I originally thought that 90% of bloggers would choose to read over write. Then I continued to think about it as I stared at this blank space with only a link intruding upon its white and it came to me that the percentage of those choosing to blog over reading blogs would actually be the higher percentage. Those who blog, even anonymously, do so because they want people to read their writing, their thoughts, their facts and feelings. It takes a bit of narcissism to be a writer and/or blogger. So I am going to be the statistic. The one who chooses to write over read.
To be a great writer, you have to be a great reader. To be a great reader, you don’t have to be a great writer. In any medium you choose to write, you have interests in reading. If you’re a newspaper columnist or journalist, you take interest in reading other journalists and columnists. If you’re an author, you take interests in reading other authors. Are there exceptions? Are there those who can be writers that take no interest in reading in the medium they choose to write? Of course. They are their biggest competition and inspiration. They enjoy their own writing and don’t choose to read in their medium because they don’t want to pick up another’s voice.
I would choose to write/blog over reading blogs. In my opinion, blogging even about recipes or movies and never about yourself, is still very personal because it’s your voice. You have to be careful when reading other bloggers that you don’t begin to mimic their style/voice. I need escapism and I love to write. I don’t have to read blogs in order to blog though. I can read magazines and books, news articles (yeah right*) and poetry.
I love all of you, but I would choose my blog over yours. Don’t shake your head at me, I know you’d do the same.
___________________
*So I have already discussed in a previous post on why I don’t follow the news, but I recently tried reading an article that caught my attention and it was about the boy at the Pittsburgh zoo whose mother held him up at the railing of the African Painted dog pit and he lunged forward and she couldn’t get ahold of him in time to keep him from falling in and was killed by the dogs. Heartbreakingly tragic, but the kicker of it and why I kept staring at the first paragraph is because it stated that the child believed there was Plexiglas barrier to protect him. The child was 2 years old. I don’t know if that line was coming from the journalist or what as it wasn’t very clear, but I have some questions. 1.) How does a 2 year old know about safety? 2.) How does a 2 year old know about Plexiglas? 3.) How can you tell me what the child was thinking at that time? To me it would have been “I want to pet the puppies!”, but I still wouldn’t be sure. I know it’s tragic, I could never go through something as losing a child, I’d be a fucking wreck, but where the hell was her common sense?? She’s not being charged, but the prosecutor is now figuring out if they can go after the zoo. The zoo should have had some damn signs up with a line through a woman holding up her kid at the railing.
I agree. Blogging is about relationships. We write because we want people to read what we write. Lets face it, we are all a little sad if we don’t even get one “like” on our posts… You can’t be a good writer without being a good reader, it’s the chicken and the egg, in a different setting,
I thin kI would choose writing, too. I mean, right now when I have such little time, i make sure to write my own post before I start browsing… and even then I only take time to read the blogs of the people I follow. I used to spend time on freshly pressed and peruse postaday and other tags, but right now, My priority is to write. But, not just for myself, but because I *think* my followers wait to hear what I have to say! Again – chicken or the egg???
You nailed it as I do the exact same thing! I think in the last 3 weeks I have checked out FP once or twice and each time it was only one post I read. Both times I went to FP were because I didn’t have anything to write (because I already posted that day) and I had caught up with all whom I follow. I would like to make it more of a point to check out FP, because I don’t want to feel like I am missing out on some really great bloggers.
Very good post. I’m a very good reader but can’t write even few lines and always end up reading other blogs. To be able to express your self is a good and rare quality.
Aww you’re so sweet. Thank you so much for reading.
I just think you have to find time to do both. Like anything in life, you need a balance. Reading and writing play off each other…
It was an (a) or (b) question. Yes I could have answered (c) all of the above, but honestly I think that’s a cop out. Which I admittedly pulled in my freshly pressed post which also happened to be a ‘daily post’ writing prompt.
Sorry. Just offering my opinion. Just doing the Modern Philosopher thing and thinking outside the box…
No apologies necessary. Did I come off mean? I love all opinions unless your opinion doesn’t agree with mine — er, I mean offend loads of people or myself. Thank you for commenting. And I think you’re absolutely correct that in reality we do make time for both and keep things balanced. Never feel like you can’t throw in your opinion here. I am highly opinionated so I appreciate all others.
This one’s been nagging me. I want to read people I’ve become interested in. I feel like if I want to be read, I need to have the decency to read in return – reciprocity and all that. But it’s getting so I don’t have the time, and hell yeah, I’d just write, every time. I’m not Buddha!
Hmm. You sure? Your belly is saying otherwise.
I think you’re spot on. Most writers are a little on the narcissistic end. I would definitely pick writing over reading if I had to choose. Although, I do enjoy reading other people’s blogs. It’s a snippet of something, rather than a whole fucking book about whatever. (oops) Can I say that here?
If you don’t read a lot of books, does that mean that you have a unique writing voice? I always wondered that. I’m sure whatever writing voice someone has sounds exactly like someone else on the other side of the sphere. No thought is unique, but delivery? That’s debatable.
Wow, for your last post you are being down right hypothetical here, my friend. I won’t tell.
See? My head is on Spin Cycle.
Ech.
??
It’s a sound that means *yuck*
Well then, ech you, too.
Ech off !
Ech this!
Acronym Definition; ECH: Emergency Command Hologram (Star Trek)
News to me!
In what universe would the original premise work? One is a denial of education (being unable to read others’ work as a means of learning technique, strategy, and craft) while the other is a denial of creativity. We learn from each other and then use what we’ve taken from the community towards our own endeavors.
Just sayin’…
That’s one way of looking at it. Look at the blogs that are self hosted and do not have the wordpress.com community, though. Look at Dooce.com who started her personal weblog in 2001 when no one knew what one was. In writing, think of the very first person to write a poem. Write a book. Become an author. Publish a magazine. Create the newspaper.
I don’t see denial of creativity in any of those. I also don’t see denial of education as many classic authors and poets were self-taught. If you locked a writer up in a room without any books and just a typewriter, could and would they not write? If you left an artist in a room with just canvases and paints, could he not master his skill without seeing other artist’s works?
But even self-hosted blogs depend on others, either as readers or as networkers.
Self-taught doesn’t negate reading others’ work. There is a natural talent, sure, but without other perspectives, that talent can stagnate pretty quickly. Nature abhors a vacuum, it is said, and I think creativity disdains isolation.
To quote a site on Emily Dickinson:
“However, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, like much about the woman herself, would remain hidden and mysterious until after her death. Only then would be published the poetry of a woman who spent many of her years as a recluse confined to her home. And only then would the woman who wrote “I’m nobody/Who are you? /Are you nobody, too?” attract the fame and admiration she probably never sought and definitely avoided during her lifetime.”
I think creativity comes natural, if not learned, and if natural doesn’t need an outside environment to support it.
To-may-toe. To-mah-toe.
Po-tay-toe.
” She’s not being charged, but the prosecutor is now figuring out if they can go after the zoo. The zoo should have had some damn signs up with a line through a woman holding up her kid at the railing. ”
When this happened I was livid, there are signs throughout the entire zoo telling you to not put your children on railings. I understand the child had a hard time seeing, but I freak out even putting my nephew too close. I feel awful, but I also feel awful for the zoo.
As for the writing, I need to let out my energies in which ever form it comes in. Writing, drawing, jewlery making, and sometimes being very overly dramatic, not acting, just being me. I dont know if I could just read someone elses, and not being able to be me and explode into the craziness of me.
I feel awful for the zoo, too. I would think they’d be prepared for things like this because they are dangerous places as much as they try to keep their customers safe. The liability insurance alone on a zoo has to be pretty premium. They’ll definitely be shelling out some money to the family, but how can you put a price on a child?