How to write blog posts with the greatest of ease

Why blog?

Simple,  Cheap, Unlimited Reach

#FiveThings

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Before you start:

Make a goal to write consistently. Hit it.

"Write. Every day."

Stephen King: On Writing

💪

There's no magic here. Just lots of hard work.

What do I write about?

"Share things that you think are cool"

Sarah Drasner. CDA Summit 2017.

• What have you been working on recently?

• What technologies are interesting to you lately
• What interesting thing have you read?
• Have you seen a tweet that you don't agree with?
• What did you just learn that you are pretty sure everyone else already knows?
• What's something that was frustrating or made you angry?
• Do you have a strong opinion about something and think you're the only one?
• Did you see a great movie? How can you relate that to something?

How do I start?

START

Intro

Body

Conclusion

🔥 Intro Tips

• Start with a quote
• Start with a song lyric
• Start with a joke
• Just start

Don't bury the lead

Body

Find A Voice

• Figure out what your voice is

  • Serious? Funny? Sometimes both? Who are you?

Conversation trumps grammer

• Write like you talk. It's easier to read.
  • Write in fragments
  • Start sentences with but
  • Throw paragraph structure out the window

"Arrest With Images"

Use Quotes

Conclusion

Be brief. Nobody is going to read it.

How long should it be?

Draft 1: Write

Draft 2: Delete

Where should I post it?

Go to where the readers are

• FreeCodeCamp

• Hackernoon
• Smashing Magazine
• CSS Tricks
• dev.to
• Scotch.io

I've written and published a blog post. I'm done!

No

"Promote Thyself"

• Web Designer News

• JS Weekly

• Lobsters 

• EchoJS

• Your colleagues

• Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace

How do you write a blog post with the greatest of ease?

Challenge

Write one blog post per week every week for three months

You don't. This takes work and there are no shortcuts.