State of the Subtitles, State of the Blog

Words from the outside world. Free fiction. UFO: Stories Archive. Unidentified Funny Objects series.

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Short Version

Got rid of post subtitles. Will convey relevant info with longer post titles. Changed blog subtitle.

Long version – Posts

Post subtitles provide a sense of organization. I like organization. On the non-horse days, I want to warn folks who might not be interested in my latest graphic design attempts.

Had various post subtitles over the years, depending on subject.

Had settled on a set that worked. Horsekeeping & Riding for the horse posts. Photos, Words, & Images for the hon-horse days. Plus a few extra, e.g. Fit to Ride for Friday fitness posts.

Then Milton started driving. (Yay!)

That’s easy. Subtitle – Driving.

Okay, then what is long-lining? Not Riding. Not Driving. New category? Ground Work?

Thought about “Horse Training” as an umbrella category. Seemed pompous. I’ve used it before, but it felt wrong this time around. … uh … What about reducing the whole mess to Horse/Non-Horse?

Okay then. Photo post of Spotted on the Beach. Technically Spotted counts as Horse but the post was at heart a Non-Horse photography/travel post. [Spotted at Lake Ontario, Photos]

As for the Friday to Sunday off-topic/non-horse posts, do subtitles really help? Is a subtitle too late? By the time the reader gets to the subtitle, they may have taken the time to call up a post only to find they don’t want it.

Was it necessary? Used a new “Critter” subtitle for the first Jasmine & Rose post, but then had “Dog” in the title. Often do that for weekend posts, particularly fiction. Redundant. [Jasmine and Rose, Meet The New Dogs]

Pfffft. Ditched the whole thing. [Lake Ontario]

In sum. Removed post subtitles. Have titles do the heavy lifting,

Long Version – Blog

While I am dropping the post subtitles, I am keeping the blog subject schedule.

Monday to Thursday – Horses. First Thursday, State of the Now post.
Monday – Horsekeeping, because I do Monday posts the week before & these tend to be less time sensitive.
Tues & Wednesday – Rodney & Milton
Thursday – Other horses, lessons, dogs, horse hunt

Friday – Photography. First Friday, State of the Fitness post
Saturday – Words, alternating fiction & nonfiction. First Saturday, State of the Blog post. Fifth Saturday, F/NF crossover
Sunday – Images, graphic design, mostly lettering, with one non-lettering post each month.

[About]

I still felt the need to say something about that fact that non-horse posts occur three days out of seven. I don’t mind if horse bloggers include other parts of their lives. Other people might not feel the same way. Truth in Advertising.

What to use?

Old blog subtitle. Horses, Life, A Touch of Geek. Had since 2016. [Subtitle History]

Haven’t geeked out in a while. Not in a post, anyway.

Change to …

Horses Monday To Thursday, Other Stuff The Rest Of The Week

True. Other Stuff covers the geek thing.

Too long.

Horses Monday To Thursday, Other Stuff on Other Days

Still too long. Too much visual clutter.

Key concepts here are Horses & Other Stuff

Half Horses, Half Other Stuff

My grandmother thought “stuff” was a rude word. Not sure why. Maybe she knew the word I was bowlderizing in her presence.

Reduce down to the main points …

Horses and Other Interests. New blog subtitle as of 19 Dec.

Doesn’t sing. Does inform.

And that is how the subtitle sausage is made.

Archive [State of the Blog]

Onwards!
Katherine