It's not as easy as it looks.

It's interesting. I write novels full of descriptive language and thought-provoking relationships. I find creative ways to create tension, suspense, and other sorts of trouble. Then, the characters miraculously emerge victorious after solving all the problems and defeating evil once again.

All that being said, you might think writing a blog article would be a piece of cake. After all, it's not a book; it's just a short article. Right?

Not so much.

Writing a novel involves weaving a story around characters that carry that story forward through all its twists and turns to reach its ultimate conclusion. Writing a blog is something else altogether. Or is it?

A blog needs to focus on something that will catch the reader's interest right away by presenting a topic that offers quick information. While a novel comprises thousands of words on many pages, a blog is a small snippet of a concept that still needs a strong beginning, an interesting middle, and a neatly tied up ending.

So, where am I going with this? I'm illustrating the very answer to the implied question I posed at the start of this article: which is more difficult to write, a blog or a novel? The answer is actually quite simple. Neither.

Regardless of how many words I write from beginning to end, both types of writing require the same components. I still need to grab the reader's interest right up front. In the middle, I need to sprinkle some details that have a definite direction and create some anticipation. By the end of the piece, I should be able to wrap it all up in a neat little bow, so the reader doesn't feel I have left them hanging.

Then again, one major aim of a blog is for readers to be curious about the next article. So, I suppose blog articles really should create a bit of curiosity. (How's that for an oxymoron?)

There you have it. A question resulting in an answer that actually leads to another question, and if I've done it correctly, perhaps you'll come back to discover what conundrum I'll come up with next.

Til next time…