My photography has always had one thing going for it – (and one thing only) – I am often in the right place at the right time.

Hank the cat takes part in alpaca birth

It’s not too hard to catch up on words for the websites I keep updated. But, as would be expected, nothing beats being on hand for photos.

Just ask the travel editors who have made do with my photos for years. Even I couldn’t flub up images of cycling in fall foliage in New England, century-old boots from the Gold Rush atop the rugged Chilkoot Pass, or Stacy Allison’s mile-wide smile as she descended to base camp as the first American woman to summit Mount Everest.

Vet kisses alpaca in checkup

Fortunately, one of the sites I keep up is Barnstorm Farm, the alpaca ranch where I live. Thus I was on hand to catch the delight of winning the first blue ribbon; the cat joining the warmth and affection of an alpaca birthing, and a cherished moment when a young vet giving a “well baby” check to a new cria spontaneously threw in a free kiss.
There is one flaw to this work pattern that I’ve just discovered. While inside writing this entry, I missed the first alpaca birth of the season – 20 feet from my window.

Molly Martin and I took our blog-and-pony show on the road recently with two goals and a bonus:

• To show writing classes and business groups how writing for the web differs from other writing
• To show creative non-fiction classes the places for good narrative on the web
• And the bonus: Helping our many former journalist friends stay relevant as teachers

Molly is one of my business partners at First and Union.com.  The first time we spoke to a writing class together was in 1993. Back then we talked about writing in narrative form, using our then-recent story of coming to blows while exploring boxing as a new fitness craze for women.

Now that we’ve converted to web writers, we are ever mindful that most readers scan pages quickly, using headlines, bolded phrases and bullet points to find what they need to click deeper. We talked about the why and how people scan:

• Tired eyes
• Impatience
• Information foraging
• The user’s need to feel active

And that how, as writers, we had to accept the differences or get out of the kitchen, which leads me to more bullet points. Among the ways we adapt is to:

• Get to the core point quickly
• Try to get people to take action by understanding what they want to do and what we want them to do

But longer-form writing also has its place when users get ready to settle down and read. Adding narrative to bios or company histories adds depth and understanding. Compelling and useful content presented in story form brings existing users back and encourages new users who are drawn to links.

For examples, we pointed to one of our sites Tales of the Farm and to this nicely narrated blog entry on Google’s very deliberate process of adding or subtracting a single word on their home page.

Active writer friends point to another bonus: Online magazine editors today find not only story ideas they’d like to expand by trolling favorite blogs, but also the writer − a built-in benefit for both.