I hate the word content. And as an author, I’m not really allowed to hate words because I need all of them.
But you’re going to make a blog.
(…and I don’t want you to make a blog that’s awful.)
So maybe I should say I hate the way we use the word content. I’d rather be content with using it for contentment sake than fill my life with content. Said in another way, I’d rather contain things that satisfy rather than filling my blog with everything it could possibly contain.
Content, as used of websites and whatnot, came into vogue through the book Content Strategy for the Web. And I’m torn because on the one hand, anyone who plans on writing for a website should know about the stuff in that book — I wouldn’t have wrote the last post about wonder if I didn’t really think that I could learn from people with whom I disagree on most things. There’s great stuff in there, don’t get me wrong, and I’m grateful for my friend Matt Spiel for showing it to me years ago when I first started copywriting.
But I don’t write copy anymore.
And I don’t think of websites as having content.
Because content is what General Mills puts into their shitty cereals.
Content is what a crappy bowl of ramen has.
Content is what hospital techs test your fecal matter for.
I’m interested in making substance. See because substance assumes a particular kind of matter with uniform principles whereas content assumes any old thing. Substance assumes tangible, solid presence whereas content simply concerns itself with volume. Substance assumes dependability, validity, and importance — the essence of a thing combined with its form — whereas content distinguishes itself from form and style. A wine cask filled with substance might have a great chianti inside that would please even the cooper — it’s filled with the very wine-ness it was intended for. A wine cask filled with content likely has vinegar within — it’s filled with any old bitter liquid with acidic and alcoholic properties.
So when you set down to write your blog and you’ve figured out your intent — your hope to help and give to others — then you need to think of the deep substantial pieces you can give them rather than simply filler.
A bad blog fills space and time.
A great one fills hearts and minds.
You’re so welcome!