Being a Better Writer: Micro-Blast #4

Welcome back, readers, to yet again another Monday Being a Better Writer post that has obviously been relegated to Tuesday. Someday I'll make enough money from my writing to be able to give up my part-time job, but right now ... if they want me on Mondays, they unfortunately have me.

So, this week we're doing another Micro-Blast! New? Wondering what a "Micro-Blast" is an what it has to do with writing? Thoughts already jumped to something non-writing related already, like those tiny fruit snacks with juice in them?

Okay, maybe I'm just hungry. Anyway, a Micro-Blast is something that usually happens as I near the end of another topic list. This being a real, physical list that I keep on my desk and consult each week to select a topic for the upcoming post. The topics on this list are collected from a variety of sources, usually anything that makes me think "Hey, that would be a good BaBW topic," but also from readers that write in with questions and requests.

Anyway, these topics can often vary in the amount of effort needed to address them. Sometimes it's simply a topic where I'd be better suited saying my piece and pointing readers elsewhere, other times it's just a quick answer that isn't really deserving of a full break-down on it's own, but at least merits a paragraph or two, and sometimes it's just a topic I haven't done much thought about, and therefore needs more research before I can weigh in one way or another. And then, of course, there are the topics that don't have any of those issues, and I can write a full post on.

But at the end of a list, what results is often a small collection of leftover topics, a hdgepodge of tiny summaries that, for whatever reason, never got posts on their own.

Micro-Blast BaBW posts are the answer to these small collections of topics. A way to "finish off" each topic list by rapid-fire tackling each remaining issue with a small posting of its own.

So, this said, it's time to finish off, once and for all, Topic List 8 so that next week, I can start anew with Topic List 9! Which also means you can expect a post later this week asking for suggestions for the list. I've got a bundle of my own from the recent LTUE conference, but as always, reader suggestions are a welcome way to add topics.

Anyway, enough rambling! Let's clear this list!

Get started at Unusual Things!