Shouldn't You Be Writing?

From Romancing the Blog:

There are numerous other reasons why authors (should and) shouldn't blog. Like, they should be writing books!

And

I can think of lots of reasons why an author shouldn't blog [...] They should be writing!

Hmm. Really? What are you doing on the internet? Shouldn't you be cooking dinner? Or reading to your kids? Or cleaning your house? Isn't that a pile of dishes in the sink behind you?

Writers write; then they don't. They do other things, occasionally.

The rest of the discussion, though, was interesting, as several people frankly admitted to a plan to quit blogging. You don't see this very often. Most suffering bloggers put a strained face on it and pretend they're having fun - lie back and think of England, as it were. Every blogger thinks about quitting at one point or another, usually when they are dry of things to say.

Me, I just disappear for two weeks. It's summer - hardly anyone is reading, anyway.

I can't use writing as an excuse, because I haven't been doing that, either. I don't know what came over me - post-first draft hangover? Laziness? Sick of the thing? Or was it simple fear?

For some writers, the fear rears its ugly head during the writing: the fear of putting anything on paper, the fear of finishing. Personally I get the willies at the submission stage. The writing is great fun; picturing some New York agent laughing at you is not for the faint of heart, and you have to take a few deep breaths before you jump in.

Still, what are you gonna do? Put it in a drawer and forget about it?

So yesterday, as if I really were going back to school, I got my butt in gear. I'm going to polish this thing - again - and start sending it out. I'm not getting any younger, after all. And in the meantime:




I'm still not convinced that blogging is a waste of time.