A very successful blogger I read says “always write something that’s useful.” Her posts are often of the “How To” variety. A friend told me the other day a recent post was too long. “I started reading it,” he said, “and then I scrolled down, down, down.” Another requested more pictures. Obviously no point in trying to please everyone, but I thought I could experiment with writing a shortish “How To” post.

Then I wondered what the hell do I know “how to” that others may not? I came up with a few things I don’t normally screw up, but then thought, what percentage of people would care? And do I really want to even flirt with a form that could be grouped together with the self-help writing that I almost always find complete bullshit because the authors dumb down complex phenomena.

Then I worked through those dilemmas and started in on a “How To” post, but I got hung up on qualifiers or caveats.

And then I thought, since I’m more comfortable with good questions than simple answers, maybe I’m just not cut out for “How To” writing. But there’s some evidence to the contrary in the archives, some decent posts (I think) about how to create an active lifestyle, how to cycle long distances, and how to choose a college.

It will never be a natural form of writing for me, but I’ll try again, sometime soon.