Discussions
Writer first, blogger second?
Posted by Sebastyne • 1/21/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: author, Creative, writer, writing
I think we're all writers here, right? You can't be a blogger and not be a writer. However, some of us have been writers long before blogging even existed. And I'm not talking about getting paid for it either. Someone who writes for the sake of writing, something that is so embedded in us, that we cannot utter the words "no I'm not really a writer" without feeling odd about it.
If you are one of those people who are writer first and foremost, and a blogger because it provides the medium for your writing, tell us about your writing style. Are you dreamy? Poetic? Funny? Inspiring? Do tell!
As for myself, I recently summed it up: I am an opinionated creative topical non-fiction writer using a twist of humour. And my blog locates at www.sebastyne.net
User Comments
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Hmmm... I'm not sure what kind of writer I am, as I tend to write all kinds of stuff. There's the writing I do for Trottersville (the posts and the strips), but I have also written one short story recently (it's crap), and I write a lot of poetry (which I may be getting better at).
I'm not a very pragmatic person - my thoughts are far too elliptical and "out there" for that. My mind likes to orbit a point without ever having to arrive at it - the journey's the thing. My mind also likes creating associations between things that aren't normally associated, and it likes to mull over possibilities and impossibilities, swapping one for the other.
I think I've just said a lot without really answering the question.
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I am a convenience store owner first and foremost. Writing is something I do only to fight off boredom during the lull between the midday housewife traffic and the afterschool shoplifting crowd. Having said that, I believe I am poignant and often wry. -
Sebastyne,
I liked your blog! I too am a writer first and have been since before blogs existed. The other women on my blog also write as well. We all work or have worked in different careers which require us to write.-
I liked yours too! I'll have to keep an eye on it.
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Not a writer, and no desire to be one. I read several writers, as a matter of fact when I first started blogging most of the people I read were writers, or poets. I miss the time when they were the most pervasive bloggers out there. Things seemed more creative then, more outside the box.-
I'm curious, cooper, when this "then" was. I have been blogging only since July, and I haven't found this world of writers and poets. They must have been suffocated by this second-party dreck that I have to wade through to find something of substance. By how far did my plunge miss the eventual boat, I wonder? I am heartened, however, by the level of discourse of this discussion to think that perhaps all is not lost underfoot of the hordes. I have a question: Is it important to be read outside the so-called blogosphere?
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I can't agree that everyone who is a blogger is a writer. I have a difficult time finding writing in a blogger community. I am loathe to talk or write about writing, either, because it dissipates creativity and makes me self-conscious of my writing, so I won't pin a style to my shirt. Most blogs I've read are simply forums of self-important people who see an easy way to share the world's stage with people with something to say, believing that being on the same rostrum makes them just as necessary, despite the comparative gap in articulative ability. If I were more arrogant, I suppose I'd place myself above them, but that's for readers to decide. I am very grateful for this medium of expression and doubt that I would otherwise be heard.
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Wow, do we ever think alike. I'm not a writer and have no desire to become one. I can write and I'm a communicator for sure but that does not make me a professional writer. I'm a blogger.
Like cooper I too remember when blogs were far more imaginative and creative. I do create my own contents, properly attribute all inclusions to their originators and do link back, but I notice how many blogging today don't. These days many create a blog comprised totally of material derived from 2nd and even 3rd party text and images, pimp it out for pennies by covering it with advertising, then proudly claim it as their own and call themselves writers -- give me a break!
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of course, you can be a blogger without writing,,,just copy-paste from other blogs:)) -
Yes, i'm definitely a writer and not a blogger. -
I take pride in attaching this label to myself! I fall under the category of a creatively poetic fiction writer. For years I wrote poems and short stories, but I never shared them with anyone outside my immediate circle of close friends and family members. I'm new to blogging and it's simply a wonderful means I use to showcase my writing as I find my voice. -
Wrote my first poem on the back of a matchbox. Since, have written for radio, tv, magazines, web sites and blogs. And I still write verses and concepts on little pieces of paper. I guess the medium is not the deciding factor, the concept is. Must admit, though, that blogging is real fun. -
If anyone asks me what kind of writer I am I have to be truthful and say a very good one. -
writer first... blogger by convenience of getting voice heard, to practice public writing and the art of letting go of ideas...
the blogger factor backfires on me occassionally because I don't like forcing out quantity over quality... but the nature of blogging relies on quantity over quality... still trying to figure that out. I prefer writing for myself and my muse than an audience who expects something/anything on a daily/weekly basis.-
I think that when you start valuing--or thinking you should value--quantity over quality is when you become more of a blogger than a writer. Don't blether--don't talk when you have nothing to say. I have passed on many blogs that simply droned on about the minutiae of their lives. I want the context: If the cleaning of your fingernails has no meaning to your emotional life, leave it out. I will wait for quality. If you write for yourself and your muse, you aren't writing for that audience that just wants something now. Quality writing attracts quality readers.
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@Box049
I agree with you. Brevity is key to attracting and retaining an interested readership. I have stopped reading "niche" blogs wherein the blogger is blathering on about their private life in blogs that are supposed to be dedicated to a limited range of subjects, that don't include their family news. IMO those who are doing that ought to consider having separate diary, journal, family life type blogs and leave that stuff out of their niche blogs.
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Yes, in order to be a blogger-one must be a writer first. -
I'm a writer first, blogger second. I have been writing for many years and blogging only about 8 months. -
I learned to write in elementary school and have been writing ever since. I have journals and journals of things I have written over time. -
i'm a writer first ... i would say that i'm a nonfiction writer, using writing as a medium to put forward my ideas and opinions about social and psychological issues, in an attempt to spread awareness about them. -
I was a writer before I became a blogger...but then, I don't think I can divorce the two. I write and what I write, I post on my blog. So, my writing and my blogging are linked together. -
Definitely a blogger, I would never even think to call myself a writer just because I have a blog. -
I'm a college English teacher and writer at heart. I use my blog as a way of making sure that I write regularly and keeping myself sane. I wrote mostly poetry, but also post the occassional rant or musing. -
I love to write, have been involved as a writer, editor, and web designer for several decades. I have finally admitted to myself that much as I might love to write a novel, the shorter 300-600 word essay is my true metier (to the extent that such a thing exists). I have a novel that has been rattling around in my head for over a decade and I may try once again to get into it, but my current web site combined with working full time plus other stuff has put time at a premium. So blogging it is, at least for the time being.-
Somewhere there may be a novel in me, too, but I find that in the time I've allotted myself and my attention span to write I can pull off a dense, little nugget that I can post and then build upon the next day. Last May, I started with an inspiration and a vague idea (but a few strict rules), and Friday finished a blog project that turned out to be over 60,000 words long of surprisingly consistent quality. I think blogging is a good place to find one's voice, for it can closely resemble the "workshop" atmosphere one finds in college writing classes.
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i feel you can't be a blogger in true unless you are a writer.... for doing something inspiration is required.. and writing gives that inspiration to do blogging... -
Not all bloggers are necessarily writers. Many are more like 'posters.' Me, I'm a writer, but I think I'm closer to being a deity. -
I live to write and I make my living writing for TV. My blog is written in support of a book of short stories that I hope my agent can one day sell. -
I like to think I'm a writer but used blogging to see if I got any feedback as an indication of whether people like my writing or not. -
How cool this topic has taken off. I've been thinking, that being a writer is something deeper than picking up a piece of paper and scribbling words on it. Writers have a deep understanding of language and a way with words. Anyone who has learned to write can put up a blog and start writing on it. Are they really writers, deep down? I think not necessarily. Some can't even put a coherent sentence together in their own native language, let alone express complex ideas in writing. To me a blogger and a writer are not synonymous. They can co-exist in one person, but they are not dependent of each other.
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I am a writer, but I do not want to pigeonhole myself in a certain type of style as I write more than just fiction. I can say that I am a stickler for flow. If my writing does not flow from the first word to the last without a hitch, then it's not good enough. That doesn't mean I like to write in a fixed meter, I just like to think of my writing as composing a song. You can have dynamics, and counterpoint, and all kind of other artistic things, but but if the song doesn't flow, it isn't right. That's the analogy I like to use to illustrate my writing.
As far as fiction goes, I don't like having an outline when I begin to write a story. I believe outlines and maps are contraining and do nothing but limit a person's creativity. A story should be organic. You may have a plot in mind or a place you would like the characters to go, but their reactions and interactions and developements should all be organic. You may have a path you want your characters to move upon, but you shouldn't force them down that path for the sake of keeping the path. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone, but I'm sure there are other writers with the same philosophy. -
I'm more an (non-english native) author than a writer in the sense that a writer seeks fame to satisfy his ego and so more self-centered than an author who writes about ideas.
Bloggers are mostly writing for egos, that's why the Blogsphere is rather useless noises though entertaining.-
And the pot called the kettle black...
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Unless you're primarily a writer and a blogger second. Most blogs are about a person - ego, as you say - or selling - ie making money. Rarely, blogs can be a way of letting good writing see the light of day. The novel here www.mortalhappiness.com has had a number of pre-publication awards here in the UK, but my agent doesn't like it and so isn't prepared to stick her neck out for it, which is her perogative. I'm a published author in two non-fiction genres but getting published is increasingly hard these days. Blogging is simply a way to get read, it's better to be read unpaid, than not be read at all
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Clicking on ads when you do not intend to purchase a product is called click fraud. Encouraging fraudulent clicks on ads is a breach of Google Adsense policies that will result in banning and blacklisting.
www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=48182 -
I wanted to let everyone know that I in no way intended to defraud Google...I'm really new to this. It truly was an honest mistake.
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Actually, it is entirely possible to be a blogger and not a writer. I know several folks who do photography blogs, or art blogs, instead of text or with just a little text.
For my own part, though, I'm a writer first. My style spans many formats and genres. I write fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; my main fields include speculative fiction, gender studies, and alternative spirituality. Those spread across different blogs:
The Wordsmith's Forge -- my writing in general, so all those topics; plus social & environmental issues, networking, and personal stuff
ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Hypatia's Hoard of Reviews -- book, music, & product reviews; mostly speculative fiction, Pagan nonfiction, a little gender studies stuff.
reviewarchive.iblog.my
Gaiatribe: Ideas for a Thinking Planet -- social & environmental issues, alternative religions, current events, green living
gaiatribe.geekuniversalis.com -
I agree... I've been writing since I was a child (mostly wrote poems as a kid). After school I started short stories and after college, I attempted writing novels.
Here is my hobby blog mitajain.wordpress.com/. I blog about my writings (novels, short stories, poetry) and paintings here -
Totally agree with your thoughts here. Writing has been around for ever, blogging - well just a nano-second!
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I write with wonder and passion, my writing is more of a child tryng to explore the world around it, than like someone who already knows much and intends to teach. The problem I need to work on is the apparent discontinuity between sentences and paragraphs, but I hope it doesn't blur the reader's view too much.
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