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February 19, 2007 A Monday Mission 
Mad Hatter's post last week about blog formulae got me thinking about my own, which I think is less of a formula and more of a catalogue: 1: Listen up!/I have the solution to all the world's problems. (Ah, if only I were running things.) When it comes to style, I admit I have been contaminated by lifelong exposure to Strunk and White's and I have a difficult time using adjectives, adverbs, and words of more than two syllables unless they are unavoidable. Sadly, they are unavoidable often at the rate of several per sentence. (It's funny how that works out.) Within each category I probably have a recognizable formula. (Aww, Frances: several adorable anecdotes, complete with dialogue, concluded with a resounding endorsement of her WBPE, BN status. Listen Up!: Numbers, numbers, numbers, studies, more numbers, rhetorical flourishes, all in a tone of YOU IDIOTS. Lo: memory, memory, memory, epiphany, resolution.) It's easy to fall into a blogging rut because we're strapped for time and a formula lets us get more written faster. Which is great. Agatha Christie was a fabulous writer even if all of her mystery novels were identical, and Dooce has a large following even though her formula can practically be broken down by sentence. It's not bad to have a formula. But what if you don't want to have a formula? I don't. Not because they're bad (see above), but because it does get boring after a while, and it can be fun to stretch yourself and try something new. So I'm going to try something new. On (most) Mondays, I'm going to write a gimmicky blog post that absolutely has a formula, just not one I've used before. And if you'd like, you can play along too. (You don't have to post it today. Mostly because, despite my reputation, I don't have a secret bloggy police force that will come to your house and drag you away if it isn't posted by midnight.) Your mission for this Monday, should you choose to accept it, is to write a blog post in the form of a journal abstract. Mine will be up at noon. (For anyone who's never written a journal abstract, here are a few links that describe the basic structure: How to Write an Abstract--Phil Koopman Writing an Informative Abstract--American Sociological Association) Posted by Andrea at February 19, 2007 7:20 AM under Monday Mission EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments How this made me laugh, and laugh, and laugh. Do you read KC's blog? (Trying to remember what it's called, and failing - but her profile pic looks like Wonder Woman.) She writes such wonderful parodies of medical journals, and each month she posts an update on her daughter's milestones parodying a users' manual. Great stuff. I'm scared to try it, though - I think I suck at parody. Oh, and hear, hear on the Agatha Christie thing. Have you read any of her Mary Westmacott books? Posted by: bubandpie at February 19, 2007 8:23 AM
Nope--I hate to admit it, but once I worked my way through every Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple book in an eight-month period, I haven't been able to pick up an Agatha Christie book since. And that was almost twenty years ago. Posted by: Andrea at February 19, 2007 8:42 AM
Mmmmm, I don't know if I am up to this. Must think about it now. Posted by: Mad Hatter at February 19, 2007 12:38 PM
whoah. that's hard. hmmm. it would help if i had some cutting edge research agenda to spoof. and of course a spoof actually requires decent knowledge of the actual topic, so you can subvert it. my brain hurts already. ok. maybe not this week (when i think i might OD on guilt if I write a spoof of an abstract, when I *should* be writing a real one) but i'll stay tuned for future Monday Missions. Posted by: joy at February 19, 2007 3:15 PM
Hee hee hee! I did it and it was so much fun! (It definitely helped to read yours first.) Posted by: bubandpie at February 19, 2007 4:28 PM
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