Everyone's comments have been tremendously helpful! I started out blogging to be a better writer. After a couple of months--and with helpful feedback from readers--I started to develop my own voice and style, and began treating my blog, Blooming in Midlife, more like a syndicated column about the trials and tribulations of middle age. I deleted many of my early posts that were just rambling random thoughts, and have tried to deliberately craft essays that are sparked by daily incidences. So I guess you could say I've adopted a more editorial attitude. What it's gotten me so far is an opportunity to guest write for MORE.com which puts my writing in front of thousands of readers in my target audience (women over 40), and under the watchful eye of a More editor. In the back of my mind is always the thought, "maybe they'll love this piece so much they'll want to publish it and pay me!" In that sense, my blogging is where I test-run ideas and stories that may (hopefully) lead to greater things. The instant gratification of glowing reader comments doesn't hurt, either! (You can read one of my latest rants about bathing suits issues here.)

Everyone's comments have been tremendously helpful! I started out blogging to be a better writer. After a couple of months--and with helpful feedback from readers--I started to develop my own voice and style, and began treating my blog, Blooming in Midlife, more like a syndicated column about the trials and tribulations of middle age. I deleted many of my early posts that were just rambling random thoughts, and have tried to deliberately craft essays that are sparked by daily incidences. So I guess you could say I've adopted a more editorial attitude. What it's gotten me so far is an opportunity to guest write for MORE.com which puts my writing in front of thousands of readers in my target audience (women over 40), and under the watchful eye of a More editor. In the back of my mind is always the thought, "maybe they'll love this piece so much they'll want to publish it and pay me!" In that sense, my blogging is where I test-run ideas and stories that may (hopefully) lead to greater things. The instant gratification of glowing reader comments doesn't hurt, either! (You can read one of my latest rants about bathing suits issues here.)

Austine,

If you haven't already you should think about joining "Disability Writers". I have epilepsy and I find that it heavily influences my writing. I started that group because I felt for a long time I was working against the tide trying to get the word out.

Jessica

austine said:

hi, i'm new to the blog scene, too. i've been writing a blog - memoir ,for some time, but somehow didn't share it with the unknown public. i'm shy about my writing. however, life brings surprises, and i've been diagnosed with parkinson's disease. well, this has prodded me into wanting to share my experiences and my knowledge with other people. i have been a dancer and dance therapist for many years and so , i have been researching body stuff , like qigong and the like, to help myself. this new awareness of my symptoms and the benefits of my life experiences, as a movement maven, jive to add to a new blog.. this was suggested by my son, who has experience in sharing his knowledge of what he has researched, via blog. i don't yet have a name for the new blog, but the name of older ones are the 'the red ribbon' and ' the yellow ribbon. i could use all the suggestions out there to help this new venture.

hi, i'm new to the blog scene, too. i've been writing a blog - memoir ,for some time, but somehow didn't share it with the unknown public. i'm shy about my writing. however, life brings surprises, and i've been diagnosed with parkinson's disease. well, this has prodded me into wanting to share my experiences and my knowledge with other people. i have been a dancer and dance therapist for many years and so , i have been researching body stuff , like qigong and the like, to help myself. this new awareness of my symptoms and the benefits of my life experiences, as a movement maven, jive to add to a new blog.. this was suggested by my son, who has experience in sharing his knowledge of what he has researched, via blog. i don't yet have a name for the new blog, but the name of older ones are the 'the red ribbon' and ' the yellow ribbon. i could use all the suggestions out there to help this new venture.

Here's my understanding of it, which is a bit muddled as I'm constantly reconsidering it, as I think most writers are:

My blog posts are my own, and ususally too short to be considered by the markets I usually write for, which are parenting/mothering/writing publications. I think of them as bookmarks in a longer book, or things posted to a bulletin board...to remind me, later, of things I might want to pursue further. Writing this way is very helpful because I can achieve: a faithful writing schedule, when I stick to it! And immediate reader feedback. It helps me know what people want to talk about.

When I was writing for a contracted site (ParentDish, Literary Mama, or Child, for example) the contract was clear in that I no longer owned rights to those works. I looked at it like this: I wrote those pieces, then let them go. If I want to use them again later, I will need to go back to those original contracts and request a right to reuse that material. Usually, there is not any resistance to this idea, if the forms are different. Like, taking blog writing and bringing it to a book. Or book writing, in small exceprts, to a blog. But here it gets a bit tricky, and the help of an agent is so good.

Finally, there's this: most blogs do not make successful books without a lot of rewriting. In my opinion, they are just very different forms. It doesn't hurt to be in the practice of both forms! I find that making time to write anything is usually a good endeavor.

xo