Professional Blog?

[rolanni]

I'm in receipt of a suggestion that I consider launching a "professional blog," (presumably) for those people who don't want to have to put up with me blathering about my cats, or the topless joint in the next town. Since I like to talk about my cats, I'd not be viewing such a blog as a replacement for this one, but an addition, which means I'm trying to figure out if a "professional blog" would be worth the investment of my time.

The trouble is, I'm not certain what a "professional blog" would be, exactly. Regular readers of this journal will have observed that writing, as an activity, does not lend itself particularly well to narration.

Tuesday, sat on the corner of the couch, stared at the screen until drops of blood formed on my forehead, and 1,000 words thereby made their various ways from my backbrain through my fingers and filled up that terrible blank surface.

Wednesday, more of same.

Ho-hum.

Those of you who read authors' "professional blogs," can you either point me to such a creature, and/or tell me what you find interesting/informative/useful about such blogs?

Thanks!

Comments

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I like this blog just the way it is. I like hearing about the day job, the cats and some writing. All I can see as a professional blog would be "how to" lessons on writing and then you are not actually writing the books I (anyway) want to read.

Most other writer's blogs that I read are like yours, "a day in the life of ...". For that matter, most other people's blogs that I read are "a day in the life of" types whatever their actually occupation.

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[ckd]

I agree. I read writers' blogs for the "writer as a person" aspect!

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Also agreed.

[angela-n-hunt.livejournal.com]

I rather adore your blog just as it is. I think the only so-called pro blogs I know of are JA Konrath's at jakonrath.blogspot.com and possibly CM Priest's at cheriepriest.com.

But they also talk about their personal lives and Cherie blogs about her cat and fish.

FWIW, it's really a toss up.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Patricia C. Wrede has just set one up at
http://pcwrede.com/

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

Looks like someone has also set up an LJ feed for it at pcwrede_feed.

And answering to the original question, I prefer authors blogs that are a mix of personal and professional. So talking about cats and daily life is completely fine combined with the writing process for the latest book or whatever the author wishes to write down.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Here's my professional blog (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/). It's not so much a case of being professional as of not venting about peripheral stuff in a public space (which is what my LJ gets used for a lot).

[stitchwhich.livejournal.com]

First - your blog is YOUR journal. Folks who don't like the content can sod off - reading someone's journal is a priviledge, not a right. And certainly not an editorial right.

Second - every writer's blog that I've read has wandered from "strictly professional", covering only those things having to do with their work, to "free for all" stream of daily life comments and back again. One friend who is an author started with two blogs, as you are considering. She quickly decided that in the interest of her sanity she'd better go back to just one, as it turned out that she rarely wrote in either one - the self-imposed strictures took her out of the mood for blogging. Now, a year later, she's experimenting with it again but says she thinks it won't last.

The things that you see and experience are part of what shapes your writing. It seems to me to be a rare gift you give us in letting us observe that.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Shrug. I think Scalzi's Whatever is a professional blog, and he feels free to talk about his cats.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2006/09/13/clearly-you-people-thought-i-was-kidding/

Another good example is Jenny Crusie's:
http://www.arghink.com/

The thing I see about professional writer blogs is that they're exhausting unless you're a certain sort of person: if you're easily charming and funny and find that there's no limit to the number of words you have in you, it's a great way to blow off steam and increase visibility. If you don't have the extra energy, then put it where it counts.

[mardott.livejournal.com]

I like your blog just fine. I love hearing about the cats - you make me giggle at the thought of what's going on over there, and we all need more laughter in our lives.

The blogs that are 'professional only' end up talking about sentence structure and how-to whatever, and they aren't very interesting. I think the most popular blogs ramble a bit and include personal stuff. They also include the readers in some way - contests, give-aways, surveys, feedback. They might also have interviews with other authors or feature someone in a guest spot.

But you already do some of that and it can all be done in this blog. Look at it another way - if you split things up, then your readers will have to read TWO blogs to keep up. (Or three, if we also read Steve's blog. I'm assuming you'd collaborate on the 'professional' blog).

If I had my druthers, the "anti-blatherers" can just keep skimming through your blog to get what they want out of it. Makes my life less difficult.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

What they've said. The only one I've seen as what the requester probably thinks of as a "professional blog" is the SRM Publisher one, which you (plural) already have.

One writer whose blogs I read I read does have two blogs, and they are sort of separated into 'professional' and 'personal', but a lot of stuff does wander between the two in both directions and I can't always tell by the content which one it is (by the style I know who the author is without looking specifically).

It sounds as though they want to be able to filter out just the bits they want to read -- sorry, blogs don't work like that. In fact nothing works like that. If you started a "professional" blog (for instance putting the snippets there) most of us would just add that to our flists (if it were on LJ) or be upset if the information disappeared from LJ because adding feeds from elsewhere is a pain. Some of the other people I know who have both an LJ 'personal' blog and another one elsewhere I have effectively stopped reading because I seldom remember to check the other place.

Basically, if you don't have a use for it I'd say don't bother. If you do find a use for it (and having had the suggestion you may find one) then go ahead.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

I like your blog just fine.

There is only so much you can say about the business without repeating yourself eventually. And if one has to do that one might as well do it in an environment with cats....

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Every time I try to do a "pro blog," people start hollering at me to write about horses.

The intertubes are full of people talking about writing. They're all saying the same thing with minor personal variations, over and over and over. That topless joint in Vassalboro, those expeditions around Maine, and those big floofy cats are uniquely you. That's what we come here for.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a reader rather than a writer -- now that I do a lot of my book-reading in the form of e-texts, the most useful thing for me about an unfamiliar writer's blog or website is for providing links to samples of their work. (Since it's hard to do the "page 17" test on an unpurchased e-book.)

[lagilman]

I tried to do a "strictly business" blog. It bored me out of my skull, and got about 1/5 of the hits my LJ takes, so I stopped.

We write about characters. Why shouldn't our professional blogs have characters, too?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

In so far as I have a professional blog, it's the main page at cemurphy.net (http://cemurphy.net/), and what it really is, is the career-and-contest-only version of my regular blog, which is the LJ. Nobody there asks me to talk about my cats, which I more or less assume is because they're either already reading the mizkit blog, or they genuinely don't care, and only want the career-based info. Since I mostly cut and paste the entries, it's not a bother to maintain it, and I don't try to do anything at all like keep it on a daily basis. I've been managing about weekly, and am quite proud of myself for that. :)

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Why should you write only about writing??? Presumably the people you are trying to connect with are your readers and potential readers. While some of them may also be writers, unless you really want to run writers' workshops there is no reason to focus on that aspect of their lives. They may be writers for themselves, but to you, they are readers. And generally they will want to know about you as a person. You as a writer? They can read the books.

I follow several writer's blogs -- Robin McKinley, Joshilyn Jackson, Carolyn Cherryh, Lois Bujold. None of them talk much about writing per se. Deadlines, yes. Chapters that balloon into three chapters when they are supposed to be getting final edits, yes. Dogs, cats, koi, newts, remodeling, bell ringing, books read, operas attended, yes, and I love it.

Please don't waste your writing time doing a "professional blog."

Abigail

[victorthecook.livejournal.com]

I'm late to the party -- but you're doing just fine as it is. Every 'professional blog' I've ever seen from a writer looks much like what you're already doing: fed the cats, revised a hundred billion words, frantically proofed galleys against an impossible deadline, collapsed. Found a good book. That sort of thing. Don't sweat it.

[drammar.livejournal.com]

I agree with what other folks have said. I very much enjoy the tone and content of this journal — I like to hear about the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory, adventures (?) in the day-job and all the rest that goes into making Sharon a person, not just an author whose books I appreciate.

This blog makes you feel real to me although we've never met. You (and Steve too) allow us pull the curtain and find that the wizards behind the words are interesting people. In addition to that you've given honest insight to the profession of writing.

I do believe that most author's blogs (Scalzi's and Jan Burke's are the ones I'm most familiar with) cross back and forth between professional and personal constantly. And that's how IMHO it should be: your personal world is filtered through your professional eyes. You are not split down the middle; Sharon the person on one side and Sharon the storyteller on the other. Nor do I think your journal would benefit from being split.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

My two dollahs (price of gas has gone up):

I have a friend who is an author.
She has two blogs.
One is a "professional" blog.
Her regular blog contains information about her writing & books.
I only read the regular blog.
I don't even remember where the other one is.
Nuff said.

L.E. Modesitt jr

[muehe.livejournal.com]

http://www.lemodesittjr.com/blogs/blog/index.html

That is the only one I know of. Feels more like a commentary. He also has a forum. I check it every once in awhile. Yours I check almost daily. You know I use to read Steve’s – but your blog is more interesting. Even with the cats and the girl comics.

[starrcat.livejournal.com]

Don't change. Your blog is great.

Thinking

[muehe.livejournal.com]

So I went back and read about what the other people have been saying. We all seem to agree that we like yours just the way it is. But then (to be the devil), we are all regular readers of your blog. We are kind of partial.
So I guess the question is. Will this professional blog pull more customers in for you, more exposure, is it worth the effort you will put into it? You are probably already asking yourself those questions. So why am I even talking – got me.

[alienorade.livejournal.com]

All the author's blogs I read are a combination of story progress, miscellaneous about the art and craft of writing, and minutea of their life.

Some how, its just not as interesting to only get one and two without three--the three makes you actually realized that writers are Real People, and make it fun to read.

My two cents, fwiw.

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

This one is fine. I see no real need for anything else.

If by professional blog they mean a blog wherein the writer explains tricks of the trade then I guess this - http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/ - would be a good example, though it is a group blog not a solo one (and maybe they'd let you contribute I dunno, can't hurt to ask)

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with everyone else - your blog is great. I wouldn't look at a professional blog. There are a few author's blogs where I can't see what books they have in progress, and those make me a little grouchy, but yours is great.

B. O'Brien

[(Anonymous)]

Say what?

John Scalzi's Whatever (already mentioned above) won a Hugo and HE talks all the time about his kid and pets and books and politics and whatnot. Pfft. If he can get away with it, you can too.

Besides that, I like your blog just the way it is.
I feel like any contributions (verbal/electronic/whatever) we make to the comments help you and Steve write...and anything that helps you write means we get more yummy Lee/Miller fiction to read.

It's all good
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

[otterb.livejournal.com]

I also like this blog the way it is. But then, as someone else pointed out, those of us who are hanging around pretty much by definition like it the way it is.

Elizabeth Moon recently split her stuff out into several blogs dealing with different topics - one about the Paksennarion universe in which her new book will be set, one about her 80 acres land restoration project, and one on autism-related topics and The Speed of Dark. Plus a general LJ. I still cycle through and read all of them, but I can see that the topics are different enough that some people might not.

I dunno ... I can see the point in a professional web page, that has "just the facts, ma'am" about works in print, upcoming publications, universe timeline, sample chapters, etc. Like, say, the korval.com website. But I can't see there being enough new to say there to run it as a blog.

writers' blogs

[apolias.livejournal.com]

I followed Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon and Shondra Rhimes's(and all the Grey's Anatomy writers) blogs for a while. Jane detailed her lunch menus, who was walking the picket line with her and handed out specialized advice on script writing. Shondra and her crew were also focused on scripts, with emphasis on the story arc, keeping audience interest, and the problems of deadlines. (One of the Grey's Anatomy writers also delivered an excellent comment to 'spoiler whiners', which at one point I quoted.) I found a lot of it interesting, but the focus of the blogs and my interest did coincide exactly. I did enjoy many of the 'what I did today' parts just as much as many of the 'how I write' parts; which is also true of your blog. I think you should please yourself.

drops of blood formed on my forehead

[elgordo303.livejournal.com]

I thought your first cut at it was pretty funny and not at all "Ho-Hum"

You already do ...

[bonkabonka.livejournal.com]

I submit to you that the Liaden Universe Infodumps(tm) contain that portion of your blogging that is purely "professional". Perhaps refer them to an .RSS feed of those?

Professional Blog

[chipwyn.livejournal.com]

Looks like you are already doing such a blog over on Vox. It has just the facts, ma'am, and should suit all those who don't want the interesting stuff, like cats and new old table desks and the perils of the day job and so on.
I am with the multitude who read the "day in the life" style blogs--yours, Elizabeth Moon's (where does she get the energy?), Robin McKinley's are on my daily agenda.

Ew! Ew! I have an idea!

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Those tags you use - just create one called "professional" or some such, and label your posts here as you see fit. The suggester can bookmark your pro-tagged LJ, and only have to peruse those items that intrigue him/her. For example, I could bookmark "http://rolanni.livejournal.com/tag/carousel+tides," were that all I was interested in.

Tada! No more cats!

edit: to add a tag that actually has more than one post :o)

[taphien.livejournal.com]

I also like you blog the way it is!

Professional is as professional does, imho

[pakwa26.livejournal.com]

Leave it alone! If it ain't broke... I love your blog. I sometimes feel like I'm sitting in your living room in my best invisible suit, watching the cats run your world, and I love it... we're good friends, y'know, even though we've never met!

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

Liad is great - please keep writing it. But I read the blogs of PEOPLE, some are authors, some social workers, some ministers, some teachers, some mothers and homemakers. I think all of them like cats. What I'm trying to say is that I enjoy and read your blog because it is about YOU, not because you are a Famous Author (TM). Please keep writing as you do, you add interest, joy, and insight to my life.