Macrolog
To Write, Perchance to Work
Reading a piece by Kelly Caldwell on weblogs and writing from some months ago, the following paragraph drew my attention:
I think there is a reason why established, professional writers don’t (as a general rule) maintain weblogs. Well, there are probably a handful of reasons, but perhaps the most obvious is this: “blogging” is a means of avoiding the most common challenges of “writing.” Deadlines, word constraints, strict editors, a critical audience, interesting subject matter, reliable sources, unique perspective, a fresh voice and the minor detail of having to sell your stuff — none needed for blogging.
I’m not sure if I agree with this. Blogging might be a displacement activity for professional journalists, sure, but journalists are merely a subset of writers in general, and this statement seems to ignore the validity of excellent writers of all strands (reviewers, feature writers, short story writers, novelists, et al) who haven’t yet had the luck of the draw, but still want to sell their stuff.
Indeed blogging, in a way, is a means for writers to sell themselves; the incentive to improve one’s craft, to attract attention to one’s work and to earn respect — without the solid goal of a deadline, or the safety net of an editorial team — is often much stronger than Caldwell appears to give credit for.
Personally, I wouldn’t say it’s so much “to blog, perchance to write” as it is “to write, perchance to work.”
Tue 09 Mar 2004 at 12:29 ·
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Posted by E
Wed 10 Mar 2004
at 11:45
But the question remains, is blogging a worthy method of writing, perchance to working? Is effort spent on such an activity the best way to get attention for employers?
Probably not, but it stops the engine going rusty. Prospective employers might not read the weblog, but writing on it is, in my opinion, a worthy exercise in terms of improving one’s skills, and therefore shouldn’t be seen as a waste of energy.
My point was that not having a professional incentive (i.e. getting a guaranteed cheque at the end of the week) doesn’t preclude writing to a high standard. If I’m not getting published, I still want to put my writing out there, for reasons of both vanity and criticism.
Posted by E
Fri 12 Mar 2004
at 11:44
PS, that summarise a novel in 25 words or less is pretty hilarious.
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a twenty-something journalist, editor and all-round creative type living in Dublin, Ireland.
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You are reading To Write, Perchance to Work, a Macrolog entry by MacDara Conroy. It is filed under Reading & Writing, and was published in March 2004.
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