Monday, January 3, 2011

Why a blog?--Revisited

A few weeks ago I went to my second Writer's Cafe at the Westport Arts Center. I wanted to discuss blogging--specifically the notion that posting a blog is considered publishing. I said that blogging unlike traditional publishing does not have the step where someone besides the author deems the writing "worthy." I also talked about how excited I was to get my first comment (that wasn't from my husband.)

Maybe I didn't articulate my point very well because the conversation moved into what I thought was a snobbish dismissal of bloggers that Very Important Writers at the Writer's Cafe were too busy to read. Apparently these bloggers had nothing of interest to say to the Very Important Writers.

At the end of the hour, one woman told me that I had to decide what I wanted my blog to be. I just stared at her. I thought she was presumptuous and pretentious; she probably thought she was gracious.

Obviously this discussion has been on my mind otherwise I wouldn't bother to write about it now. I've written about my decision to blog a few times here http://lynnecoll.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-blog-i-cant-resist-answering-why-no_23.html and here http://lynnecoll.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-blog-part-two.html. Basically I am blogging because I want to write more and I want to write somewhere besides my daily journals. For the most part, the blogging is working for me. I also found that I enjoy reading blogs even if the authors aren't famous or otherwise very important writers. Maybe other bloggers feel the same about me.

I didn't start this blog with a narrow focus. I don't want to limit my potential topics; I want to write about whatever I want to write about. So if I write too much about Spike for Very Important Writers' liking, then they don't have to read my posts.

It's that simple.

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