I think Gaius's original point was, what's the point of starting a blog as publicity for you as a writer, if you have nothing to say that anyone would want to listen to? That's what we're hearing so much at the moment - about building a platform, acquiring readers for that glorious Sun-filled moment when you get a deal and all's right with the world. Or not.

There are lots of other reasons for starting a blog, which I think are just as valid - Nezelette's, yours, Shika (and actually I love your blog) - getting the fingers moving and so on. Malcolm Bradbury's advice to anyone saying 'I want to be a writer' was 'keep a diary for a year' - the two habits of writing (nearly) every day, and of putting things properly into written words, are the fundamental habits of a writer.

But, in the words of a how-to-write book I've just been reading, if you want to communicate, you have to write not just to the reader, but for the reader. If your blog isn't about your own internal uses for it, but about connecting, then I do think you need to know about what's supposed to be being sent down that connection from you, and whether it'll be worth it for anyone.

Point of blogging for writers - it's about getting words out.

I would just write something for my own consumption to satisfy that need - a short story, or maybe just a sketch of a scenario. I can't see the point of blogging purely as a means of keeping oneself writing.

Alex

Hm. This thread has made me think...
I plan to start subbing my MS in September and I can see now that my (probably boring) personal blog might actually do more harm than good...

I wouldn't say that a blog would do any damage to a writer's chances. The only time I think it would make any difference at all, in fact, is if the writer is published and relatively well-known, such that their blogging might attract interest and comments from journalists.

Alex

I'd suggest that blogging being merely personal doesn't matter at all - though obviously one which you can say has a big readership, for whatever reason, is a Good Thing as far as they're concerned. The blogging that would worry an agent would be

a) if you were posting the novel they were looking at

b) if you were slagging off the book trade and all the editors who've rejected you (people do, really!) or you're not sending to because they're all philistine morons who don't know Great Art (or up-their-own literarati who don't know A Bestseller) when they see it... Sounds like you'd be more trouble to work with than you're worth.

c) if you went on blogging about rejections etc. (let alone being once an agent were trying to sell your work. To the trade, a rejection is a failure, and they don't want any whiff of failure hanging round something they're busy trying to create an aura of utter wonderfulness and saleability.

Emma

I wouldn't say that a blog would do any damage to a writer's chances.

Probably not. But I can't help feeling there must be pitfalls in blogging if a writer doesn't keep up to the mark. I remember reading a blog produced by an established and quite well-known writer some while ago & feeling curiously disappointed by it. The writing seemed not particularly distinguished & the themes covered relatively banal. It didn't, in short, match up to the artistry of their books.

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but the effect was rather like seeing some glamorous star slobbing round the house in an old tracksuit while singing 'Jingle Bells' massively out of tune - you kind of know that side of them must exist, but it's a letdown to be confronted with it.

<Added>

It wasn't someone who frequents this site, I hasten to add...

Sounds a bit like a writer who's been told they ought to have a blog, rather than it coming naturally.

Having said that, writers' lives are no less banal and trivial than anyone else's. More so than many, probably, because while the rest of the world encounters life's rich tapestry while driving their bus or spear-fishing in the Maldives, we're stuck at home glaring at a blank page. Or in a hotel room, jetlagged, waiting for it to be time to go down for the festival session. Or doing our tax return. PAYE leaves you much more time to go carousing with Alaskan oil workers...

Emma

more time to go carousing with Alaskan oil workers...

Does that count as your dark side, Emma?

The internet is only a wider iteration of the real world: the same rules do apply. If you have something interesting to say - say it and people will listen (read). If you happen to be an expert on something then your blog will attract hits. If you happen to be doing something unusual, your blog will attract hits. If you happen to be living a mundane life but are able to express the minutae of your life in an interesting and/or amusing way your blog will attract hits.
If you are living a mundane life and you talk about your mundane life in detail, ad nauseam in a way that is neither interesting or fresh you will repel people just as you do in the pub or wine bar. A blog as a format doesn't suddenly render you as a person, or your life, interesting. Mostly, the opposite.
You can find the full transcript of this conversation on my blogsite - deluded&boringtosser.blogspot.com

Best
Sion

LOL, very much, Sion!

And a nice summary of the thread.

<Added>

And welcome back, if that's right.

Hey, yes, welcome back Sion. What have you been up to?

Terry

Thanks for the welcome back Terry & Rainstop. Did the publishing thing with "Sleepwalker's" in 2008/9 then realised I had neglected my career/family/income etc. Obviously when Sleepwalker's turned out not to be the massive bestseller with gargantuan film and Tv options that we all confidently expected, I was forced to get my career back on track. So I'm a wage-slave again. Doing a regional thing in Europe/Middle East/Africa. Lots of travelling and time zones and long hours. Very little time for writing, alas.
Best
Sion