(Blog as a verb? I love the English language.)

Lately — and by lately, I mean for months now — I’ve been thinking about why I blog and wondering all over again what I ought to be blogging about.

Apparently, judging by the plethora of posts on the topic available in the blogosphere, as a writer — an unknown, as-of-yet unpublished novelist — who maintains a blog, I must ask myself some questions. Who’s my current blogging audience? Who’s my intended audience? What’s my platform? What makes me unique? What are my strengths and weaknesses? Then there’s the other advice, reminding me I ought to be publicizing myself, advertising myself, developing a brand as an author and a platform. Be active in the social networking scene! Then there are the corresponding questions — what about Twitter? How involved should I be, what should I be tweeting about?

All of that is a bit overwhelming. There’s a pressure that’s developed as a result of becoming more active in reading and responding to the community of writers out there in the world of the Internet. A pressure to add my voice to the group, to be as active, fun, and engaging as some of the stars of the YA blogosphere. I’ve spent the last few years prioritizing my novels, not keeping up with the Joneses, so now that I’m looking around… I’m not sure what to do. Where I fit in. How high school!

Then I found this post by YA author Hannah Moskowitz last week. She hit on a lot of different topics. The comments delved even more deeply. I’m fascinated by the whole discussion, all sides of it.

My take away on the whole discussion is… why am I obsessing about the blogosphere and my [nonexistent] place in it when I ought to be — as I’ve been doing the last few years — prioritizing my novels? Worrying about how often I blog, what I blog about, who I’m following and keeping up with on Twitter — these are not things that will help me write. But on the other hand, I love being a part of a community on Twitter. Writing (and publishing in general) can be a solitary profession and as Jessica of BookEnds, LLC pointed out the other day, Twitter serves as a fantastic industry watercooler. But just as a real office watercooler is a break from the monotony/reality of the “real job” at one’s desk, that’s how I regard Twitter. It’s a break and it can’t let it become a distraction.

The blog, to some degree, should be something of the same for me. When I was a teenager first starting to read YA (and the Internet was still in its relative infancy), I only looked up writers on the Internet because I wanted to read more about their books. Were there planned sequels? Were there deleted scenes or fantasy world tidbits available? Now, author sites are so much more, and so incredibly different from one author to the next. But what’s stayed the same is that what I love most about my favorite author sites: they’re quintessentially reflective of their authors’ tastes and interests.

So, that led me to thinking: what are my tastes and interests? What do I like blogging about? What’s… me?

I love telling stories. Anecdotes. Rambling. Pondering. Riffing on random subjects (like this one?). The occasional rant (which I differentiate from a riff by the level of vehemence). I love getting nerdy in a literary criticism way. I’m incapable of writing a blog entry shorter than a thousand words, which can be time-consuming. Bottom line: I like blogging when I have a topic on which I’ll happily spend a thousand words, but because of that, I can’t expect myself to blog daily, or even very frequently.

I think I may do what Jodi Meadows decided she needed to do the other day: take a break from the Internet and work. Get the next big hurdles done on the rewrite I’m in the midst of (which has only a working title that is lame, not a real title, because as you all know I am terrible with titles) and then start focusing on the next step(s) for Bound Between.

I will be maintaining the blog and updating Twitter and obsessively checking email (so don’t be shy about poking me), but it’s going to drop down on the priority ladder. My first is writing — always writing. Immersing myself in my worlds. But when I need a break, I’ll return to the virtual watercooler. With any luck I’ll find my happy medium.

What do you all think about your balance of virtual watercooler, blogging, and work? Have you found your happy medium?