Tag Archives: Twitter

Blogging: Keeping It Short, My Posts That Is

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Full-time job, house, and of course being a dad, time is of the essence in everything I do. So how do I keep blogging away? Simple, keep my posts short and sweet.

Keeping a post short doesn’t mean skimping on detail or argument. In fact, quite the opposite. I try to keep my posts to 300 words or less. Let’s face it, attention spans on the internet are not what they used to be. Especially with the advent of social media like Twitter. Being concise in my posts is a goal. I’ll talk about goals and writing posts in a later post.

But for now, I’ve found keeping it short is the way for me to go. Now of course, some stories require longer posts, but I believe the audience that wants to read longer posts will ultimately find what they are looking for. But for purposes of time and telling my point, short is best.

My son doesn’t allow me to complete a post in one sitting all the time. Especially as he becomes more mobile, and I believe he is developing his throwing arm already. There is still hope of his future career as a relief pitcher, I digress.

Writing posts isn’t about length, but about content. Bloggers of all experience levels will tell you content is king. This is a founding “law” of blogging if you will, and is one that will hold true until the Sun goes supernova. Just because a blogger doesn’t have time to write like Charles Dickens, doesn’t mean they can’t produce good, well-written, concise blog posts. Not to mention, honing such skills will help said blogger in many other forms of writing.

So be concise, write well, and enjoy your blog.

 

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The Computer Crashed? Now What Does Daddy Do? A Musing For Sunday Morning

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In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how our computer crashed. I realized just how dependent we as a family, have become on our computer. Life revolves so much round our gadgets, especially the home computer.

One doesn’t realize how much gets done with the computer. Banking, connecting with friends via Facebook and Twitter. Daddy has a good old Goodreads account too. In our ongoing effort to save money, I look for new recipes constantly online too. For example, this evening I will attempt to make penne alla vodka for the first time. At least if that doesn’t work, I’ll still have vodka. I digress.

Once the computer went down, many emotions ran through both my wife and I. What do we do? How do we get this fixed? Damn Windows 7! I wish I had the above mentioned vodka last week!

Fortunately, we have a neighbor and friend whose livelihood comes from fixing computers. So when we happen to run into each other because of the kids a day after our computer went down, it was providence indeed.

I was immediately put at ease when I asked our friend, “what do you know about Windows?” His response, “everything.”

Needless to say this Sunday Morning Musing is coming from our newly restored desktop. Many thanks to our neighbor and friend. I also am grateful for the true sense of community we have with our neighbors. Lately our daily lives are bombarded with negative ideas and tragic realities. The sense of friendship and community we are fortunate to have where we live is refreshing to say the least. And maybe life should revolve more around people rather than our gadgets.

And one more thing, if you haven’t backed-up your computer, do it. Think of a computer back-up as health insurance for your computer.

Sunday Morning Musings: Moments

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My moments are simple in their complexity. As a child I remember many situations where I didn’t fully understand what was going on. I didn’t grasp why my parents were arguing over something either me or my brother did. Or didn’t do for that matter. Like the time my brother decided to bake cookies while he was babysitting me. Great idea, poor execution. Yes, I was an accessory, but only because I helped to open windows and waft the smoke out of the kitchen. Those moments are memories for me now. A little less complicated since I’m older and understand more.

As a dad, each day I watch my son learn new things. For him, what may seem complicated is simple to me. These moments of learning for him, will be memories for me.

Some moments are so complex, for whatever reasons, they are really simple when we look back. I find this a theme in our culture. Much of our popular entertainment focuses on specific moments, flashbacks, events. If we stopped, just for a short time, in our daily lives and reflected on some of our moments, I think we would be amazed at our own individual stories.

This Sunday Morning Musing is a little on the philosophical end for me. This past week, I was scouring Twitter for new people to follow and I came across some old friends I haven’t spoken to in a while. I was filled with excitement to find them. Many memories, simple ones like driving to the mall because that was the only thing to do; to complex ones involving girlfriends; to the simply complex ones like catching airplanes to go on vacation. All these memories came rushing back, what a great thing.

I have yet to click follow.

I started to think is there a reason why we lost touch? Did I do something that hurt them? I started to scan my memories, for those moments in the recent past that might explain why. I think I came up with a few, but I’m not sure. I think the only way I’ll know is if I grow some courage and follow them. Send them a direct message. But what if they don’t want to hear it? But what if they do?

If they respond or follow back, then its simple. If they don’t, I guess that’s simple too. Choosing to actually reach out, is yet another simply complex moment in my life I guess.

Back to the parent me. If I can teach anything to my son as he grows, is to remember the moments, especially the little ones. From my experience, what appears is a little thing in the present, becomes a big memory in the future. I can still smell the burnt cookies my brother and I made all those years ago. Aside from learning to use a non-stick cookie sheet, I realize those moments are forever with me. Both the simple and the complex.