I bet no-one other than Alison and Lou expected that.
Since some of the regular daily post writers have decided they need a break to re-vitalise their creative juices people like me have inherited the job temporarily. Normally Lou does Sunday but she is at Spa with a group from sidepodcast so she volunteered me to write it.
Now I have only ever written one daily post but I thought I would take up Mr C’s suggestion and talk you through the process of writing a daily post anyway. I think the first thing you need to do is hook people by having an interesting or unusual first line. Christine does that by coming up with some fabulous titles and in the only daily I have written so far I quoted Descartes and blamed Lou and this time I resorted to a picture of the Bing duck. Whatever you decide to do make the first thing you say interesting.
Now we have the audience hooked we need to provide a few links which bring interesting items to the attention of people who may have missed them and to provide fodder to kick start the comments. One thing sidepodcast loves is plugs. Plugology has been turned into an artform by Alex Andronov and a good way to fill out your daily is to plug articles written by commentators and other bloggers. The first plug should go to Alex’s own Giggles Radio show which reaches the end of the alphabet today with the X, Y and Z show. The show starts at 4pm and you don’t even have to leave sidepodcast to see it.
Of course this whole weekend has been about Spa and the sidepodcasters in Belgium have been having a great time since they arrived in the country and have been keeping us informed and entertained with comments and tweets. Mr C has made our life easier by giving us two different ways to monitor their tweets. The race should be interesting because in addition to the vagaries of the Belgian weather the grid is pretty mixed up. And of course the race is on the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit which is the antithesis of anything Herman Tilke ever produced.
When the race starts James’s poll on who will win the championship this season will close so don’t miss your chance to vote for your favourite.
Before we get to the Belgian grand prix we have what Leigh promises us will be the best oval race of the IRL season. The IRL is clearly following the FIA’s modus operandi as this is the last race at Chicagoland as it has been dropped for next season. There will be a live commenting thread for the race which can be watched on a free worldwide stream supplied by the IRL. Imagine something like that in F1.
Once you have written your intro complete with hook and have sprinkled your post with links and pluggage you should finish your post with a question which people can reply to and so start the conversation in the comments.
Now that I have told you the easy way to write a daily post there is no reason for everyone not to have a go at writing one. If you are too shy to volunteer yourself I am happy to save you the embarrassment and volunteer you myself. I am looking at you Bassano.
So who fancies writing a daily post? Is there anything I have missed in my explanation or do you think you could write a daily post in an entirely different way? There is no need to stick to the established formula because after all it is your post.