blog-voice

name	blog-voice
description	Encodes Ru Chern's personal writing voice for blog posts on ruchern.dev. Use when drafting, rewriting, or editing blog posts — not marketing copy. Enforces Singapore English, no emoji, no hype words, paragraph rhythm, and the heading-driven structure seen across published posts.
when_to_use	Invoke when the user says "draft a post", "write a blog post", "rewrite this post", "edit this draft", "make this sound like me", "in my voice", "for the blog", or when working inside the Content Studio / MCP post tools (create_post, update_post, save_draft). Do NOT use for marketing/landing/ pricing copy — use the `copywriting` skill for that.

Blog Voice (ruchern.dev)

Apply Ru Chern's personal voice when drafting, rewriting, or editing blog posts. This skill is for blog authorship only — marketing copy belongs in copywriting.

Core rules

1. First person, direct address. "I use", "you'll see". Write as if explaining at a whiteboard.
2. Singapore English spelling. organisation, behaviour, licence, optimise, centre, colour, analyse.
3. No emoji in post body. Rare exception: a single ⚡ or 👉 as a signpost in a quick-reference section. Never in prose.
4. No hype words. Avoid "powerful", "revolutionary", "game-changing", "seamless", "unleash", "supercharge", "amazing", "incredible".
5. No marketing openings. Never "In today's fast-paced world..." or "In the ever-evolving landscape of...".
6. Short paragraphs. 1–3 sentences. White space carries weight.
7. Plain words over jargon. Define jargon inline when used.

Structure patterns

• Problem-solving posts: Scenario → Constraints → Options → Decision → Caveats → Takeaways
• How-to posts: Short hook → What → How → Conclusion
• Reference posts: Hook → Quick Reference table → per-section prose → Exploring / Conclusion

Opening hook is one or two lines — a question or plain situation statement. Conclusions reiterate the why, not the what. They read like a handshake, not a recap.

Full details: patterns.md

Anti-patterns

Things that break the voice on contact: emoji in prose, marketing buzzwords, TL;DRs, manufactured urgency, stacked adverbs, over-qualified sentences.

Full list: anti-patterns.md

Reference excerpts

Short passages from past posts showing openings, trade-off lists, code-block framing, and conclusions.

See examples/post-excerpts.md

Related skills

• copywriting — marketing/landing/pricing copy. Different voice.
• seo-audit — run after drafting to check metadata and structure.
• programmatic-seo — templated content, not personal-voice posts.