He had some valid points, and got me thinking, so I decided to discuss the subject myself.  It might be that the discussion belongs on my writing LJ, but since I see it as involving all of you, I’m going to keep it here.  The post’s also grown as I wrote, so I might try a series of sum-ups and cuts to make it easier to navigate and to keep those who don’t want to hear my oh-so-carefully stated arguments in all their gritty glory from falling asleep.

Not every writer is writing to an audience outside themself, and that’s okay, but I have always seen what I do as a craft and a business.  I am an artist only in so far as I can reach my audience, and that means I need to effectively capture their attention.  Whatever skill level I’m currently at, I believe my blog has helped me to grow and increase my abilities in this area.

First off, I have to say that one concern I had when I started blogging was that it would take too much of my writing time and energy, and that that has been a real danger more than once.  I also know that different writers have relative speeds at which they not only write, but type, so the time commitment varies with the individual, too.

However, I feel that I am a better writer now than when I began blogging.  Some of that was of course the intensive upper-class coursework I completed, and the fact that I worked through all of it with an eye toward it’s implications and improvements on my fiction writing skills.  I’ve also written a dozen or two short stories since beginning my blog, and read with a critical eye hundreds of words in either the tsj slush or my friends’ manuscripts.  All of this has increased the speed, perception and clarity with which I write.

But more than anything else, I credit this blog with having helped me find my voice.  Often I was writing for myself, or to some unknown and, I suspected, easily bored audience.  I had to find that happy medium between writing in ways which would engage and entertain my reader and writing on those subjects which most interested me.  And I needed to do this without knowing who my audience was.  I didn’t tell family and friends about my blog initially because I didn’t want it to turn into a blog which was written for that audience alone.  I wanted to find my voice as a writer, not fall into those habitual patterns of speech and communication which I use around family and those I’m close too.  Slowly over the last couple years I’ve learned which parts of myself I’m comfortable sharing, how playful a voice I can pull off and still live with myself, and how to listen to that inner writing voice inside myself while also remembering that I’m writing for an audience.

I’ve made significant contacts through my blog which have helpted me learn about the business of writing and know that I can draw on a network of fellow writers for support and friendship–my network.

As if the above cut wasn’t enough, my blog has helped me to effectively reach others and build a network I can draw on.  While it’s impossible to know who will be pivotal in any one persons life, I can name a few circumstances that have already really helped me to further my pursuit of writing as a profession.

Meeting James Maxey through my blog.  I honestly don’t remember when or why I picked up Bitterwood, but when I blogged about my take on the book, James was kind enough (and professional enough) to discuss my pros and cons on the book.  He not only commented here, but at one point he mentioned what I’d said on his blog.  This exchange gave me the courage to go up to James and introduce myself at the upcoming Trinocon, something I never normally would have done.  Through this connection, I became a part of a writers group here in the triangle which was overseen by James, and this group, which also included Alex and Mike, has been hugely helpful in helping me to improve my writing.  I’ve also had several chances to pick James’s brains on all things writing–from book contracts, to agents, to what to wear when promoting–and these pointers have helped remove some of the mystery which shrouds this business and increased my confidence.

Also at the same con, I chatted with the talented Alan Welch, and bought one of his prints.  When he wanted to get in touch with me but didn’t have my contact info, he was able to do that through my web site/blog and the use of the email I list here–even if he had to be very patient in waiting for a reply.  We have kept up that contact and I now count him as someone I can chat with at a con and look forward to connecting with.  Through similar online contacts, I’ve ‘met’ other friends who I will now feel comfortable approaching at cons or arranging a signing with.  These are people who I might never have met had I not become active in the online community.  And while I could become a member of forums and drop comments on people’s blogs without having a blog of my own, I know that having a blog has helped me feel that my time on the forums was well spent, as people would not just hear a surface comment or two, but would also get to know a bit about the name behind the avatar.  Jordan, for example, is someone who I suspect feels a stronger friendship/acquaintance with me because he has read my blog than he would had I only dropped by a forum we both frequented.

As for the low numbers of readers which were alluded to in the comments on Jordan’s post, I can’t speak for other bloggers, but I’m very pleased with the number of people who visit my site.  I don’t know who you all are, but my blog recieves between 25,000 and 35,000 unique hits a month.  Obviously my total hits is quite a bit higher.  Considering that I’m sure the majority of these people are not personal friends or family, that’s a sizeable number of people who I can connect with which I would not otherwise ever know by any definition of the word.

Lastly, my blog is an investment in my future status as a published professional writer.  I have watched friends as they recieved ‘the phone call’ and went under contract, and from what I’ve seen, the euphoria of delight quickly gives way to tight schedules and a long to-do list.  Imagine how nice it would be for such an individual to know that, as their name and promotion met with interested readers, those readers could come peruse previous blog content, thus taking off a little pressure on the newly discovered author to quickly get posts up and establish an online presence.

Of course, there are other benefits to a blog.  I like chatting–just ask my family how often I’m on the phone while fixing dinner!–and a blog is a chance to chat with lots of people in my favorite medium, the written word.  I’m a fairly fast writer and typist, so I don’t generally consider it any great sacrifice of my time, and it’s also a nice way to keep in touch with friends or family who I don’t see very often.  But are there strong benefits in blogging to a pre-professinal writer?  I answer that with a resounding yes.

And a pic to go with my gripe.

Maybe this was one of those one-room school houses we always hear about it?  More likely it’s someone’s house that was a very forward thinking place and got a jump on the real estate bubble. 

Useful sort of adaptability, that.

And today while I twiddled my thumbs at the auto-garage I had time to think up another short story.  One where people’s cars are programmed to occasionally flash a light on the dashboard, or are required to have some certification done.  But when the owner takes the car in, the garage holds the car ransom for hundreds of dollars and the individual is stuck, unable to get their car back until the ransom is paid.

I know that’s an extreme stretch of the imagination, but I’m sure we can manage it if we put our creative caps on.

But the truth is I’ve slept a lot the last couple days.  And since that doesn’t make for very interesting blogging (unless I record my snores and let you all decipher the secret language?) I’ve decided to throw up this post to report that yes, I am still above ground and among the living.

Plus a link.  Our daughter is considering decor schemes for her bedroom and we came across these incredible murals by Morgan.  I swear, some of them look like you could walk right through, even in a photograph.  Truly inspiring.

The hour got later–it was well after midnight–but I was still writing.  My hubby went to bed just before 2:00, and I finished up a climactic scene and told myself that would do.  I should go to bed.

But why would I go to bed when I wasn’t tired (I’d fallen asleep for awhile earlier in the evening) and the words were waiting to be written?  I let myself get back up and finished the book just before 4:00am.

But the minute I’d settle the last words to my satisfaction I was completely exhausted–so, much as a middle-of-the-night posting would have been fun, the report’s going up now.

I’m thrilled to have gotten it all out, and can’t wait to start revising.  This draft is really rough, so I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied for the next week at least.  Sometime after that I’ll need to bring in my readers and begining the process of finetuning based on feedback.  But for now, it’s party time!

(You’ll notice that while the red bar is almost to the end, it doesn’t quite touch.  I came in aprox. 1,000 words less than I planned–but I’m cool with that.  The first draft is still hereby considered complete.)

Hooray!

Now, I’m sure wiser computer heads could tell us why these would be left, and maybe even venture a reason why my blog is suddenly so special, but I know what I believe.

It’s the Great Spam Conspiracy.

You know how in spy movies, or shows like Alias, the undercover agent leaves their message or incriminating film in a common brown bag and drops it in a garbage can while they waltz on by?  Then an agent, or handler, recovers the information with equal aplomb, and the message is securely passed despite all kinds of high-tech preventive measures and protections built up to keep the information from being passed along.

Well, what we think of as spam is really this process taking place on the internet.  An agent drops an incripted message as a comment on some random Joe or Jane’s blog, and that message is quickly read and understood by the agent’s people.  Then perhaps an equally garbled message will be returned using the same method.

This can go on for days, and the blog host is never the wiser. If the messages being passed are extra-sensitive or the code is not known to be secure, than of course the powers that be choose a site which is regularly maintained so the ’spam’ comments will be quickly deleted.

That means that my blog being chosen is a good sign.  It means I’m now listed as a site where spam will be dealt with quickly, and I can look forward to more of these highly-confidential goobledy-gook ’spam’ comments to pass over my site and into the eyes and ears of receiving agents.

Lucky me.

Later:

Okay, got that fixed, and learned something about my site, too.  Yay me.

That you live over an hour drive away from the lister, in another city, and would they mind bringing the item to you or meeting somewhere halfway?