Maggie Gallagher, whom I agree with on many issues, wrote a line in her review of “Julie and Julia” that jumped out at me. And not in a good way. She wrote of the main character Julie, this line:”Julie is not even a writer. She’s a blogger.” (Her emphasis not mine)
What?
Well, unquestionably blogging and writing are not mutually exclusive as Gallagher is a writer who blogs at NRO. So clearly, as she is able to assume both monikers a blogger by definition can still be a writer. So maybe it’s when they’re just a blogger that they no longer qualify as writers.
So I have to ask Maggie Gallagher ‘What pray tell is a writer?’
Someone who writes something that many people enjoy reading? I’d ask Maggie Gallagher how many people need to read someone’s writing before that person can be considered a writer. 100? 1,000? 10,000? Please help me out here. I’m looking for a numeric distinction so I can put this issue to rest and prevent thousands of bloggers from falsely considering themselves writers only to find out from Maggie Gallagher later that they are merely pretenders.
Or is it a matter of money? Do you have to earn a certain amount before you’re considered a writer?
Is it perhaps it is the lack of a gatekeeper that bothers her? Is it the fact that anyone can coin a domain name and start writing…oh…I mean blogging at a site and nobody can say no to them? On this world wide interweb thing, there’s no grizzled old J-school graduate deciding who gets to write and who doesn’t. Nobody decides who gets hired and who gets fired?
Blogging is Darwinian. You put your stuff out there and live or die on your merits. There have been plenty o’ pundits and writers who have ventured into the blogging world and failed miserably.
And some of the best things I’ve ever read have been posted on blogs by gasp…bloggers. Someone should inform them, I guess, that they’re not writers. They’re just bloggers.
Now, I’ve earned a decent living writing for all sorts of newspapers and publications and wrote press releases for all sorts of organizations but right now I enjoy writing on the blog more than I enjoy writing anywhere else. It doesn’t really pay so great but I enjoy it. I still write for money elsewhere but I really can’t see how my being hired or not hired by a publication that may very well be out of business in a few years (at least partially because of blogs) as a distinction worthy of seeking.
It’s like someone from the buggy whip industry mocking Henry Ford as not a real transportation expert.
Are you telling me that Diogenes is not real writer but Jayson Blair is? Ed Morrissey from Hot Air is just a blogger while Howard Kurtz is a real writer?
Can anyone say with a straight face that IowaHawk is not a great writer? (This sentence is interesting mainly because it’s the first time “straight face” and “Iowahawk” were used in the same sentence.)
I don’t know why this ticked me off but it did and I just had to write about it…oh wait…I mean blog about it.
August 17, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Well said! Thank you!
August 17, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I think it must have something to do with having an editor. "Writers" who blog have crisp grammar, nice embedded links, timely topics of universal appeal, and an appropriate blog design.
Obviously there is a continuum, but I read some blogs that I know would be covered in red ink if anybody professional got ahold of them. Those folks are "just bloggers," and if their readers don't care, then nobody needs to look down their noses at them.
August 17, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Ah Evelyn! you may be on to something. Writers have somebody else to fix their terrible prose while bloggers don't.
By that logic wouldn't it be better to hire good bloggers so that you can have less editors?
August 17, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Hmm… I write, blog, and edit, with little distinction between the three. Where on the spectrum do chimeras appear? The Fearsome Wroggitor knows no boundaries.
August 17, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Ooh, love the new term "Wroggitor"!
This is an interesting post. What makes one a writer? I'll tell you, one reason I blog is to show my children that writing doesn't have to be this incredibly tedious process and can be done just for the enjoyment of it. I hope I'm teaching them that their thoughts and experiences can and should be put into words, maybe not for the whole world to read, but as a means of self-expression.
August 17, 2009 at 10:10 pm
*Gasp!* I'm just a blogger?!?
Thank God for that!
August 17, 2009 at 11:09 pm
As a real writer (who gets paid to write) I'll tell you that every stay at home Mommy with a minute between diaper changes taps away on her keyboard and considers herself a writer.
It takes far more than that.
I graduated from journalism school and work very hard on my craft -and make no mistake about it it is a craft.
What all these Mommies do is called journaling, except now it's online for everyone to read. It's chief attraction is voyeurism.
Just as everyone believes they can sing everyone also believes they can write. But give us some credit. We work hard on our craft and yes we resent it a little when anyone with a keyboard says they have as much claim to being a writer as we do.
The truth can be bracing. I do not intend offense. But for the sake of the language, some differentiation must be made.
August 17, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Okay, first of all, anyone can claim anything under an "anonymous" post. Get a handle if you expect credibility.
And I know mommies who balance typing with diaper changing who are published authors with considerable following. Is it the diaper-changing aspect that puts you off, Anon?
Or perhaps just being a stuck-up snob entitles you to the title "writer"?
As an English grad myself, I just ask that people used words the way their meant to be used:
Author: one who writes; specifically, books.
Columnist: one who writes columns or articles.
Playwright: one who writes plays.
Writer: one who writes anything (even if they're a SAH mom or dad).
Incidentally, by insulting stay at home parents, you insult not only the esteemed authors and readers of this blog and many others, but really wealthy pop authors such as Rowling and Meyer, who would no doubt laugh at you for your presumption.
So, brave anon, can you tell us what you really are, besides arrogant?
August 18, 2009 at 12:00 am
To anonymous:
It is not true that every Mommy blogger considers herself a writer. It is true that many Mommy bloggers enjoy the craft of writing and only have "between diaper changes" to indulge in it.
Also, I think Mommy blogging's chief attraction is connection with others, not voyeurism.
As for me, I do occasionally write well, but I never ever sing well.
August 18, 2009 at 12:55 am
Evelyn, you commented that real writers have editors, but bloggers don't. Honestly, as someone who has worked in editing, I have to say a person gains my respect as a writer when they don't need an editor. Yes, a second pair of eyes is useful, but the first pair of eyes, when used properly, accomplish a lot more. If someone's work is only worth reading after a third party has edited it, then why should the value be ascribed to the original author?
Anonymous, I think the term that you're looking for is "professional writer", not "real writer". Writer, grammatically, means "a person who writes" just as "reader" means "a person who reads". A "real writer", then is a "real person who writes", and this seems to be true of unpaid bloggers as well as you.
My two cents:
The root of the problem is the fact that our society ascribes prestige to writers based on an appreciation of the challenges and difficulties in writing well. However, this prestige is threatened by a massive expansion of the writing class. Therefore, established writers seek to set the bar as high as they can in order to maintain the prestige. The only solution this man sees is to stop relying on others' esteem. If I write something worthwhile and no one reads/appreciates it, then I have still written something worthwhile.
August 18, 2009 at 2:13 am
Anonymous,
But for the sake of the language, one must distinguish between proper grammatical English and mere hackery (note that I avoided the clumsy nominalization "differentiation" and the weak passive voice "must be made").
1. "It's [sic] chief attraction is voyeurism."
It's = it is. "Its" is the proper possessive adjective here. Did Journalism School teach this lesson? When I taught 10-year-olds, they picked up this point quickly…
2. "Just as everyone believes they [sic] can sing[,] everyone also believes they [sic] can write…We work hard on our craft and yes we resent it a little when anyone with a keyboard says they [sic] have as much claim to being a writer as we do."
Perchance heard of proper pronoun-antecedent reference? "Everyone" and "anyone" are singular; "they" is plural. And who is this mysterious "we"? Do you presume to speak for all professional writers?
Work on your craft. You need it. I suggest "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" or just any basic grammar text.
August 18, 2009 at 4:58 am
I've been following this discussion with interest and find, not surprisingly, that I have more to say, too.
Firstly, I'd like to point out that "blogging" is a new term applied to a new venue of written expression, i.e. "writing". The fact that the adjectives and verbs discussing the venue aren't very pretty words doesn't deny that, in fact, the people engaging in the practice are placing thoughts into a written venue, whether it be poetry, prose, or perhaps of a journalistic tone.
I could further point out that many "bloggers" are better journalists than those employed by our local papers. I remember being shocked in high school by the shoddy articles published in the Star Tribune; I saw in one paragraph errors that, if any of us had made them, would have cost us our grade.
I think any sense of "esteem" held by "professional writers" should be removed from the equation for even the so-called professionals don't actually warrant any degree of entitlement.
That writing is a craft is indeed something upon which we can all agree. Anyone who is SERIOUS about what they put to print is going to work on improving their ability to express what they want to express. Myself, I find that, after a few years of blogging, I'm a much better writer. (Oh, yes, I applied BOTH terms to myself!)
While, if someone asks, I do not define myself as a writer and will tend to default to "blogger", the reality is that I AM a writer for if I do not write, I could not exist. It is how I express myself, and in fact, ever since childhood, I've been a writer.
Now, being a writer doesn't necessarily make me an author, or a journalist, or a poet. "Writer" is a very broad term, and it's one I think many of of us can claim for ourselves.
Of course, I have published a few things, and I am working on a book or two or three…but that doesn't make me a novelist, either, although others in the same situation could claim that title, too.
There is one thing I'd like to further point out that has not been discussed: the writers of lore. Jane Austen. Charlotte Bronte. Stephen King. Shakespeare.
While they were working, they weren't recognized as "writers" and no one saw the need to define them as such. Yet, they ARE writers, aren't they? And if that is true now, how many years or centuries after their deaths (as applicable), isn't it also true that they were writers long BEFORE they were published and popularized?
So what makes bloggers any different? The ugliness of the word? Or the elitism of those who only WISH they could do as well as some bloggers who can write circles around them, even without the identical university degrees?
August 18, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I think that one of the things that has traditionally distinguished "writers" from "people who write but are not 'writers'" is external confirmation that other people find the work interesting and readable. The only option for this used to be getting published. E.g. if the editor of a magazine gave your work a thumbs-up and published it, it would be safe to assume that you're a "writer" — especially if you were paid for it.
That's still a good litmus test, but now we also have the option of being able to cut out the middle men of traditional media and attract readers on our own. I would say that if someone is able to put their writing out on the internet and attract readers (other than their mom and best friend), it's safe to say that that person is a "writer." Rather than having the term bestowed by a handful of elites, it can now also be decided by democratic vote.
Just my $0.02. Then again, I'm one of those mommy bloggers who taps away on my keyboard in between diaper changes. 🙂
August 18, 2009 at 2:50 pm
If being called a writer makes someone's day, then I'll let them have it. I feel pity that those who quibble for a title because what matters is the matter not the form, the substance not the accidents, the essence not the existence. In other words, flatulence won't smell like Channel no. 5 even if one were called a flatulator.
August 18, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I feel more pity for the people who quibble for the title and find the need to compare the work of others to "flatulence". I know quite a few "writers" whose work fits that bill quite perfectly. Guess the title doesn't really matter, does it? If it stinks….
August 18, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Just to be clear, I browsed whats on sale at Border's and couldn't believe that someone would actually publish certain works. There's a lot of blogs far superior and enjoyable than the trash in print, IMHO.
BTW, the Lord did not write anything either, except that one time in the sand.
August 18, 2009 at 6:19 pm
My two cents, my own venue. call me a blogger, call me a writer, call me what you will. I've been called worse.
man with black hat: Matthew’s Lament
August 19, 2009 at 7:20 am
Evelyn –
Can we count the hacks who make those horribly formed, poorly spelled, malaprop-filled monstrosities of prose something besides writers?
Me, I know I blog, but I'm not a blogger; I've written since I was little, but I'm not a writer. It has to be something major about yourself to "count" as an identity– I would say "does someone pay you for it?" but don't want to get into THAT argument….
So far as mommy bloggers go:
I'd read Erma Bombeck's blog, if she were around today instead of– what was that, the fifties? Sixties? If she were more my mom's age, than my grandmother's.
Wonder if Anon would consider her not a real writer, too…..
August 19, 2009 at 7:22 am
(Heh, on a side note, about research and citation: I do better research and citation than most AP articles, and that's with purely free sources and until-I-get-bored time. Kinda like how a lot of the early scientists were bored hobbyists.)
August 20, 2009 at 5:13 am
I like being a little snot. I usually snub other people or when I'm in a good mood, I just make a snarky remark. It's fun to be snobby and snotty. You should try it some time. People will fear you and you can get your way more easily in the workplace or anywhere.