The Difference Between Writing and Blogging
I've been blogging in this format for almost a year now, sticking to punditry and rants and backing off the personal stuff, for one main reason: I've always wanted to be a writer.
Not a writer just in the sense that I write this blog, but a writer in the sense that I weave stories, fictional or not, that people are interested in. In the world of nonfiction, this means finding the angle - finding the people behind the story or the undercurrent that led to the events you're reporting on. In the nonfictional world, it means telling a tale in a way that keeps the reader wanting more while painting your imaginary world for them in vivid imagery..
The problem with blogging is that I'm not doing this full time, and even saying that is an understatement. I'm doing it in stolen moments in the doctors office, on trains.
If I were a full time writer, I would have taken that Merck/Singular thread and followed it out, called people involved, gotten interviews and found out what it was really like to work on that project, what challenges they've faced.
Instead, it's hurriedly typed into the perfect little portable palm/keyboard pair I've gotten for myself, and slapped on the blog with barely enough time to run aspell -c on it.
At times, I've considered slowing down the pace of my blogs and really working on them like stories, releasing one or two well written pieces a month. The prospect of writing articles that are more fleshed out and interesting to read is appealing, but I'd have to give up the story-nugget/link format and the nice readership growth curve I've been nurturing with timely articles.
I'm interested to hear other blogger's takes on this. Which is better, lots of really fresh content bits, or a few well written pieces here and there?
