Cella then sent me this article by Slate's Sarah Hepola on why she shut down her blog: because it wasn't helping her write - instead, it was keeping her from writing.
Besides loving my writing, one of the first suggestions the publisher I spoke to was to stop blogging and to focus on building "a serious body of work." It's something I've been thinking about as I decide what's next in this and many other aspects of my life.
As Ms. Hepola writes:
"The blog was the perfect bluff for a self-conscious writer like me who yearned for the spotlight and then squinted in its glare...
Eventually, I began enjoying my writing again...I was writing so fast that I didn't have time to double-think my sentence structure or my opinions. What came out was sloppier but also funnier and more honest. I started getting e-mails from people I'd never met, and they were actually encouraging...I continued blogging for years, through cities and jobs and relationships, and though the blog entries never amounted to much, they always gave me a fleeting joy, like conquering some small feat—opening a very difficult, tightly sealed jar—even when no one is around to see it.
And yet every once in a while those agents would check in, to ask how that book was coming. And the book wasn't coming, and wasn't coming, and I became one of those people who talk about a book but never write it."My blog initially enabled me to write again after years of not doing so and I love the community that formed around my struggles and was supportive at a time when I was incredibly isolated. I'm reluctant to relinquish these amazing connections but as life shoots forward at the speed of light, I'm often faced with an either/or situation between blogging and other writing.
My question for all those serious poets and writers out there who also blog is, how does your blog effect your other writing? Are you able to find a balance? Do you find yourself in that either/or place too? Advice and help very welcome!
Thanks.
24 comments:
Hmm VERY thought provoking. I began blogging for the sake of writing because I wasnt doing it like I wanted to. I can relate to this article in that sense. If I look at my writing now and my writing when I began I see I've gotten better. Right now I dont have time to be a writer so blogging is the small haven I have to do it, so it doesnt detract me yet. However, again its all about a medium which is what I'm having trouble understanding here. Why can't you do both? why not blog twice a week about what you want to and maintain the tie and write most of the time otherwise. I guess the bigger qustion is why would a blog take over the ability of one to otherwise write? unless you're posting multiple times a day and checking many many blogs, but then like with anything moderation is key. I dont know. Thoughtless ramblings I guess :)
salams, i read that slate article too and found a lot of it to be true.
I enjoy blogging, but i've noticed it takes away from the substance and spark of my other works - like what i write in my journal, or the monthly articles i write for my masjid's newsletter. i think it's because there's only so much creative energy to go around...
it hasn't affected my job as a journalist, though, AH. when it comes time to sit and bang out a book, i doubt i'll be blogging as much.
interesting, no?
My blog doesn't get in the way of my poetry -- I find them to be very different. I blog when I want to think through a tricky subject, or when I want to share something I've learned, or when I want to muse about a holiday or a piece of text. Poems arise from a different place in me, and I write them in a different headspace.
And who knows; maybe my blog has helped me gain readers who will now read my poems! :-)
I don't blog for those reasons so it doesn't apply but I can understand spending time that takes away from something else.
I totally agree. In my case, I started blogging, because I wasnt writing enough. Right now, short stories are my forte actually, but since I began blogging, I havent been writing too many of them. I've got into this thing of instant-ness, in the sense that I write two decently written paragraphs and I post them...I no longer have the patience it takes to develop it into a complete story, Cos I know that there is a place where I will get feedback even if it is only a fraction of what I should be writing. So yes, blogging is helping me write more often, but is keeping me from writing as much as I should be.
Good Sat.
I am glad to see you survived your tour. I really enjoy your blog. As I have said before, as a non Muslim I find it very interesting. I too only blog twice a week, and I have found that this lets me not feel the pressure of thinking up something new all the time. However, not being a writer, as opposed to someone who writes, it is not an end all. I blog to share my heart, and the friends that I have found are priceless.
Thanks Brian
As salaamu alaykum,
I have a fear of success. Its so bad that I turned down two opportunities to have my work published. Blogging gives me a place to satisfy my drive to write, without dealing with my issues. So yeah, I'm hiding behind my blog.
I agree with Brian. I dont post every day. Moderation lets you have the best of both worlds.
i consider myself a novelist and short story writer.
but my blog is kick ass. unfortunately the writing on it sucks. this is because one cannot devote the time to write blog posts as one does with a short story.
3 years ago i started a blog and shut it down immediately b/c i was more interested in writing a novel.
i only blog when not writing seriously.
there's no happy medium, sorry. bloggins is as bad for literature as gorging is to dieting. blogging is verbal diarrhea. literature is spartan and ascetic. in blogs, volume is god; in literature, silences speak volume.
i recommend shutting down ur blog when thinking about writing a novel.
great points, yes i noticed my spelling and grammar and even clarity of thought in expression have gone to crap since i have been blogging cuz i don't edit the way i would if i were publishing. not that i have ever been published :) and i love the connection with new blogworld friends, the kindred spirits, the occasional e-mail from an encouraging stranger. anyway, something to think about.
I hope you keep blogging cuz i'll miss u if u stop, selfish me :)
I guess it depends on how you blog. When I blog my longer peices I take thought and reflection and I shorten it to keep it as succint as possible. I check for passive sentences, etc. I do it for the purpose of improving my writing style. Whether I'm successful is another matter but it depends like I said on the purpose of the blog.
Assalamu Alaikum Baraka,
For me i am actually using my blog to force me to write. I am writing a Prayer Manual for Muslim Mothers. I am posting the sections as i write them. But even after i post i usually edit it again or add more quotes. It's nice to get feedback on each part. And you're forced to keep writing because readers are waiting for the next part. I don't mind posting it up for free because i know there are many out there without internet access or people who don't like to read entire books online so they would have to buy it anyways, when i finish it inshaAllah. So if you use your blog in that way, in addition to the once a week post of what's on your mind, etc, then it can be a good tool to keep you writing.
Salaamat,
I disagree with eteraz...you can write, normally with reflection and use the blog simply as a "showcase". It doesn't have to be contradictory to good literature.
I have seen amazing writers who blog...and not so good ones too.
There is a happy medium, as long as you resist falling into the usual blogging traps (i.e. writing for the fan base,seeking instantaneous gratification, etc.)
i think each person has his/her own style and blogs can either help or be a detriment...
one of the first suggestions the publisher I spoke to was to stop blogging and to focus on building "a serious body of work."
That's a pretty heavy value judgment, and as such, another salvo in the ongoing culture war. The mainstream media and publishing are very heavily invested in denigrating blogging, MP3-sharing, basically any kind of noncommercial and uncontrolled information exchange.
Blogging can certainly take up creative energy that you could be using for other things. Or, it can be a way to get quick feedback on ideas or techniques that you're thinking of using for other purposes. Or it can be a completely separate activity whose _only_ impact on your commercial writing is on the time budget. It all depends on you.
My blogging is about the only writing I do. Because I don't think anyone would publish what I write.
Blogging rocks! I also started one to get myself writing and to break up writers block, also to keep in touch with friends and family bloggers and readers. But i have to be careful cause sometimes i spend too much time on it. Especially when a week goes by without me posting and i'm thinking "gotta blog, gotta blog," and my other work doesn't get done.
dearest baraka, hope you let us know what you decide.
Reading blogs which is strangely addictive takes up more than writing. Blogging actually helps me to keep the writing brain going. With poetry, I often end up cutting many of my posts down in to poems.
I'm trying to keep things on some kind of schedule and have one loosely in place. Now if I can just find the discipline to maintain it!
You can try taking a blog break for a couple weeks and see what happens.
Well blog writing is entirely new to me and uses such different skills, researching and approaches compared to other writing that I have done. I think it is an interesting new medium and blooks are a real potential for keeping the words from disappearing into the ethosphere. I appreciate your post and the comments of others.
Cheers.
Salaam all,
Wow - thanks for all the warm, personal, & wise feedback!
I agree with Tiel that blogs, Lulu, blooks, etc., are all trends that certainly make publishers uneasy so my publisher's advice needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I also agree with Eteraz, Shabina, Apu & Fatima that blogging can undermine other types of writing.
And, as Sume mentions, sometimes I end up spending lots of time & energy just reading other blogs!
Although it should be a matter of moderation as Aisha points out, it isn't so for me.
In my case, I spend a lot of time and energy on any writing I do. I want my essays to be well-crafted and I'm such an anal perfectionsit that I end up spending hours editing sometimes.
When applied to blogging, the process drains me of creative and physical energy...leaving me with little to give toward other writing. It really does become an either/or for me. With my fatigue/health issues to boot, I really have to be careful about schedule/discipline/etc.
I haven't made a solid decision yet but think I may cut back on the blogging so I can allocate some time elsewhere.
Creativity is such a personal process. I really appreciate all the feedback and found it very helpful!
Thank you!
Warmly,
Baraka
I definitely think blogging hinders my creative writing. I've tried repeatedly to quite the bloggy and return to my old-fashioned pen & paper journal, which is where my true creative ideas spring from because I am bound by an audience - I am more free to develop ideas and see where they lead. The bloggy...is a different kind of forum, and i'm always aware that it's very, very public, and that hinders me quite a bit. But, like you, I love the community that blogging creates. It's so different from teh writing I do in private. It is difficult to find a balance. Possible, but difficult, because I find myself blogging much more, because of the sheer convenience of it, and at the end of the day I'm too drained to consider sitting down for a proper writing session.
Fewer blogs, more books my love! :)
By the way, the word verification this time around was: avuicsfr
ooops....I meant not bound by an audience....but you probably figured that out!
Cheers!
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