I am brand new at blogging. Sure, I’ve been on the internet since the dawn of time. (Okay, not actually that long, but I once ran up a $100 AOL dial-up bill, and I can imitate the sound of a modem.) I have done my turn on Twitter, and Livejournal, and Facebook, and tumblr, and ohmygawd I remember myspace. But blogging with the intent to communicate is a new thing I’m still trying to get the hang of.
So when a friend pointed me to Single Dad Laughing’s “100 things I Never Expected to Learn Blogging” I pounced on it, because I have yet to meet a SDL post that I didn’t like. And then, as I read it, I realized some of the concepts behind the points on the list are applicable to all writing. All forms of publishing or broadcasting or idea-sharing. Not just blogging. And, as always, SDL has a helpful reminder to be nice to yourself as a content creator, such a novel idea! So it’s a nice handy list to have in mind.
It still gets down to an axiom preached by many people, lately most notably by Dean Winchester and Wil Wheaton: Don’t be a Dick. Especially not on the internet.