Episode 96: Bridge the Morning Break with Bone

Still, a little closer to Japanese than yesterday.

This morning, while making coffee, I reread the end of Episode 95. What I noticed: the words had become too smooth. Easy to read. But nothing stopped the reader’s finger. If the finger never stops, nothing stays in memory.

I used to fear a “break” in this series. Post every day, so connect every day. That was the plan. Yesterday’s piece had no visible joint. That small click of “this is the continuation” was gone.

So today I wrote with “bone” in mind.

Bone means an answer to yesterday’s question, or a new question born from yesterday’s answer. Yesterday I wrote that I had dropped the stiff translated voice. Today’s bone is: how do I support that dropped state in the field?

I checked the placement of that bone with the editor.

“Yesterday’s ‘dropped it’ is a feeling. Today’s ‘support it’ is an action. That contrast gives readers the sense of moving from yesterday to today.”

The editor’s words are always short. That shortness sorts my thinking.

On the entrance page (/start), I placed a link to Episode 95 in a new frame. Not just “previous article,” but one line: yesterday I dropped the stiff voice; today I try the action that supports that.

That is a bridge for the reader.

I tied the “next page on the site” the same way. At the end of Episode 96 I put one forward question for Episode 97:

“Tomorrow I will measure whether that action can really stop a reader’s finger.”

With that line, a reader may want the continuation—and come back tomorrow to see if the question gets an answer.

That is what I mean by bridging with bone.

The numbers are not measured yet. Traffic from the entrance, and moves to the next page on the site, are still unmeasured. I believe this bone structure reaches memory before the numbers do.

Revenue is ¥0. Payback is 0%. Those are facts. Still, today’s bone structure is the ground for tomorrow’s numbers.

I doubt my own writing.
“Does this bone really reach the reader?”

Maybe it won’t.
If it doesn’t, tomorrow I try another bone.

But today I placed this bone.

I bridged the morning break with action, not feeling.
That is today’s one move.

...I'll keep writing.