The stats on my personal blog show that the most viewed posts are my weekly ones where I publish photos that I took during the week with a quote. The themes vary based on activities – vacation, the puppy, my kids, hiking but they generally are the fruits of enjoying life. These posts are short and sweet.
But the stats also show that my longer form posts (500 word-ish) that I publish three times a week get the most comments. Those posts are most story-telling with a little philosophizing thrown in. Generally, they are about how to get my head and heart aligned so that I can enjoy the life captured in those photos.
I’ve read and heard a lot of people discussing whether our attention spans are shrinking – whether we only want to click “like” and we don’t want to be forced to think.
Here’s my take on it – albeit it is only anecdotal with a splash of data thrown in for the appearance of something scientific. I think we’re here to connect. To the degree that a pretty photo is nice, great. But we’re hungry, to some degree, for the insights that leave us thinking about our own lives and growth. And those insights sometime can be garnered in one line, but most make us work for them.
The photo posts are like candy – sweet and easy to consume. The story-telling posts are like protein – they require a little chewing to take them in, but they stay with us for a while.
Who doesn’t like pictures of sunrises, puppies and kids? But as writers, we know we have to dig deep to share something meaningful. The bridge between us is built on words. It may be long or short, and not everyone will want to cross, but we have to make it substantial enough to bear weight so that people can get to the other side.
I’ve published a companion post on my personal blog about learning through story-telling: The Power of Stories
Please check out these other items of interest:
More about Wynne Leon and her story-telling journey
Workshop about creativity jump start that I delivered with Dr. Vicki Atkinson
Speaking and workshops on leadership through creativity to build resilient teams
Podcast about the how and why of creativity
Articles and corporate creativity resources
Corporate evaluate your team needs for creativity
Individual creativity survey for individuals
My book about my journey to find what fueled my dad’s indelible spark and twinkle can be found on Amazon: Finding My Father’s Faith.
You can find me on Instagram and Twitter @wynneleon
(featured photo from Pexels)