Luckie's 7 Rules of Blogging - D'oh!

I can always count on 10,000 Words by Mark Luckie to reinforce the blogging lessons my students are learning this term in News Reporting and Photojournalism -- post often, check your spelling, add links...

So today Luckie has seven reminders for those new to blogging, or those who've been at it awhile but may be getting lazy. Here's his take on frequent posting: "If your posts are months apart and your last few posts apologize for not blogging enough, do your readers and yourself a favor and just close up shop." Ouch!

Other no-no's: Talking down to readers, going off topic, turning off comments, not supplying an RSS feed.

"A blog isn't just about writing," Luckie reminds us, "it's about stimulating conversation and discussion. If your readers have no way of responding to a post then you look like a jerk. Even worse: turning off comments on a particular post because someone disagrees with you." D'oh!

If you don't have Luckie's 10,000 Words on your blog list, you should.

-rp-

Class Assignment: Seth Godin and Standing Out

Recently students in my News Reporting class practiced taking notes and writing a speech story. Their speaker was marketing maven Seth Godin, and the speech was a talk he gave way back in 2003 at a conference sponsored by TED - Technology, Education, Design.

The talk is about standing out, being remarkable, and the topic is every bit as relevant today as it was when he first delivered this talk.

It's worth 18 minutes of your time if you've never seen it before. I learn something new every time I watch it.

-rp-

Harrower Leads Writing, Editing, Design Workshop

Design guy and journalism textbook author Tim Harrower is leading a workshop on newswriting, editing and news design Saturday, Nov. 14, in Wilsonville, Ore. The deadline to sign up is Friday, Oct. 30.

The daylong workshop, "Futurizing Your Newspaper," will feature sessions focusing on writing "tighter and smarter," thinking like a digital journalist, upgrading your Web site, planning bigger and better packages, and crafting stronger headlines.

Advance registration is $50 for the day, $30 for a half day (and $10 off for students). It runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Best Western Willamette Inn, 30800 S.W. Parkway Blvd., in Wilsonville, just south of Portland off of Interstate 5.

For more information or to sign up, go to http://timharrower.com/oregonworkshop.html.

-rp-