All about blogs

I like blogs. They’re like an online newspaper, except geared to issues that I enjoy, and I enjoy being able to contribute something to my own small corner of the blogosphere.

I thought of having a website, but although a friend was kind enough to set up a site for my secret identity, the only way to transfer information from my hard drive to that site was to do something with “ftp”, and that gave me a headache. I confess: I am a computer illiterate. Blogs seemed as though they might be a little less challenging, and so far, this one has been. Write, post, check the Bare Bones Guide to HTML to figure out how to right-justify something, correct a typo. Even I can handle that.

Then there’s content. I like talking about writing (technically, writing about writing), and doing reviews. There are countless blogs which provide information and advice on different aspects of writing and the industry – insider viewpoints from agents like Miss Snark and Kristin Nelson and from editors and editorial assistants (if you haven’t yet read the story of Moonrat’s lunch with an author, check it out). I’d love to find blogs from other people in the industry, though – cover artists, slush pile readers, copyeditors, publicists. Publishing is fascinating.

Blogs from writers are just as much fun to read. I like tips and advice, but funny family stories are a welcome relaxation and make a personal connection between author and readers.

The only kind of blogs I don’t enjoy are those which are difficult to read (e.g. purple text on a black background) or those which are only or mainly about promotion of the author’s books – descriptions of the books, the latest reviews they got, where they can be bought or even the main characters from the books chatting with each other. Promotion is great, but there needs to be another reason for me to read the blog.

So, for my hundredth blog post, here is a post about blogs.

Now, back to writing.