Last night my neighbor blew the snow out of the driveway, for which I was grateful. Tonight I did it again, because it had to be done again. Consumer report: Tonight’s snow was about the consistency of flour, and pleasantly loose to blow (no jams), although it tended to come back at you when you blew it into the wind.

(On tonight’s menu, sweet rolls baked from Snowblower Flour, with Snowblower Jam filling.)



Today is apparently National Link to Roy Jacobsen Day. I was amused by the picture Roy posted here, giving a graphic example of what editing is all about. Also what news writing is all about, by the way.

Long ago, the journalism industry settled on an “upside down pyramid” form for news stories, and they use it to this day, because it works extremely well.

The formula is to put the most essential information, and only that, in the first paragraph. The heaviest stuff. The base of the upside-down pyramid. “Who, what, when, where and why?” You may very the order, but Paragraph One will contain all those things.

The next paragraph will include important further information that deepens the reader’s knowledge. (Like “how.”)

The next paragraph will include slightly less important information.

Each paragraph will be less important than the one before.

This accomplishes three things.

1.It starts the story with a bang.

2.It permits the reader who only has time to skim, to get the gist of the story at the top.

3.It permits the mighty editor (and this is far from the least of the reporter’s concerns) to trim the article from the bottom. If he needs to cut two paragraphs, he knows that cutting the last two will remove the two least important parts of the story.

I’m not a journalist, so I feel free to share these trade secrets with the general public.

Now you, too, can start a news blog.