Thursday, March 13, 2008

Blah, Blah Bloggin'

I picked this up from Mindy Klasdy's LJ... apparently Robin Hobb has gone on a screed against writers who blog.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

But he's wrong. If a writer is disciplined and has a firm, set schedule, this doesn't happen. I'm not going to sit here and say "it never happens" because I'd be lying through my teeth. But if a writer sits down and creates himself a workable schedule (note: I said 'workable schedule'), then the chances of this happening are close to nil. I know plenty of writers who blog. But we're all disciplined about it. Douglas Clegg is on my f'list at LJ; Brian Keene is in my feed reader with a bunch of other writers. Blogs are wonderful marketing tools - and more. It's all about what you do, how, and when.

Darkson said...

Robin's female, by the way. I liked Scalzi's comments on the whole matter and it does seem strange that this is generating all this buzz, as it's been posted on her website for some time. I enjoyed the "rant". People are also coming across it out of context. If you visit her website, you are visiting her house. You can explore various rooms. The door upstairs where the crazy lady hides is where she puts her rants. I've already lost some quality reading time this morning following this item on all the blogs.

Blogs work for some folks,not for others. GRRM could be getting more writing done, but he is doing other projects and merchandising deals. I would like to see the energy being put into the next book, but it's his life and choice, so good for him. I'll wait.

Now I must goa ttack some friends with my werewolf on Facebook!

Anonymous said...

Bill said (wassup with my Google account?) ...

Robin Hobb, which is a pseudonym, is a she, by the way.

Her books have sold more than a million copies, she's her publisher's fastest-selling backlist author, and she's had at least one title for three or more weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.

Just for context . . .

Anonymous said...

Robin Hobb, which is a pseudonym, is a she, by the way.

Sorry. I've just met more male Robins than female. :}

Douglas Hulick said...

I pretty much choose to see it as a cautionary rant. It is easy to be tempted into not writing by any number of things, and I think that research, blogging and e-mail are three of the more pernicious hazards for writers. Given that the post/rant is aimed at the young writer, who may still be forming their writing habits, it's not the worst advice in the world.

Are her words gospel? Nope. As others have said, it's different for everyone. But it's not a bad thing to keep in mind when you're stuck on a scene and the lure of the mouse starts to tickle your index finger. :)

Kelly McCullough said...

Scalzi has a good take on this over at whatever and the first response on that thread from Patrick Nielsen Hayden pretty much nails it.