RussHutto.com

Christiaan, from Mind The Beginner, sums it up very nicely in a comment on today’s 31 Days to Build A Better Blog Challenge (ProBlogger):

1. Write great and original content
2. Be ruthlessly honest in your content
3. Do this one post at a time

Something I’ve been working on here at RussHutto.com is a more focused approach to blogging. Gone are the days of silly “what I had for lunch” or random “goof off” posts. Though I enjoy that sort of thing, I decided several months ago to focus more on helping creative artists, worship leaders and worshipers hone their skills in planning, crafting, and sharing their expressions of worship.

Part of my desire in blogging is to help other creative artists/worshipers in the “sharing” part online. Blogging.

I’d like to add some more tips to the above list. In just a few short months I’ve seen an increase in traffic and individual response to my more focused effort. Some of the things that I’ve been doing include:

1. Making sure that in some shape form or fashion that someone can glean something from my blog.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that every individual post has something you can learn, but it does mean that my blogging efforts, be it posts, series, or even in just sharing some of my experiences week to week, contain something that you can hopefully take away as inspiration.

2. Gathering & sharing resources.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but some of my most successful blog posts are those in which I share resources. Not only do I help others’ get their resources out, but I also meet new people along the way who have resources that I can share at a later date. For example: I posted about Worship Leading Resources and within the hour there were 2 new comments thanking me for those resources which contained links to 2 more resources. Now I know that’s not a landslide of stats by any measure, but for me that’s success.

3. Networking.
It always seems to help to add a link here and there to other blogs who have content that enriches your post. Darren, over at ProBlogger, is doing an amazing series on how to become a better blogger.

There’s definitely more to just these few tips in creating a great blog post. The bottom line for me when writing a post is this question:

Would I want to read this if it were on someone else’s blog?

Join me and thousands of other bloggers from around the world starting April 6, 2009, for a month long “workshop” on better blogging hosted by ProBlogger.com

31 Days to Better Blogging

Part of the spring challenge over at Our Creative Community.

Carving Out Creativity

For me, creativity is something that doesn’t just happen. Oh, sure, I have those moments of inspiration or I get a great idea, but for the most part, my own creativity is something that needs to be shaped and honed.

Not too unlike a statue being chiseled out of stone or a figurine being whittled from wood.

See, I’m a creative type by nature. My family has “naturally” provided me with a knack for music and art. I guess you could say it’s in my genes.

However, my creative output doesn’t automatically match my creative nature.

I have to work at it.

I need discipline and accountability.

Disciplined Creativity

This year I’ve written more music than in any other period of my life. It’s not because I’ve become more creative, it’s because I’ve channeled my creativity into a disciplined approach at writing songs. One per week.

I’m also in an accountability group of photographers, writers, wongwriters, musicians, and other creative types over at Our Creative Community. It’s always such a great feeling to hear others in the group give feedback when I submit a song. It HELPS me want to churn out songs.

I struggle with structure. Not necessarily IN structure, but with establishing it for myself. I’m a pretty typical right-brained creative type. My office is a mess, though I know where everything is (contrary to what my neat wife says)! I procrastinate. I wing things A LOT!

However, give me parameters challenge me, give me a deadline, and I’ll crank em out. I actually thrive within structure. The problem is having the discipline to establish that structure for myself.

Enter Discipline.

Joining a group was the best thing that ever happened to me. Sharing my music on my blog keeps my friends and family in the loop and gives me a great opportunity not only to “give” my music to others, but to also “receive” all kinds of feedback from people from all over.

Carving Out Weekly Time

For me, I spend my day at least an hour off writing music. Sometimes it ends up being longer than that, but I commit to at least an hour. This happens once a week. Already this year, I’ve written more songs than in the last 5 years combined. Which is pretty amazing for this year, but pretty sad for the last 5.

Some weeks I feel totally unmotivated and the writing is more of an exercise not unlike the ones I used to do in college while studying Music Composition and Theory. Other weeks it seems like the ideas just roll in from minute one. Either way, I’m honing my skill as a songwriter.

Creativity Takes Work

Being creative doesn’t take work, but creativity as a whole does. Why? because just being creative doesn’t result in anything. Taking a creative idea and working on it until completion is good. Getting a ton of ideas because you’re a creative type but doing nothing with them is not so good.

Jeff over at consumingworship.org is giving away one brand-new, shiny, shrink-wrapped Crazy Love Study Resource DVD. This is a fantastic small group resource, and you can read [his] review of the product here.

This is a great resource by Francis Chan.

Make sure you head over to consumingworship.org and enter!

Song: How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin

Worship Ninjas: Mark Thomas (denverintranslation.com); Russ Hutto (russhutto.com)

Vid #1:

Mark breaks down this song and shows how he leads it from acoustic guitar. He mispronounces Russ’ last name since he’s never actually “heard” it pronounced live (only seen in the blogosphere), but after a throwing star contest in which Mark hits a dancing fruitfly at 600 yards, all is forgiven.

How Great Is Our God from Mark Thomas on Vimeo.

Vid #2:

Russ breaks down this song and shows how he accompanies the vocals with simple, straightforward chord shapes. At the throwing star contest he de-cigarettes a smoking camel at 400 yards, but it isn’t quite enough to win his family’s honor back.

How Great from Russ Hutto on Vimeo.

Tune in next time for more easy to follow song tips for Guitar and Keys.