Why Blog?

I've been blogging daily since last August at my personal blogspot, http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/, but before that I blogged weekly right here at Acme Authors Link.

Blogging takes a bit of time, not only in thinking up a topic, but also in making it sound intelligent and appealing to readers. Preparing the blog isn't all there is to it. After that, there's the business of getting everyone in cyberspace to know it's available. Depending on my subject matter, I send short messages to egroups I belong to, as well as ping.fm, mybloglog.com, and pingmyblog.com. Sometimes I don't get to all of the spots due to time constraints.

Right now I'm getting Killer Career ready for publication. With a full time job, my time is really limited. After it's ready, I still have lots of marketing ahead of me. I keep thinking I'll forget something important and it will be my downfall.

I've got Book Place to maintain and am a bit behind on that score. Also, I have a Library List to get out for MWMWA. With all that going on, I still take time out to blog here, at Make Mine Mystery and my daily blog, as well as at The Blood Red Pencil.

Why? For one thing, I enjoy blogging. I like visiting and meeting new friends and commenting on their blogs, although lately I haven't been able to do that as much as I'd like to.

Blogging is a great way to maintain discipline and keep up a writing habit. I believe that any type of writing helps develop skills and keeps the brain moving, sometimes in unexpected directions. Also, blogging gives me lots of Googles and lots of web presence.

The downside is blogging does take away from my manuscript writing time. Because of that, sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the wrong thing by blogging so consistently. Other times I think I'm doing the right thing because I'm doing what I want to do and when it's time to finish a manuscript I'll know it.

What about you? Is blogging a good or bad thing? Why do you blog? Please share