Why Blog? (or What's the Use?)

Tip of the Day: WriteOnCon is happening again this year! Mark your calendars on August 13-14 for this free online kidlit writing conference. Thanks, WriteOnCon team!

A few weeks ago, agent Michael Bourret blogged about why he hasn't felt like blogging lately. To paraphrase, he wonders if there is anything left to blog about that hasn't already been said -- sometimes better -- by someone else. He also speculates that there is so much internet "noise" out there that he doesn't necessarily need to add to it.

I understand where he's coming from. From someone who used to blog weekly on Author2Author, and periodically on my own LiveJournal where I now only post book reviews, I am definitely in blog fatigue. I also have a FaceBook page that I use more to keep up with my friends than talk about myself, and I tweet for my library @bmlkidsteens when I have time or am so inspired. Now that I am preparing to self epub my YA novel, I need to get a website up and running -- but it feels like a daunting prospect (another web presence to keep up with!) and redundant (I'm already on the web in four different places!).

Similarly, I used to bookmark blogs from writers, librarians, and other kidlit industry pros to check daily, or follow them on LJ or through RSS feeds. Now, though, I don't have time because there are so many out there, and also the "groundbreaking" stuff tends to find its way to me through other means.

So, what purpose does blogging serve me now? And what purpose do others' blogs serve me?

My answer? I now look at blogs as part of a "body of work" rather than an up-to-the-minute view of one's life.

To expand on that, if I want to stalk someone -- and come on, we all do it -- I will check out their recent tweets or FB posts. But if I want to see substantial information about a person, or learn more about their writing or life pursuits, I will go through multiple blog posts on their site at one time. In other words, I will read their body of work in one sitting and most likely not "follow" the blog after that once I've learned what I need to know.

So when I'm researching agents, I don't check in every day with the blogs/tweets/posts of all those I'm considering querying; instead I just find one person, read all I can to feel informed, send the query or not, and then move on. If I get a request for pages from the agent, I might dig a little farther.

And that is how I'm thinking about my own blogging now. If I query an agent who wants to learn more about me, he/she can click on the link to this site and see my "body of work" here. That is more imporant to me than showing that I am capable of posting a few paragraphs every week.

This is a place to get to know me, my style, my sense of humor (hopefully!), and that I do enjoy social media but am not devoting my life to my presence here.

At least, this is how I'm thinking today....

How is everyone else using their blogs these days?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing