Writer’s Perspective

When searching for an article to comment on, I was immediately drawn to Joyce Carol Oates, To Invigorate Literary Mind, Start Moving Literary Feet. I am a very active girl and love to be one with nature, especially when it comes to running. “Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think what it might be.” (Oates, Para 1,1999).  Feeling my feet pound on the pavement near my home gives me a sense of security and freedom from life’s trials and tribulations. Like myself, Oates finds running helps her write.  “Ideally, the runner who’s a writing is running through the land- and cityscapes of her fiction, like a ghost in a real setting” (Oates, Para 1, 1999).  Anyone who loves to run, or even be involved with some type of sport, can tell you that physical effort inspires the mind, freeing endorphins and creating a high that cannot be unnaturally repeated.  If you just sit, you don’t get it.  Writers are often known for their long walks, or quiet time among nature. I believe that exercise and air help to stimulate the creativity writers have inside them. Concept, themes, and ideas come to life when you have mother earth to reflect on. 

            “Running seems to allow me, ideally, an expanded consciousness in which I can envision what I’m writing as a film or dream” (Oates, Para 24, 1999).  This is definitely how running fits into my lifestyle. My undergraduate degrees are in Comparative Literature and Creative Writing and I always found running to help me convert my writing energies almost instantaneously, leaving room for error. I would hastily write whatever I was feeling, so much so, that I often couldn’t keep up.  Nothing was ever perfect, but I knew that was okay.

            I particularly liked the line Oates wrote when she said, “to write is to invite angry censure from those who don’t write, or who don’t write in quite the way you do…” (Oates, Para 18,1999). Maybe this is because I always write and I know my thoughts aren’t perfect and that people will not always agree. I feel as is if she is saying that there will always be people who are not fond of your written word, but that while there will always be criticism, you need to write for yourself and try to complete a body of work that brings you joy, but is also accurate and factual. This is particularly important in today’s society especial because of all of the new media. People have access to information instantaneously, and can spread something like wildfire. Communities can also create havoc around your words if they feel you are misrepresenting people, theories, or themes. Your writing needs to be ethical and state points that can factually be checked out. There are cruel people, people who are just trying to help, and people who believe and enjoy your work. In order to make it as a writer, or sometimes even just as a person with an opinion, you have to let comments roll of your back that are not necessary constructive, but take into consideration and respond to those people who offer quality criticism.  Writing will forever be a work in progress and people will always be commenting on your work, however, it is necessary that those comments are not because you aren’t doing your best to bring honest and correct information to the table. Keep your own ethics and morals inline when you are writing anything that will be published. It is your time to offer opinion, but do so in a way that will not offend groups and be as precise as possible.

            In the end, the reason I chose this article is because I like Oates philosophy. She states, “my method is one of continuous revision” (Oates, Para. 27, 1999).  I loved reading this because I have often been told that when you revise more than a few times, your work becomes too edited. I think that you can never truly be done with your writing and that there is always room for improvement. I don’t mind revising, it helps me relive my thoughts about what I am writing, and it helps me to improve my words. Revisions can also help you catch mistakes before you publish them, and offer a fresh perspective on the concepts you are writing about. Fresh perspectives are very important in social media because this market is saturated with information and being creative and unique will set you above other writers.

Oates final piece of advice reminds fellow writers that to invigorate your mind, you must keep your body moving. While this doesn’t directly relate to new media, I completely agree and feel that as a society we can’t only be virtual people. While social media enhances my life, it isn’t my only way to feel connected. 

I will never give up my love of the outdoors or my athleticism.  Even when I am older, I will find a way to walk the beaches of Orange County.

Oates, Joyce Carol. (18, July 1999). Writers on Writing. To Invigorate Literary Mind, Start Moving Literary Feet. Retrieved from The New York Times on the Web on August 24, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/071999oates-writing.html

Multimedia Tools

Blogging is a great way to create content for your readers, especially for businesses. The more creative the content, the more traffic your site will received and the more noticeable you will be in an already saturated community. Good content is shared throughout different networks and the best way to improve blog content is to include different types of media. Not only will this make the post more visually appealing and interesting, but it can bring on SEO benefits that will help your content rank higher in the social media world.

While many people still have the idea that blogging is only about writing, more and more people are utilizing multimedia to get their point across and writing has become just one aspect of the blogging world. Videos, images, audio, and other content that is interactive and interesting will engage your readers and help them increase their time on the blog, as well as hold their attention longer.  When blogs combine multiple types of content together, a business is creating a single resource full of information that people will find useful. Now the client only has to go to one place to find the most important information related to the business/product/service they are interested in. One main source is easier to share than multiple sources and if all the information is creatively displayed at one site, customers will be more willing to pass it on. Any visual aids that you can add into your posts that complement what you are saying are well worth including. They can help to explain things much easier and break up large portions of text.

A few of the best multimedia to include in a blog are images, videos, and audio. People love images; after all, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Any images that you can add to your articles that help describe what you are talking about are always worth adding. Businesses need and want people to share the content they post with their networks and images can be equally shared among a group of people, and often times, make a bigger impact. Videos can offer even more interest to a viewer and like most people; videos are much more fun to watch versus reading a stale paragraph or two. Check out the video by Yaro Starak. He talks about the best way to create blog content that pulls in traffic. Audio is also a great way to promote content. If a consumer is interested in a company, wouldn’t it be great to have the blog in written format, but also in audio format. People are incredibly busy, but often multitask. How great would it be to be able to listen to information, rather than read it, as you are driving around, or even getting in a quick workout?

It doesn’t matter how a company decides to integrate multimedia in a blog, the only important thing is that they do. Not only is the content more creative and captivating, but it offers different ways to express ideas through different mediums. This will appeal to a much wider audience than a standard written blog.

 

Best Practices

Let’s face it, I am a girl and with that comes the love of all things fashion. One of my favorite parts of my week is reading a few fashion blogs on Sunday morning with my cup of coffee. While there are many blogs to choose from, I generally stick to only a few. They offer me the engaging content I’ve come to trust and love, and give me the exact amount of information I need to either make a purchase or continue my daydream.

The great thing about blogs, especially fashion blogs, is that they offer much more than a magazine, they offer a fresh perspective from a style enthusiast with a closer link to the reader. They are average people with write-ups on what a regular person wants to hear, not what a model or professional deems important.

With a plethora of fashion blogs for women, it is hard to separate the good from the bad, the well written from the unreadable, and the engaging from the lackluster. Because of this, there are a few main areas I concentrate on when deciding what blogs work best for me.

First and foremost is fresh content. There is nothing less appealing than reading a blog that hasn’t been touched or updated on the regular. This is especially true when it comes to fashion because what was popular today could be out tomorrow. If a blogger doesn’t consistently offer compelling material and imagery to keep things fresh, they won’t hold my interest.

Recognizing trends is also ultimately essential. With good bloggers, eventually they become the people who create the trends instead of just reporting on them. With this inside knowledge, the blogger can create a sense of community. A great sense of community becomes a great place to engage and read insightful content.

A sense of humor can take a blog a long way too. If the articles are interesting and poke fun at the fashion industry, which is must needed because let’s face it, sometimes the fashion industry takes itself way too seriously, it becomes a refreshing read and compels me to come back.

Last but not least, I believe in quality pictures and videos. Sometimes you don’t want all the “talking.” It is nice to sit back and view some informational videos, as well as pictures. This helps you visualize the products and really appreciate what the blogger is talking about.

My favorite fashion blog to this day is The Sartorialist. The founder/blogger/photographer is Scott Schulman. He created the blog “with the idea of creating a two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life” (Schulman, 2013). The Sartorialist is set apart from other fashion blogs because the content isn’t written as much as the photography conveys “an interesting well dressed moment” (Burcz, 2012). There is a strong point of view and communication through the few words but intense images Schulman captures.  His strong voice is displayed in a creative and interesting way making readers greedy and wanting to come back for more. Let’s be honest, “by the time [an item] hits the store that trend is already over” (Burcz, 2012), but if you can capture the moment, the reader can take the concept and make it their own. That’s what fashion is all about and that is what makes a great fashion blog.

Burcz, C. (2012). Interview: 6 Minutes Spent With The Sartorialist. Retrieved on August 4, 2013 from http://heartifb.com/2012/09/10/6-minutes-spent-with-the-sartorialist/

Schulman, S. (2013). Biography. The Satorialist. Retrieved on August 4, 2013 from http://www.thesartorialist.com/biography/