It’s Day#2 of my Bloganuary binge and I’ve already decided to give up. This was right after I read the daily prompt: What do you like most about your writing?
That’s like asking – What do you like most about your eyes, nose, hair and feet?
“Nothing,” I’d say “and who’d want to read about that?”
But I was interested to see what other Bloganuary-ists had to say.
No surprise, many felt the same as I did.
Some bloggers turned the topic around to “What do I like most about your writing” or “What do I like about writing.”
I liked that approach. Maybe my Bloganuary binge will survive another day.
What do I like about Writing
I like writing because it gives form to thought. Like photography, it captures a memory or an experience which can be recalled by looking at the picture. Unlike photography, it starts with a blank page and is entirely constructed in my head.
It begins with a vague idea that comes together as I put down the words. It begins with writing it down. It ends with re-writing it into something I’d like to read.
I am a great believer in form and brevity. I admire writing structure that has a beginning, middle and end, even if not necessarily in that order. I also like brevity and focus. None of these – brevity, focus and form – come naturally. At least for me, it comes after many iterations of reading, editing and setting aside.
In the quest for brevity and focus, I will stop here. Setting aside my topic, I’ll turn the question around.
What do you like about writing?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Or you could join me with the other Bloganuary-ists here.
The Sandy Chronicles 
“I admire writing structure that has a beginning, middle and end, even if not necessarily in that order.” Bahhaha!! I’ll remember this one.
I like writing with a little zing, or chuckle, or twist, or emotion. Some added value. I’ll be writing anyway, so everybody who comes over and lands it a set of eyes is warmly appreciated.
Also thank you for explaining what WordPress is up to. Even though I still don’t know if I should sign up…
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I saw you post where you seem very busy with challenges. Bloganuary only goes for January & there’re no rules on when or how many times you can post. Although I’m going down the narrative route, you can do what your want – prose, pictures, poetry. I like that freedom.
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Yes to brevity and focus. I always remember the phrase “I would have written a shorter post, but I didn’t have the time.” To me, this says it all! 😀
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Excellent phrase. I’d like to adopt it please.
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I like brevity and well thought out posts, like yours always are ☺️
I saw the post about Bloganuary a while ago and thought it sounded a bit like the good old Daily Post weekly photo thingie, or the writing prompts they used to have. But then they asked you to sign up for an email and as an email marketer I know that means you’ll be ending up on a marketing list. Which is fine, they gotta make money somehow 😄 Anyway, so I’m interested in seeing what the prompts would have been like! Happy to see many bloggers I follow participate so I can peek 😋
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So nice of you to say Snow. I admire your writing too, so it’s especially good to know.
I’ve figured out that WordPress is trying to publicize a new product called P2 and they’re hosting Bloganury as a way to increase awareness. It’s a group blogging and collaboration platform where you need to be a member in order to post. That’s why they want an email id. Initially, I found the P2 format confusing but I’ve figured it out now & so far, it’s not much different. I think there’re more features here than I’ve discovered.
If you want to follow Bloganuary you can bookmark this: https://bloganuary.wordpress.com/author/mindywoothemes/
The daily prompts are in the left sidebar and most people post a comment with their submission. The prompts get published at 7pm Eastern Time.
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So that’s what they’re selling! Thanks for the info!
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What I like about writing is firstly, that it gives some permanence (or at least temporary permanence, if there is such a thing!) to my thoughts. Secondly I like the fact that my writing then triggers writing from others and can evolve into a conversation. I find it interesting to hear other people’s views on a topic, or their experiences etc.
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Community and conversation are key reasons for blogging. Some would call it engagement and it differentiates blogging from other forms of publishing.
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Hi – I like how you noted that writing gives form to thought – so true.
and for me – writing has different things I like – it can help you to clarify something important (better than a conversation at times – even though other times we might need to talk it out instead)
best wishes with the Bloganuary – I wish I could do it this month but my to do list is already a bit full (maybe another year)
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I totally agree. I can write what would be impossible for me to say. Part of it is my personality but a large part of it, is having the time to clarify what I want to say.
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yes, I know what you mean. And also because people have filters in their mind and then “cognitive noise” they can just NOT ever hear what we say – now the flip side is that the writing can also be hard to clarify and I tent to write “strong” and so I have learned how to tone that down.
—
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I used to do a lot of customer briefings/presentations and one of the first things I learned was that an audience doesn’t listen very well.
You have to say what you’re going to talk about, say how you’re going to talk about it, talk about it and then wrap up with a summary of what you talked about. As you say, it’s the cognitive noise & filters. As well, people have more difficulty with aural comprehension vs visual.
I’ve found this especially true now that my hearing has degraded with age. Psst. Don’t tell my husband, I keep telling him “I’m not deaf, You’re just mumbling!”
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Writing allows me to mine a vein of creativity that would lie dormant unless I was writing my blog.
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So true. Although I enjoy writing, I don’t do it unless I have a purpose. The blog allows for that.
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A great writer. but not me.
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