No distinction between blogging and writing May03 '06
I’ve been seeing more and more of this topic lately around the web, and I thought I’d throw my "2 cents" in.
Many people (specifically "bloggers") think there is a distinction between "blogging" and "writing."
I don’t see any distinction between "blogging" and "writing", and it aggravates me to read people discussing this over and over.
There is no disctinction. "Blogging" is a made-up term, to describe an exercise to express words in a public forum called the web.
When you sit down to write, type, whatever - no matter where, how, or when - you are writing. Period.
I understand that "blogging" may be a much more "loose" form of writing - but it is still writing.
I can’t explain it any better than this random blog comment.
I’ll copy it here for clarity:
Can throwing stones at neighborhood cats make you a better baseball pitcher? Can whittling shavings from a stick make you a better carver? The process of simply dumping consecutive words onto paper or screen does not make one a writer. It’s missing the whole awareness/feedback cognitive cycle.
What makes daily writing a growth experience for an aspiring writer is the engagement in that self-critical, mental process - not the physical text scribing act itself.
For anyone who is trying to become a better writer, and, moreover, is also willing to pay attention to their words and reflect upon their effectiveness, any act of language composition is a self-improvement exercise. Without that closure, it’s just the textual equivalent of urinating in public.
Also related: Wired News article.
Add Feedback (view all)
Leave feedback
is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
Similar Entries
- TinyPaste: extendible micro-blogging (4 recent visits)
- Blogging to pay rent (7 recent visits)
- Cell phone blogging (4 recent visits)
- My latest blogging avenues (2 recent visits)
- Keys to consistent blogging (6 recent visits)
- Twordy as a blogging platform (10 recent visits)
Stats
1 unique visit since October 2008