I planned to write about sodalite. This is beautiful mineral and I think I have a nice photo of sodalite grains. I sat down and started writing: Sodalite is one of feldspathoid minerals.
And then I thought. What on Earth is this sentence giving to someone who has no idea what is feldspathoid? Who would like to read on when your brain is blocked since the first sentence because of this… What was it again? Yes, feldspathoid.
I am well aware of it. I also feel it is difficult, sometimes impossible to keep focusing if you barely understand half of the words. It used to be extra difficult for me because lots of ordinary English words were unknown anyway. It is now getting better but I still often struggle with scientific texts. I admit I don’t like reading scientific papers because they are too dense and also because their subject is usually so ridiculously narrow and hence hard to understand.
Mineralogy is especially hard because most of the minerals make not much sense to most people, geologists included. Geologists have gone through petrology courses during their studies. I am pretty sure that most of them understood igneous petrology much better than metamorphic petrology. Why? I think it is mostly because there are so many obscure metamorphic minerals (staurolite, pumpellyite, kyanite, omphacite, tremolite, glaucophane, etc.) and reactions between them. And then comes thermodynamics. Let’s not touch that now. Igneous processes seem to be much simpler. Minerals in the Bowen reaction series are not too hard to memorize and crystallization as a process is generally understandable.
I am writing this because I have recently written a series of posts about minerals and I have not even really started yet. It is probably needless to say that these posts are not very popular. I knew it is going to be so before I even started writing them and I said to myself that I am ok with it because I have a long term vision. This is Sandatlas here. It means that this website in my imagination should in the long run become a reference material for those who are looking information about sand as a geological phenomenon/material.
But now I am thinking that maybe there is something that is easy to do but makes the articles more interesting and easier to read (in the long run as well). I would appreciate your comments or proposals, either public or private. Is there anything you would like me to write about or is there anything I should change?
Siim, I would encourage you should keep doing just what you’ve been doing; I think it’s been great so far. In my opinion, the best blog topics are those that the author is really interested in and wants to write about: the enthusiasm shows in the writing. If anybody doesn’t know what feldspathoid (or some other unfamiliar term) is, Wikipedia and Google are only a click away. Your topics are going to be more interesting to some readers than to others; nothing you can do about that. I read all your posts, regardless of the topic; I’ve learned new things from many of them. I don’t know how you could make your posts easier to read: they’re already well-written and easy to follow. Keep up the good work!
This has been an important question for me recently. When I started blogging, I was a recluse in my little corner of the blogosphere, writing just for myself. But then people started finding my posts and pretty soon I was watching the numbers. I would even be a little bothered when one of my masterpieces 🙂 wasn’t all that popular. Finally I had to decide what would drive my writing. At least for now, I write about things that interest me as I think that the pool of potential readers is so huge that there will always be other folks interested too. I mix articles that are heavy on the science side with some of a lighter or broader nature. You have done this in the past, Sandatlas, and to good effect. So I would recommend keeping the technical posts technical and mixing them with more general landscape and geology posts, if you enjoy that. Finally, I always read your posts and find them interesting and informative. Cheers!
Dense posts are perfect for me. If I come to a word or concept that I’m not yet familiar with I try to look it up. Bonus reading! What your first sentence gives to a reader who does not know what ‘feldspathoid minerals’ are is an opportunity to learn. A tasty post for me (an interested layperson) is one that keeps a focus on the concept or news item that it’s presenting and uses absolutely every technical term that is required. By looking up the terms with a context to slot the new knowledge into, I learn. Don’t worry too much about it. If the post is not directly about the grains feldspathoid nature then I skip the looking up and still, through exposure, I will be a little more prepared to grasp the concept when it is germane. You have a mix of posts that is exactly what I’m looking for. Some low hanging fruit, some I have to stretch for.
Keep it up – I’m not a geologist, but love what you’re writing, and unusual words etc. simply make me go look up more information. Write because you want to – don’t worry or wonder what we, the readers, are getting out of this, because in the end, you are sharing your passion and knowledge, and some of us are loving it!
Howard, I have also learned a lot from your comments. Biogenic grains and Photoshop for example. I am now using the method in PS (switched to newer version) you recommended. It really rocks and makes my work much easier, quicker and better. I plan to start writing more about the biogenic stuff. Your help would be very much needed there.
Hollis, this is good point to mix articles. I have done that but sometimes it is not easy. I may be so into something that all I want to write about is this narrow topic. So it is sometimes difficult but I try to keep it in mind and find ways to write different posts.
Gerard, you are a dream reader for every scientific blogger. Unfortunately I believe there are many others who are not that enthusiastic to learn about every new word they encounter.
Celia, this is well said and I’ll keep it in mind. Only way to make blogging satisfying long term endeavour is to write about what you like.
Thanks to you all. It is great to get such encouraging feedback.