All right, pop quiz! Everybody, listen up, ‘cuz this promises to be important. Someone, please tell me what a blog is.

(Yeah, I know, I should have warned you it’d be easy.)

Next question: Who writes blogs?

(That one’s little harder, you say? All right, I’ll tell you the answer.)

Writers. Writers write blogs.

(Ta-da! Congratulations! You’ve passed the quiz!)

Now, if we follow all this hard-earned logic to a naturally logical deduction, we might come to the enviable conclusion that since writers write blogs, writing blogs should be a whiz for writers? Yes?

(Didn’t lose you there, did I?)

Well, not to pop your balloon or anything, but… it’s not. For eons, this particular writer has been pondering the ubiquitous advice by sage marketing gurus that she should start blogging. “But what do I write about!” she whined.

(I’ll leave it to you to imagine the puppy-dog eyes and other heart-melting expressions that accompanied this plea.)

Unfortunately, no booming answer resounded from the cavernous depths of guru market-dom. So, our poor author was left to construct a blog from her own feeble skills.

(Which, I might point out, primarily consisted of making up stories about people who didn’t exist in places that didn’t exist. And since the nature of a blog is that it should be true, this presented a wee problem.)

She thought, What can I write about myself that other people could possibly want to read? I read and write. How can that make for an interesting blog? And then the apparently brilliant idea of a book-review blog struck her smack between the eyes. She did, after all, read right around 100 books a year. Surely, she could stock her blog with fascinating reviews. But not so. Why should people read her blog of book reviews when the Internet was jammed with reviews, most particularly from handy sites such as the illustrious Amazon.com. ‘Twas not to be. So… she had yet another idea.

(Brace yourselves, folks.)

If I can’t write about reading, what else shall I do but write about… writing! After all, what author doesn’t prefer to talk about his own writing in preference of someone else’s. Ah, the glory, the struggle, the joy, the tears! The writing life! She warmed to the idea quicker than flapjacks on a hot griddle.

And so, without further ado, may we present a brand spanking-new blog by yours truly.

(Coming to computer near you!)

Tell me your opinion: How has blogging helped (or hindered) your writing career?