Blogettante.
I am not a blogger.
Here's one reason. Here's another. Here's a third.
I get irritated by wanna-be writers who call themselves writers when they don't really want to do the work or live the life. You want to be "a writer?" Fine. Do the work. Pay the price. Give up the company health plan. Forget about a pension. Take the risks. Don't treat my profession like your hobby.
No one ever meets a surgeon and says, "Hey, I do a little surgery, myself." No one meets a cop and says, "You know, I consider myself a bit of a cop, too." But when you're a writer everyone you meet claims to be one, too. And because I'm a cranky bastard this irritates me.
In just the couple of years I've been at this, the level of play in the blogging world has been elevated to the point where, thanks to some hardworking spoilsports, it's no longer just a hobby. Some of these people are treating it seriously, putting in the hours, living the life.
I'm not one of those people. So I'm not a blogger. I occasionally write something in this space, but I'm not willing to commit to it. So let's say I'm a wanna-be or a dilettante. A dilettante blogger.
Here's the ultimate to me, the uberblogger in my personal blog world. He does the work, he made the committment, so he gets the title.
Me? I'm just a blogettante.
Here's one reason. Here's another. Here's a third.
I get irritated by wanna-be writers who call themselves writers when they don't really want to do the work or live the life. You want to be "a writer?" Fine. Do the work. Pay the price. Give up the company health plan. Forget about a pension. Take the risks. Don't treat my profession like your hobby.
No one ever meets a surgeon and says, "Hey, I do a little surgery, myself." No one meets a cop and says, "You know, I consider myself a bit of a cop, too." But when you're a writer everyone you meet claims to be one, too. And because I'm a cranky bastard this irritates me.
In just the couple of years I've been at this, the level of play in the blogging world has been elevated to the point where, thanks to some hardworking spoilsports, it's no longer just a hobby. Some of these people are treating it seriously, putting in the hours, living the life.
I'm not one of those people. So I'm not a blogger. I occasionally write something in this space, but I'm not willing to commit to it. So let's say I'm a wanna-be or a dilettante. A dilettante blogger.
Here's the ultimate to me, the uberblogger in my personal blog world. He does the work, he made the committment, so he gets the title.
Me? I'm just a blogettante.
This entry was posted by Michael Reynolds, on
Thursday, January 11, 2007.
You can leave your response.
6:25 AM
Perhaps true but we love you anyway. Speaking of which, I do a little surgery myself.
5:01 AM
Been thinking about this one for a bit. Saw it right after you put it up. Still where I was when I first read it.
I consider myself neither blogger nor writer (the latter notwithstanding the literally hundreds of clips moldering in the attic from a past life).
How 'bout that.
5:06 AM
Which makes me both a blogettante and a--what?
Annie, Dave, Cal ... .
Yeah, all three awe me, also.
7:56 AM
Once, you reponded to a comment I made on another blog with "Dude, you should be writing for a living" ... to which I retorted "not enough time" which seems to be the point. I am fiercely jealous of Kriez, as I would really like to do a little surgery now and then.
8:51 AM
Hi, GN. Back from the grave, eh? I heard you were once again among us. Good thing, too.
I should clarify that I don't at all mind people writing. (Just as I hope Joe Gandelman doesn't mind me blogging.) My objection is to taking on the 'writer' label before it's been earned. Sort of like if I declared my intention to train as a firefighter some day but wanted to start calling myself a 'fireman' today.
Any and all are welcome to try out, but the title comes with succeeding.
8:53 AM
Reader:
For some reason I have you pegged as a poet type. You tend toward minimalism, you often stand just a few feet to one side rhetorically speaking, and sometimes I can almost hear you rolling the sound of a word around in your mouth.
Of course maybe I'm just projecting.
8:59 AM
Kreiz:
Thanks, man.
As it happens I also do a little surgery. Just the other night I poked a blister with a needle. If you knew my morbid terror of needles you'd know how bold this was for me. This puts me roughly on a par with my friend Scott the Surgeon whose specialty is repairing hands that have been horribly injured. Blister-poking, rebuilding hands from the bone up, it's all pretty much the same thing.
10:36 AM
GN, sorry- I was kidding. The closest I get to surgery is putting a bandage on my kid's finger. I do handle paperwork with surgeon-like precision, however. Not quite the same thing though....
11:48 AM
Kreiz - Ah, I remember holding the title "Dr. Daddy" for some time.
M. Tak - It is good to be back ... and just validate some of your core beliefs .... I saw nothing of the "Great Beyond" while I was in the abyss.
2:59 PM
Degrees of blogging? What if I'm so busy being a writer that I don't have time to be a blogger? Certainly that's good for some street cred.
What, commercial writers (i.e. copywriters) don't count? Damnit. Would professional word whore be an acceptable description? Given my blogging is the only type of writing I don't get paid for, wouldn't that make my blog a pro bono project -- perhaps tax deducible? Hmmmm...
7:18 PM
Alan:
Well, look who finally showed up after taking off two months to have a baby. Like it was any work for you personally. I'm betting you were in a bar a mile away drinking Scotch and trying to pass it off as an homage to 50's era fatherhood.
But congratulations just the same.
Ah, babies. Gross bodily functions, hideous noises and lousy timing all together in one package.
9:47 PM
Alan:
I believe I recall defending commercial writers, as writers, somewhere--your blog, maybe? Did I bring up David Ogilvy? Or am I just thinking that because I happened to (literally, really literally) stumble over my copy of his most well-known book and was considering blogging (yeah--in a minimalist way) the random page to which it had opened following my pratfall stumble over it.
All sorts of writing out there. Though I don't really identify myself as writer, these days (even though--and I'm laughing at this--some of what I'm getting paid for these days certainly involves writing), that doesn't mean I don't have a great appreciation for good and able practitioners in whatever category or subcategory.
I suspect you're very good indeed at what you do. I say that from an identity with which I do identify these days: that is to say, editor.
No conflicting feelings there.
9:58 PM
Alan:
You're a full-time, freelance writer, right? Incorporated in some fashion? (I'm not asking you to answer that.)
Actually, your blogging--at least some of the tools associated with it--may indeed be deductible, if not directly, then indirectly.
Or was that a rhetorical statement?
10:21 PM
Tak:
I'm not ignoring your comment. I'm pondering it.
2:40 PM
Tak: If only I'd considered the homage to 50's fatherhood ... although, knowing my wife, she'd be unappreciative of such performance art.
I have, however, successfully convinced her that two kids are enough. From now on, blog breaks will be reserved strickly for psychological breakdowns.
Reader: We did indeed once discuss the merits of commercial writing. I believe we agreed there can be art in any form.
As for deductions, you better believe the computer I blog on, the Internet access I blog with and the office space I blog in are all fully deducted every tax year.