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So, I blog. I don't really do it for publicity. I think that was my objective at first, but how disappointing and futile would that be? I do it for fun. I've put up a few comics, some book/movie reviews. Just stuff that interests me. I think my wife may be just about my only audience.
My question is this: How many people here blog, and why do you do it? Does anyone other than you read it?
And: Do you read the blogs of others and what are you looking for?
Me, I like to read blogs by writers that talk about the craft, how they write, what the process for them is, and how their life has changed. I'll stop reading a blog pretty quick if they only use it for publicity, like listing their awards and when the Dutch language version of their novel is coming out. Those things are fine to put there, but the majority should be a just a chat between an author and their fans.
By the way, I haven't read the books of any of the authors whose blogs I visit. I just really like what they write online. Someday I'll catch up on them, though. If I like their blogs so much, I'll probably like their novels.
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I blog, also irregularly. I do it for myself as well... I think my audience might be 5 people, all told. Some day I'll probably give it up, but for the time being, it's a fun diversion when I haven't forgotten to post in a week.
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I have a team blog with a friend. We write about anything and everything. It's called Thursday Night Gumbo. It's not really a writing blog -- though I do talk about that some. And in no way do I do it for "publicity" or "promotion." But I enjoy it.
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I'm thinking I'm going to have to start blogging again, just don't know what about yet. I had one a while back but deleted it - I felt like I was wasteing my time. But this thread has encouraged me to start again.
<have to rush out and start one so I can shamelessly plug it>
I also had a website all about my writing - that mysteriously dissapeared. I went to update it one day and it was gone. I assume I forgot to pay the hosting fee!
Also want to add: Been looking around some of the blogs you guys have mentioned here, and they're not bad at all.
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I've been kind of kicking around the idea, just to promote my fiction, but I'm not sure I have the time or energy to keep fresh new stuff on it all the time. I like the idea of team blog, though, and I have a writers group here in town that might be interested in taking turns with me.
Posts: 1304 | Registered: May 2007
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I blog, but my audience is my 3 sisters, and my mom if she can remember the address to ANY of our blogs so she can follow our blogrolls to each other. (imagine me rolling my eyes.)
It's 99% a mommy blog. I blog about cute stuff my kids say and do. It's a great place to store memories.
If ever this writing stuff goes anywhere, I'm going to have to start something separte for it, because my mommyblog is probably NOT what agents/publishers are looking for from a writer. (unless of course I manage to get published in the parenting non-fiction area first...)
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I blog infrequently, a token nod to establishing a "web presence", so that if I ever do get published and somebody actaully feels like looking me up, there'll be something there. I've a little about writing and SF&F, but more on a music festival I attended in late June with photos and a review. What little traffic I get, probably comes from Progressive Ears, a music site.
As far as blogs I read, occasionally I check out Eric James Stone and others who've attained to a measure of success or near-success. Also, I read a fellow Richmond aspiring writer(it's always nice to read of the struggles from another local). I used to read a blog from another local who edits a free local mag, usually for his comic observations, but I think he's through with blogging.
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I've thought about it...but the marketplace is as crowded as the slushpile. Right now my expressing my opinion is confined to (a) here, (b) making pithy comments at a political website, and (c) expressing myself to my fellow workers about the shortcomings of the job itself and various supervisors.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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i just wright what pops into my twisted little mind first then forget later what i was writing about. well it is 1545Z or 2015 local and i am tired. Rommel Fenrir Wolf II
Posts: 856 | Registered: Nov 2006
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I don't blog so much as I keep an online journal, the difference being primarily target audience and approach. When I have some fiction selling, or ready to be sold, I might turn my LiveJournal into a friends-only endeavor and step into the proper blogosphere with a mind for creating content as opposed to me-centric entries that help my friends and I keep in touch. As it stands now, I don't have a lot to say that can't be said more casually on LJ, or discussed fruitfully here.
As for other blogs, I read agent blogs a fair bit. In my bookmarks folder I find: Miss Snark, Pub Rants, The Rejecter, and The Slush Pile Diva.
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Yeah, I blog. I don't really know what I'm doing, so I just whine, rant, or babble there. And I may have a following of one.
Posts: 3687 | Registered: Jan 2007
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I blogged for about a year, then I got out of the habit around January. It was fun and therapeutic, but nothing professional. Mostly, I just whined about how I didn't write that day, or how I was so busy, etc.
Posts: 11 | Registered: Aug 2007
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It's always seemed to me that blogging would be somewhat cathartic. My primary concern is that you can easilly share a bit more of yourself than intended and once you throw something out there, well it's out there.
I was toying with the idea of blogging juxtaposed with a character like...nm, think I'll keep that to myself til I've explored it more :-P
I'd be interested in how many of you found the act of blogging to be carthatic/therapeutic.
I find alot of people have a vein of voyeurism and it is often very illuminating to look into someone elses head. The anonymous nature of the net seems conducive to satisfying both the voyeuristic and exhibitionist needs of individuals.
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Yes, I have an "About the Author" blog ( http://deborahkwhite.blogspot.com/ ) that I set up so that I'd have a place for my fans to ask me questions after I get my novel published. Yes, I'm optimistic. I also set up a blog for people who want me to critique their first 13, synopsis, etc., or ask writing questions. It's Write About Everything http://writesabouteverything.blogspot.com .
I've been reading through the blogs of the agents who handle fantasy to learn about the industry and to see which ones I might like to work with. Blogs that I read regularly just because they're great are:
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I have a library work related blog. I do it anonymously and am freaked out that I have at least 100 dedicated readers. Librarians seem to have taken to blogs like ducks to water. They've even made a word up for our community: the biblioblogosphere. Seriously, that's the word we use. It sort of rolls off the tongue.
I rant about the day job, snark, tell funny stories. Nothing scholarly. It seems to work. I started the blog because I didn't want to endlessly bore friends and family about the stuff I sometimes deal with.
Normal blogs start off with no audience. It takes regular updating, link love, random searches, and the blogger commenting on other blogs to get readers. At least that's what I've found.
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I do all my work on bulletin boards like this. I have not come up with an advantage a blog has over the boards, other than the boards are usually operated by someone else and they could shut it down at a whim. I spread my stuff out over some six boards, so when one or two die out, not all of it is lost. Posts: 1008 | Registered: Feb 2006
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(unless of course I manage to get published in the parenting non-fiction area first...)
