Blogging or Writing?

Mike Duran has a post on writing and blogging:

Do you have Schizo-blog? Here’s some of the symptoms:

• You feel guilty for blogging because you should be writing your novel
• You feel guilty for writing because you haven’t updated your blog in a week
• You feel guilty prioritizing one over the other because with some creative management, or self-discipline, you should be able to do both

Please note that the common denominator of Shizo-blog is “Guilt”. Closely related to the guilt of Schizo-blog is the guilt you may be experiencing as you read this — because you probably should be writing. I haven’t found a name for that condition yet, but I suffer the symptoms as well.

I know that feeling.  He then talks about whether a writer should be blogging.  A while ago, I let this blog languish while I worked on my writing.  It still hasn't recovered from that.  But I thought that writing, and getting published, was more important than this little, low-traffic blog I had going here.

Which is why this part of Mike's post caught my attention:

But there’s something else I can’t deny: Despite the demands it creates, blogging can really benefit an author. That’s the conclusion I reached in Blogs and Brands. A writer’s books support his blog, not vice-versa. Your blog does more to further your “brand” than your novels do. Of course, this shouldn’t diminish the necessity of a good book, but heighten the importance of a good blog.

I actually hope that's not really true.  I'd prefer for my books to define my brand, not my blog.  But it's hard to deny that readers connect more personally with a blogger than with a writer.  And that personal connection can be parlayed into getting people to buy your books.