Blogging with a Purpose:
How your writing can wreck a generation for the ordinary
Vision
The World Race is not just about the Racers. It is not even about the Race. It is an allegory for the pilgrimage of all of our souls as we journey through the adventure of following Jesus. The purpose of the Race is to reach the world, and the implementation of that is two-fold: reaching out and reaching in. The Racers will reach out to the broken in different cultures and reach into our culture with their powerful stories. To relay these stories, AIM will publish a multimedia magazine that will reach millions of young people, intending to elevate the aspirations of a generation and focus them on God’s agenda. It will be produced by the WR media team in collaboration with an editorial staff. It will be the primary vehicle for conveying your stories to the world—stories that will encourage, inspire, challenge, and mobilize all of us to live more intentionally for the kingdom.
Blogs
In the middle of 2005, there were 11 million blogs throughout the world. The day that number was recorded, 43,000 were created in the last 24 hours. There are travel blogs, research blogs, genealogy blogs, photo blogs, cartoon blogs, and some just ridiculous blogs. The underlying point is that many agree that blogging is more than a fad. For you, it will be a tool in getting your story out in front of as many eyes as possible. Anyone can type their thoughts and upload them to a website. With this ezine, AIM is seeking to cover a wide array of topics that will effectively bring the message of Christ’s kingdom to a “sleeping giant” generation, help World Racers in their quest for self-discovery, and build a credible name for world missions. As contributing writers to this publication,
you will be essential in how seriously the world takes it.
Choosing a theme
This is your work; so, take ownership of it. Web-logging (or “blogging”) is a unique form of writing. There is no orthodox style. The blogosphere (i.e. the universe of blogging) ranges from random thoughts in a journal, to streams of world events, to entire works of professional literature. The possibilities for a blog are practically endless. A common problem, however, is that individuals take all of their interests and try to meld them together, often creating a mess. Many resources suggest choosing a topic on which to concentrate your blog. If you break off on a tangent, you always know where to return. Before delving into the writing, take some time and decide on a theme that will communicate an intentional message to your audience.
Importance of neatness
AIM expects you to clearly and concisely express your thoughts and experiences. The best place to begin with this is punctuation and grammar. Some bloggers intentionally omit punctuation or capitalization to show that their thoughts are raw and free-flowing. For the most part, this appears sloppy and unprofessional. Those same types tend to ramble and make continuous typos. This will unnecessarily lose part of your audience. You can be artistic and still look like you know what you’re doing. You are going to be writing for a very broad audience, and adhering to general English grammar is the best way not to lose them at the start.
Writing a good story
Good grammar is only a vehicle to help reach your audience. Make no mistake: the “meat” of your writing is the story. You need to find a way to express it in the least-distracting manner possible. Avoid repetition and unnecessary phrases that do not add value to the story. For example, try to avoid starting any posting with, “Wow… I don’t even know where to begin… How can I describe this and do it justice…?” Just jump into the story; your readers will follow.
You must sound like you have a good mental grasp of what is happening around you (this will help debriefing later). Avoid emotional writing. Don’t put eleven exclamation points after a sentence to show how excited you are. One will do. Don’t worry; you can still appeal to your audience’s emotions. Your writing should be well-thought, insightful, and captivating. What you are doing is already exciting; you just have to find a way to reveal that to your audience. Remember: the outside world is viewing you as an international, investigative reporter. They expect you to sound like a professional. How does one write a good story? Begin by answering the following questions (Follow link to Chad’s “Stuck in Kenya” story for an example of this):
- Who?Characters in the story. People love to read about people. What motivates them?
- What? Conflict or suspense. There’s a problem that needs to be resolved.
- What? Dialogue. Show what they said. Use quotes. Interview & take notes.
- Where/When? Setting. Description helps us see the place.
- Why? The theme. With 57 WR bloggers, make your slant interesting by choosing it in advance.
Finding a voice
Once you decide upon a theme, find a voice. A voice is
how you tell the story. It involves your choice of words, phrasing, length of paragraphs, use of media, general layout of each post, and a hundred other facets. Consider your intended audience. Whom are you trying to reach? What is the message? What is the best way to present it? Jesus often presented his message through simple stories to simple people. If you’re talking to farmers, talk about wheat. It makes sense.
Take some time and find a voice for your blog. The best way to do this is to read other blogs and note what stands out to you. What do you like? What bugs you? Follow others’ good examples and avoid their shortcomings. Start practicing this voice, and ask someone you trust to evaluate your writing. . As you recognize and refine your strengths, your disciplined writing will be the tool that establishes you as an expert in a certain written field.
Finding a literary voice should not influence an attitude of acting a certain way in the field just “for the story.” However, taking your blog seriously (your main media outlet to the world) will be one more tool in helping you discover your identity in Christ this year. As you discover these traits, you have a responsibility to testify to your supporters, your sending agency, and to the lost about what God is doing.
Using other sources
In
American History X, the main character finishes the movie with a posthumous monologue in which he ends with a quote, saying, “Someone else has already said it best so if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong.” He quotes Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address. You may choose to reference other works, people you meet in your travels, or even other Racers’ blogs. If you quote anybody or use any information that is not off the top of your head, you must cite it. Do not worry about specific MLA procedures, but just give credit where credit is due, especially if you’re doing research on a particular country or culture. Using information off the web, from a book, or even from the mouth of a local and passing it off as your own is plagiarism, which is illegal. (Notice the list of sources at the end of this document.)
Get the word out!
Find a way to link your blog to as many different websites (facebook.com, myspace.com, church sites, family/friends’ blogs, travel blogrings, etc.) Also, it might be good to have someone print your updates to share with other supporters who are unable to access your blog. Don’t let technology be a hindrance; let it help, even if that means going to extra lengths to make it happen. Your story will be worth the trouble. A blog is more compelling when there is a community surrounding it—discussing, praising, inspiring, and understanding. Of course, on your blog your readers can respond to what you are writing. Feedback will help you find your voice in the field and may be a clue to what people are finding the most fascinating. Don’t neglect the importance of gaining your own audience and exploring their needs and interests. Blogging can be an awesome way to minister with your words from afar.
Overview and Publishing
Blog-planning:
1) Determine your goals.
2) Identify your expertise.
3) Pick a topic.
4) Identify your market (hint: make your writing appealing to an audience broader than your family, friends, and supporters).
5) Determine your competition. Don’t cover the same topic in the same way as ten other people going on the same trip.
6) Establish a voice that will help you create a writing persona. Accentuate your strengths.
Few tips:
1) Your story is not just about you. Blogging is about community and conversation.
2) Use good blogging etiquette, being respectful of diversity, being wary of passing off opinions as facts, citing sources, and avoiding a negative attitude in your writing.
3) Be creative.
4) Be neat. Proofread! Spel werds corektly! Punctuate!
5) Avoid repetition and redundant redundancy.
6) Use technology (video, audio, and photos) to clearly convey your message without giving your reader sensory overload.
We want to begin using your blogs to reach a broader audience. You have the option to take your blogging to another level. Do not consider it a blog, but your own news column. The level of expectation you place on yourself will directly correlate with the level of respect with which people treat your writing. If you are writing a story that you would like to be considered for publishing in the ezine, then you should review it in light of the following:
1) Write it in Word first and do a grammar and spell check.
2) When dropping it into the blog format, use the Word icon to insert in (to avoid double spacing).
3) No more than 3 – 4 sentences per paragraph.
4) Story should have characters, conflict, setting, and dialogue. Observe the five W’s.
5) Pictures really help (use alignment feature and align to left or right).
The editing staff will review it and decide which ones to include in the next edition. If you have an outstanding idea for a theme, please contact Jeff ([email protected]) or Seth ([email protected]); otherwise, you should work with one of the following themes:
1)
Wonders Never Cease
– interviews of locals asking “What miracle have you experienced?” Stories about fruit – what God is doing in the world
2)
Unsung Heroes
– profile locals – tell their story
3)
Going Off the Map
– exciting stories of ministry and life on the road
4)
Culture Corner
– quirky local things (example)
5)
Our Team
– what God is doing as the teams experience koinonea & conflict
6)
The Race of Our Lives
– update on stories & strategies from the Race
7)
My Life Change
–specific experience & challenge confronted by a WRer a national
8)
True Legends
– an obscure, interesting local person story from our current country
9)
Global Gus
– interesting person we meet
10)
Justice & God’s Underdogs
– investigative reporting of the oppressed & poor
11)
The Road Ahead
– Highlighting what’s to come next week
12)
The Rub
– Media Team selects an article to highlight using video
Works Cited:
Blogging in a Snap
By Julie Meloni
ISBN: 0-672-32843-7
The Everything Blogging Book
By Aliza Sherman Risdahl
ISBN: 1-5937-589-1
Blogging Tools:
go.blogger.com
