I’ve been writing on the web for 10 years now. Ten freaking years. And I can’t believe we’re still having some of these same conversations. I’m tired of the tedious discussions, I’m tired of the lazy logic, I’m just tired of seeing the same old tired arguments come up over and over.
- Bloggers and journalists are not the same thing. Some journalists have blogs. Some bloggers have journalism training. A blog is a platform, blogging is the act of putting stuff on that platform, be it journalism, narrative, photography, or divisive meaningless crap. Got a blog of your own or are you contributing to one? You’re a blogger. Have fun.
- If you take a press trip, you’re a shill. Fine, whatever. Don’t take press trips and don’t read stuff by people who take them.
- You shouldn’t write for free. It’s your call, I’m not going to make it for you. If you want to give your work away, go right ahead. I can’t afford to write for free, I’d starve. If you can, you’re in a more enviable financial position than I. Enjoy.
- Travel writing isn’t journalism. Anyone who says this isn’t doing much reading. Some travel writing is journalism, some is story telling, some is how-to. It comes in a bunch of flavors, it’s not a one size fits all thing. Go to the library, already, and read something.
- Travel writing is hard work. Who cares about this? Not the guys who put the roof on my house or the woman driving the bus I took downtown or the baggage handlers at the airport. Cry me a river.
- Content farms are evil. No kidding. Get back to me when you have a strategy for building up the equivalent of farmer’s markets for writing. Until then, don’t write for content farms, don’t syndicate their material, don’t use websites that focus on content farming strategies. And hey, friends don’t let friends read or write farmed content. Step away from the processed words. Those things are full of high fructose corn syrup. No one needs that in their diet.
- Tourists are bad, travelers are better. Fake distinction, I’m sick of hearing about it. Get over yourself.
- SEO is killing the web. I hate the SEO game as much as anyone, maybe more. But you know what works better than Google for finding meaningful information? Asking people who are experts. Librarians. Readers. Fellow travelers. Think outside the Google. And write outside the Google too. Or, feed the Google monster, go ahead. Ranting about Google isn’t going to make it go away, so I’m going to go around and ask humans for advice. I said “I’m going around.”
- You should unplug when you travel. Yeah, and I should eat liver because it’s high in iron. Do what you want, I’m going to go meet some local folks I found online. You can join me; it’ll be fun!
- I’m not a writer, I’m a blogger. Are you using written words to express your ideas? That’s writing. Are you really making excuses for the quality of your writing? Because hey, maybe you ought to work on that instead of wasting time on labels. If you don’t think you’re a writer — or aren’t at least aspiring to be one, maybe you should stop writing.
That’s it. I’m done with this little alienation spree.
Are you reading my mind? Number 7 is particularly annoying. I always think it’s sounds like something a teenager would say.
I plug in, I’m a tourist, I take press trips, I’m a blogger, I’m a writer. SEO is my friend.
You write awesome rants.
I think I’ll just ditto Kara.
Onward- with haste!
I think any profession can be hard or easy, depending on how much of yourself you pour into it.
Travel bloggers who write post after post of “Travlign is FUN!!11! LOLZZzzz” and are willing to sell their soul for a free appetizer will never find their work difficult.
For dedicated wordsmiths like yourself, it will always be difficult, because you will be constantly raising the bar of what you consider good work.
Roofers may not known travel writing, but they should understand the difference between a hack and a true craftsman.
Ryan, I think it would be NICE if roofers knew the hack/craftsman distinction. This is NOT a sweeping generality about the literacy of roofers – I think it would be nice if ALL readers knew the distinction. But I don’t expect it. And I don’t expect sympathy for my “hard word” because hey, relativity is a bitch.
Heh. Awesome t-shirt slogan.
Impressed the hell out of me with its lucidity … it did.
Nice rant, Missy.
xx
Thank you, Pam. I, too, get tired of the same old arguments getting knocked around the web every month. Got to quibble just a tiny bit with #10, though–not all bloggers are writers. Some are photo bloggers, making them photographers primarily, and some are vloggers, making them….er…videographers, I guess?
Conceded. If the blog doesn’t use words, the blogger isn’t a writer.
I don’t really get to write about these meta topics having to do with blogging on my site so it’s really nice to have someone else cover them – and so well. I’m especially on board with number 10.
Last time I checked, Internet was pretty darn big – room for all of us I think.
The big issues in the media today are economic.
Yes, a blog is a platform, but the platform has important economic implications.
A writer is someone who writes for someone else for money, either as a freelance or staff writer. When someone says “I’m a writer” I assume someone pays them for writing, even if they are writing for a blog.
When someone says “I’m a blogger” i assume they own and operate their own blog, even if they are writing text for the blog.
There is obviously some overlap between the two, and someone can be both a blogger and writer, but there are important business distinctions between the two.
At TBEX, when I said “I’m not a writer”, what I meant is that I am not paid by someone else to write for their publication, not that don’t put my hands on a keyboard.
We don’t have a good vocabulary to distinguish between the diverse range of people who are littering the media landscape now.
If I respond, I’m going to have to eat my words. After all, I said I was done talking about this. So I’m not going to respond to the writer/blogger thing.
But I am going to say how amusing I find this choice of words: “littering the media landscape.” That sounds like
a) something a writer would say (does that count as a response?!?!)
b) something we need a cleanup crew for.
Thanks for the comment.
I loved this line: “And hey, friends don’t let friends read or write farmed content.”
Gary, I disagree with this line: “A writer is someone who writes for someone else for money…” What if the person is writing a novel or poetry and has not yet been published? I’m not trying to be nitpicky – I really want to know.
I was in a similar discussion about being a musician the other day. I think a musician is anyone who makes music. A *professional* musician is someone who is paid by someone else for making music.
Thanks for this. It was rolling around in my head, only I was using the visual artist analogy. Now I can REALLY go back to not talking about it anymore.
A person who writes poetry or novels for themselves is called a “waiter” or “waitress”
LOL. Want fries with that?
I really was an artist, for many years, quite serious. I made almost no money, most of the art hangs in my house. It’s a valid analogy, as is the musician one.
Though I play music with Lori. She’s a musician, I’m a “musician.”
Pam,
You crack me up! In a good way of course.
I’d leave a comment agreeing with you, but I’m done talking about it too! 🙂
While I don’t necessarily agree with very much of what you’ve said (in fact, I outrightly disagree with quite a few things you’ve said!), I’m very understanding of the need to rant. More importantly, I know that sometimes ranting isn’t enough to make one feel better.
So we should probably hang out and eat doughnuts. That will solve all your problems, I promise. 🙂
Anywho, don’t worry – regardless of what others think, your blog will always be yours. That’s what I remind myself when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the stupidity in the world.
Speaking as a journalist and a blogger, the common bond that unites us is low pay. I will not continue this rant, as I am on deadline and need to get back to work.
Congrats on ten years of writing on the web!
I guess I don’t think we’re united by low pay. Some writers will take that super low pay work, I won’t do it. Some travel writers make a good living, though I do think they are increasingly rare, sadly. I make a pretty decent living as a writer, though I’m a technical writer most of the the time and a travel writer hardly ever.
I just want to say YES! and hope that doesn’t count as further discussion.
I think the bottom line here is to just do what you want and stop worrying about what everybody else is doing. Just do you. Thank you, this was awesome.
Wonderful to read your rant. Particularly wonderful to see that your words stirred up the stew. Maybe something you should consider doing more often, or what do you think?
Opinions. I haz them. Also, I change my mind. A lot. So I try not to do this TOO often, I’d hate to have to eat my words.
Agree with all but 1. There is definitely a difference between a traveler and a tourist, well at least in my humble opinion. But, otherwise AMEN SISTA!!!!!
A-hem. See above. Or, perhaps you’d like to discuss this with commenter the first, Marie.
LOL. I look forward to the day that we have “farmers markets” for writing. Sounds so delicious and sustainable. Love it.
I do love your rants. This one is particularly good.
For the record, I don’t really consider myself a blogger or a writer. I have a professional life and my blog is my hobby. I wonder: does that make me a hogger? or a bloggy? or maybe a hob-blog-lin 🙂
Michelle, aren’t you a published book author? Am I mistaking that? And you STILL don’t think you’re a writer?
Pam said:
“And I don’t expect sympathy for my “hard word” because hey, relativity is a bitch.
Heh. Awesome t-shirt slogan.”
Nice! But, if we’re being truly relative, shouldn’t you say that relativity is *your* bitch? :-p
11. Please stop mentioning bacon. Zombies, too.
That is a legitimate request, though bacon is an essential part of any good road trip. I’m going to have to think this through.
Great rant! I don’t really think you’re going to alienate too many people by talking such common sense. Surely!
Ummm…I don’t know what content farms are and I don’t know anything about SEO. And I didn’t know that most of the things you are writing about issues.
I think that there is a very good possibility that I am clueless and that there are advantages to living isolated in an olive grove.
Oh, Maryam, I envy you. SO much. Also, I am planning a rant free retreat in your olive grove some day.
Well said–great points. #1 is my biggest pet peeve. I read recently that over 50% of bloggers consider themselves to be journalists…yikes.
Human beings are obsessed with pigeonholing. it’s how we do. And how we feel important, and define Other.
Having said that pragmatically with a weary C’est La Vie shake of the head – most of these things p*** me off as well. Especially as they’re so often based on ill-defined terms like “tourist”, and “blogger”, and “free”. When the definitions are as slippery as soap in the rain, these arguments will continue (mainly because hey, we love the sound of our own voices).
But there are no Universal answers, therefore they’re not really worth arguing about – and too often, they’re not discussions, they’re *arguments*. Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt Not, Thou Art Burning Thine Bridges, etc.
Which is infuriating. We’re better than that, surely? We recognize that everything in flux so there are few rules and they’re all up for redefinition on a case by case basis – surely?
If you don’t rant like this in person, I will feel cheated and not invite you for Dim Sum again. ‘Kay? 😉
I rant like this in person. Only privately, over dim sum, almost exclusively. Not in crowds. If I ranted like this in crowds, no one would talk to me, ever.
Great rant, I would have to agree with everything you said. I like your comment about asking people rather then depending on google for all your answers. I will always ask people I know about a travel destination before I visit, then Ill use google to find directions and deals but not to find where I should go and visit.
Ok, you got me on this one. I am now officially your slave. Well, maybe not slave so much…
Look “they” say that the thing that separates US from THEM is our thumbs. Nope not so. It’s the right to change our minds. It’s the ability to be convinced that we could have another POV and still survive.
But it is ranting (passion driven expression) that makes it all happen. Forget about people who cover their eyes and hearts.
“If you came to your opinions without logic, no amount of logic will talk you out of them.”
Ranting is good. It is the self rightgeous, self obsessed that make having a rant every now and then so important to the survival of our species.
Besides I agree with you.
I don’t really feel right about having a slave, but I could use some landscaping.
You didn’t say this, but I love the idea that ranting is Darwinism. Yeah, I made a little leap there. But the implication is that ranting (or getting different spots) helps us evolve and therefore, survive. I like that.
In my view, ranting-serious, humorous, or otherwise cantankerous is part of life. if nothing moves me from my standing position, how will I know that I am different from a telephne pole? Yes, Darwin fits here.
I. love. this. Thank you Pam!! I would single one of the ten out, but I think they’re all my favorite to hate.
simply put: genius.
Hahahaha excellent post! How do you add to that! Just brilliant.
Ah Mara-it’s your blog, you can write about whatever you want to write about 🙂
I’m late enough to the party here that just about anything I’d say here would amount to a “me, too”…so I think I’ll just take a page from your book/blog/whatever, Pam…and say I’m done discussing certain subjects 🙂
BTW, congrats on 10 years of writing on the web. I’m very quickly approaching two years with my blog, so 10 still seems a good way off from this vantage point.
Can I get a “whut whut”?