to be beautiful and vibrant? In fact, why even use them at all? Why can’t we just break up the text with headings or quotes?
I don’t have an answer for you, but what I do have is the mood to go against the grain. So here’s a misaligned picture of my desk in the wrong dimensions.
These headings exist just to break up the text
Of course, we can’t talk about blogging’s best practices without mentioning editing. I typically go through at least three drafts for my blog posts.
That number increases when it comes to fiction, but it’s harder to pinpoint an exact number, since I revise previous chapters on the go sometimes, before making entire passes through the manuscript.
For this post, though? I’m going to finish it in one sitting. Then it’s off to publish. Take that, ‘edit your draft’ tip.
Maybe you’ll find the lesson in this paragraph
Perfect is the enemy of good. In fact, perfect is the enemy of progress, because there’s no such thing as perfect.
And if you’re going to base your output solely on your ability to produce perfect work, then you’d be the equivalent of a driver waiting for all the traffic lights on their route to turn green before pressing the pedal (i.e. never ever starting).
But once you accept that writing (or creative work in general) is all about putting one foot in front of the other, and that each shitty piece is just you taking another step, you’d be so much more willing to put in the work instead of relying on the rare moments of inspiration.
Which explains why I’m making a total ass out of myself here.
Because to be honest, what started out as a good idea is now looking mighty suspect, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this post gets the cold shoulder. I am showing some pretty bad form, after all.
Still, if that means silencing the perfectionist in you to start on a new piece (especially if you’ve been on a hiatus), then making as ass of myself is a tiny price to pay.
And if you take away anything from this post, I hope it’s that you don’t need to be perfect to get a message across. You just need to have something to say.
No fancy CTA this week because that’s a blogging top tip that I’m breaking too.
Stuart Danker 
I’d love to hear your thoughts!