A Sensible Set of Writing Guidelines: Distilled Conciseness?

Given how my brain works, I needed to come up with a simple set of rules to become more productive when writing blog articles.

Topic Scoping

Scoping is often key in writing and one practical way to enforce that, is to be as concise as I can and that involves using the most accurate terms to limit the number of words needed to convey.

I think that “conquer and divide” in terms of topics (posts) is another way to greatly improve topic scoping.

Maximize Insightfulness

Reading an article takes time, so one of my key guidelines is to try to maximize the benefits a reader (including myself) can gain out of it.

I do not like the idea of someone spending more than 5-10 min of their precious time going through one of my articles.

Stop Self-sabotaging

Due to my personal history with PTSD, I had for a long time developed a tendency to subconsciously self-sabotage as a way to shield myself from external rejection.

I used to think I was a huge fan of self-deprecating humor when in reality, it was one of the manifestations of self-loathing.

Now, in my mid-30’s (at the time of writing), I have fully acknowledged this pattern, while I still appreciate self-deprecating humor occasionally, I understand that I need to refrain from using it as a protective shield.

Self-sabotaging, even if it might look like puns or humor, does not do any good to one’s mental health, and it is not the writing style I want to have for this blog.

Iterate and Allow Myself to Make Mistakes

If it does not feel right, think Agile (without the corporate coach gobbledygook).

By the way, I do not think Agile is suitable for everything in life, while I think it might have some value for some software development projects in which the dynamics are compatible, e.g., user base and stakeholders, I do not think the methodology is worth being applied to every single project.

Side-note: over the past decade of professional experience as a software developer, I have seen quite a few flavors of Agile, and not all of them were successful. In my very humble opinion, context matters just so much more, i.e. do whatever works for your project, team, company, ecosystem.

That being said, and getting back to the topic of this post, I think this iterative approach might really shine when it comes to writing.

A Consistent Style

I think, it is worth nothing that conciseness as the main guideline is not going to be enough in order to prevent myself from dwelling in the weeds. In order to further constraint the style and the efficiency when writing, I would like to stick to a few things when it comes style:

  • No contraction, plain and simple.
  • Simple and short sentences.
  • No poetic or lyrical stuff (unless the post is an exercise of style on its own).
  • Avoid acronyms whenever possible (except if already defined elsewhere in the post, or widely well-known).
  • No private joke of references.
  • Avoid emojis if they are not helpful in highlighting particular .
    • In my experience, emojis are often misused and misunderstood.
    • This is particularly true for emojis that convey emotions, like “😏”, “😉”, “😆”, “😅”, “🤐”, “😏”, “🙄”, “🫣”, “🤨”, “😠”, “🥹”, “😣”, “😖”, “😞”, “😡”, “🤬”, “😤”, 🤷‍♀️", etc. (some of which I was still using extensively myself till a couple of days ago).
    • Words just like emojis, can also suffer from the same indirection (e.g., very local or personal usage), but clearly not to the same extent and dictionaries can help bringing people on the same page, i.e., non-personal definitions.
    • Point being, I should stick to words when I am struggling to make up my mind with emojis.
    • “Object-emojis” (when not conveying bad connotations) can be used, if and only if they are explicit enough.
  • Another way to further constraint style is to embrace a more consensual / universal style of writing, communication is unique to each individual but there are still some common grounds that are widely shared across people around the world.

Some might argue that this is a very neuro-robotic tone, devoid of all interests, or even humanity. But it is good to remind myself that the premise to keep in mind here is for me to find a way to become more productive and simply “ship stuff”.

Checksum: the Key Takeaways Section

One way to ensure that I stick to my own rules is a sort of recap at the end of each post which is going to force me to review my own production, the so-called “guideline compliance check”.

Key Takeaways

I needed a sensible “framework” for blogging, suited to my own peculiar mindset, and the guidelines I have come up with are:

  • Precise topic scoping to break down complex topics and avoid unnecessary detail-slash-digression.
  • Limiting the use of emojis unless they enhance conciseness and clarity.
  • Maximizing insightfulness to provide value to readers within a 5-10 minute read.
  • Encouraging an iterative process for content development, akin to the Agile methodology.
  • Stop self-sabotaging and its derivatives.
  • Apply a consistent style throughout each post.
  • A Key Takeaways section at the end of each post as way to recap and ensure the guidelines have been properly executed.