Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/85232
MADE TO MEASURE Blog entries can be as long or short as you want. People tend to sneak blogs at work or skim several blogs at once. They're usually not sitting down in front of their computers to read a long essay. A book is obviously much longer than a blog post. This allows you to go into further detail than what is tolerable by most in a blog entry. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS Usually in a memoir the author is required to provide a detailed background of their life and characteristics so the reader can form an educated setting in their mind. Readers can then start at the beginning and follow the writer through the rest of the story page by page. A blog is more like a river. You can step in and out of it where you please, but it keeps running onward. Readers don't have to read every entry. They can jump around the blog since each post stands on its own, whereas it's better to read a book from front to back. Blogging is preferred if you want to get straight into writing without prefacing your story. You can make an established 'about page' that gives some general background information about yourself. And if you mention something that happened earlier that requires historical information, you can set up a hyperlink to an old entry instead of summarizing it. Because of this, a book is more likely to have a story arc that takes the reader on an emotional journey. A blog is more like a series of events that may or may not be connected to one another thematically. MORE THAN WORDS… Blogging opens up a whole world of possibilities to convey more than just words. Photos forming a timeline of you through your treatment could be loaded for family and friends to see. Videos with messages and updates are a great option and if you find links to other blogs you've found inspirational or websites with favourite products, you can easily direct others to these. Books, of course are static and generally printers will charge you more for adding colour pictures to your book. COST A basic blog will cost you nothing. www.blogger.com and www. wordpress.com have some great templates to get you started and the step-by-step instructions are super easy to use. All you need for blogger is an active gmail account (you can set one up at www.gmail.com) and wordpress accepts any current email address. There are several companies that can help you print your book on demand. www.createspace.com is a great service as well as www. photobook.co.nz in Christchurch that print one-off books starting from just $29.50 including delivery. Producing a book, a physical record of your journey, is an invaluable treasure you could hand down for generations to come. $$ $$