Flip or Flop— Can I write successful 300 word blogs?
This sounds like a lame challenge but if I gain anything from it I’ll share it with y’all.
Shorter than flash fiction
Read any of my old posts. None of them are short. They’re not long either. But I’ll come across tiny articles and blogs on the internet that either reiterate a primary idea or simply break down, what could be argued as one paragraph, into tiny two line details between images. So I asked myself, how are bloggers cramping down their content? More importantly, are there any benefits to doing this?
Writing Machine
Think about it. If you could crank out three small posts a day instead of one a week, or just one a day, you’d be a writing machine. Obviously I’m not talking about writers who have been blogging for years. I believe that if you do anything long enough you’ll eventually find efficiencies in your process. I’m talking more to the new bloggers or bloggers like myself who aren’t choosing a confined sub niche.
Could writing with a small limit increase content quality?
At the very least wouldn’t it be easier?
So I’m going to do another 30 day challenge (read about my former 30 day no Instagram challenge) to figure all this out and of course report my findings. I might just fall on my face but for the month of March I will only allow myself to write short blog posts, not to exceed 300 words.
Now, how do I create 300 word blogs that are actually valuable?
Not so medium mediums
For three months I sat around and thought about how to achieve concise, condensed, capsules of information i.e. mini blog posts. Why haven’t I been able to do this successfully already? I thought, maybe it’s that Medium has this wide open white scrolling unlimited canvas and my brain is like: let’s fill this -ish. Maybe it’s fear of sounding like a novice writer or worse seeming like a writer who cuts corners.
Pushing my fears aside I knew I needed to figure out how to attempt this challenge and hopefully come out of it with a substantial level of success.
I kept thinking what if I wrote a blog post in another medium (pun intended), a smaller medium, like a tweet. Or a notes app. Or physically taking a receipt and writing a post on the back of it. A napkin. You get it. That might solve it. I’ve thought of several medium solutions that might force me to limit my words and possibly scrutinize over their real estate on my page:
- Record 5 min of audio or video
- Use only 1 sheet of paper
- Use only 5 post-its
- Fill a tweet
- Q & A style
- Only 3 image captions
- Write only an abstract
- Create a text conversation
Of course these are just a few suggestions my brain has come up with. But I figured I would start if not attempt all of them during the month of March to see whether I have something to gain from them.
Small packages, Big worries
If I’m being honest, I’m worried about this challenge. I’m worried that cramping down my blog post would mean disproportionate quality. That I would trim the fat so much that the deliciousness will go away. On the flipside I’m worried I’ll love writing short blogs too much. I already love flash fiction way more than normal fiction. I’m also worried that I’ll feel unfulfilled.
Perhaps I’ll spend more time revising my drafts, or I’ll delay publishing these blogs…
Eh. Okay. I’m done worrying. I’m going to do this. Short writings can be just as amazing as long ones. In fact some of the best things I’ve read were memes, bumper stickers, and texts. 🙃 So it’s possible. Short successful blogs are possible.
For the month of March, excluding this initial post, I will only write and publish 300 word blog posts. Will I yank out my hair? Who knows. Will I cry in a corner? Probably not.
Something is telling me this is the right move. I’m tickled, even excited about the challenge ahead. Wish me luck?
Bye friends 🙃
