If you walk away with one thing today, let it be this message, shared by Michelle Davidson Argyle from her publishers at Rhemalda:
Your writing is not going to fail or succeed because of your blog.
I've been involved in online communities since before forums and message boards, let alone blogs, Facebook, or twitter. Since before AIM, ICQ, or even IRC. I started interacting with others on bulletin boards. I had a 300/1200 baud external modem that I used to dial in to BBS's that were mostly run out of guys' houses. This wasn't internet. This wasn't on-line. This was me downloading message content and running applications on a computer in a guy's house, and he was downloading messages and content from a bigger computer in someone else's house. I met some really great people, made come good connections, learned some things, developed some interests. The next step, once I got internet e-mail (still pre- most of those other things I mentioned) was e-mail list serves. I met more people, developed some more interests.
This is the background I bring to social media. I used it to make a few friends, exchange ideas, engage in sometimes witty banter, and create opportunities. At least one internship and my entire masters thesis research project are direct results of my use of these tools.
While I know that in the modern world, an active blog and Twitter presence may help my cause in advancing my professional presence, I don't blog to make myself a successful writer in any way.
Then why do I blog?
One look at the comments on yesterday's blog post shows one main reason. I threw up a post about a personal reflection, and several of you chimed in with your own thoughts on the topic. I love that. It's the main reason I blog. Your comments. The exchange of ideas. The interaction. That's my the my thing.
Another reason I blog and Twitter is this sequence:
I read Misha Gerricke's post on South African braai food.
And then this takes place on Twitter:
CNNevets
Read this if you're hungry or prepared to be! @MishaMFB TCoML: South African food, Part 1 http://bit.ly/qYGvXe
JakeHenegan
My country's food.RT @cnnevets Read this if you're hungry or prepared to be! @MishaMFB TCoML: South African food, Part 1 bit.ly/qYGvXe
MishaMFB
@JakeHenegan @cnnevets Another South African. Hello! ;-)
about 10 hours ago via web in reply to JakeHenegan
JakeHenegan
@MishaMFB @cnnevets Another South African that writes fantasy. *follows*
about 5 hours ago via web in reply to MishaMFB
Voila. Networking. I love this stuff.
That's it. I just wanted to share my silly excitement. No real moral. If you want a moral, go back up to the top and re-read the tip I opened with. But for me the tip is incidental.
.Nevets.
Great insight Nevets. I always thought that I only had something to write because I was out living life. If I wasn't out living life then I had nothing to write. That what this post sounds like to me; the goals are incidentals. Living, interacting, and conversing is the fabric (if that makes any sense). Good read!
ReplyDeleteI blog for the exact same reasons you do. I started blogging when I had nothing to promote and just wanted to connect with other writers going through what I was going through. I've met some good people through the blog world and my favorite part about blogging will always be the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Nevets. It's the exchange of ideas, the debates etc that make blogging fun. Also, writing is a lonely business, and communicating with other writers (and non-writers) is reassuring in an odd kind of way!
ReplyDeleteAnd I found someone to share my birthday with!
I'm pretty sure I started blogging because I had the idea in my head that if you're a new author, you have to blog. But by now, that's not the reason I go on.
ReplyDeleteLivia Blackburne had a post on a similar subject and she mentioned that author blogs are more like a perpetual writer's conference than platform building. This is so true, and that's what makes this whole blogging thing so much fun.
@Scott - Thanks! I think that's a great way of putting it!
ReplyDelete@Jennifer - Cool! I think I've found that I gravitate more toward keeping up with blogs written from this kind of mindset more than the more traditional platform-building writer's blog.
@Frances - I think that's a great additional point. One of the reasons that this networking and connecting is important is because the writing thing itself is isolated.
And yay for our birthday! :)
@Jake - haha I love that. I haven't been to a writing conference in close to twenty years (went as a young teen), but I've gone to other professional conferences in the mean time, and it's true. Blogging can often feel like that.
Yeah! I love those special moments. I started blogging because I heard (correctly, it turns out) that platform helps writers get published.
ReplyDeleteBut then I met people like you and I realized what it really meant to be part of an online community.
:-)
Social networking is important, but it is not what will sell my book, no way. At least if that were the case, I would honestly give up writing as a professional author altogether. The huge things that sell books: Writing and selling a good book and then writing and selling another good book. Period. Everything else is just piled on top of another called marketing and it pushes the book out there, but does not sell it by any means. Word of mouth sells it. Huge marketing dollars by huge publishers get more visibility and faster sell rates. Blogging? That's for me to deal with everything else and to connect to others and make friends. Love it. :)
ReplyDelete