Catching Idle Butterflies

Intimidations of WDC

After a month of procrastinating from signing up with writing.com, I gained the courage (though with much heart-pounding) to add something to my portfolio. I stared at that "Create an Item" screen for about 10 minutes, dumbfounded.

It not only asked for a title, but a description no longer than 90 characters.

They may have well asked me to build a fortress in 10 days with only a hammer and chisel.

I'm a detail person. I have a hard time answering a question or telling a story without tons of background. I keep thinking it won't make any sense unless I do.

Then there's the title itself. I can write a 100k word novel easier than I can write a title. Again, how do you break something that has so many words down to a one to ten word title and yet still describe the story?

Top that off with when I want to add a book to my portfolio, I have to keep the item’s intro down to 300 characters or fewer.

Talk about intimidating!

With 103 items now in my portfolio, I’ve discovered the brilliance of why the SM and SMs set this site up the way they did. It forces me to be concise in my introductions, something editors and agents love when they receive query letters and proposals.

But even more important than concision is intrigue. While I may have the concision down, what about reader interest? Do my titles and descriptions titillate?

The three entries I wrote for "Invalid Item"  are perfect examples of what titillates and what yawns.

Note to scarlett_o_h: I do this not to plug my work, but as examples of what good and not so good titles and descriptions look like .

A Glance Back. A Glance Forward  (E) My opinion on this whole blogging thing. #1110047 by vivacious

Gimme That Check!  (E) What drives me to write, to publish? #1110139 by vivacious

I Am Blogger, Hear Me Grieve  (E) Strap on those goggles, folks, because do I have some grievances to spout into your eyes! #1110434 by vivacious

Guess which one has twice the number of views and 1½ times the reviews.

I’m learning not only the importance of titles and concise descriptions, but I’m getting better at coming up with interesting ones.

Just another great thing about writing.com.

P.S. Thank you all for your answer to yesterday's question! And if you haven't yet, I would still love to know how you came up with your handle.