License To Blog

Anyone who plans to click the publish button with regularity should read Rebecca Blood's book, The Weblog Handbook. Dr. Weinberger captures it in his jacket quote: "[N]ot just a How-to but also a What-to, Why-to and a So-what..." I started reading last night, and now Chapter 1's poor pages are all folded down and marked up so I can come back to the many pearls. Here are some:

The very best weblogs, in my opinion, are designed to accommodate unexpected turns, to allow for a little experimentation. ...

When a weblogger and his readers share a point of view, a weblog constantly points its readers to items they didn't know they wanted to see. ...

Though he knows his audience will read and make their own evaluation, the weblogger will discover that he conveys his point of view in even the few words of his description. With each choice, the weblogger learns the power of a single word to affect the perception of his readers. ...

Sure, you can swerve onto the freeway without driver's training, but it's not the greatest idea - you could do unnecessary harm to yourself and others. From the little I've read of Rebecca's book (and I can't wait to finish it), an alternate title could be "Blogger's Ed."