When I searched online for “what are bloggers”, this is what I found,

Blogger : a person who keeps and updates a blog

Considering all we do, I found that to be pretty nondescript, and in some ways almost like an insult.

Now, if all I did was listen to the news, I would think bloggers are far left/far right wing radicals who trash political figures in the name of “first amendment rights”, with no concern of legal ramifications.

However, where I travel in blogosphere I land on pages like this one titled, Morning Muse: Writers Block, Pass the Windex written by Davina.

Feeling virtuous for being here this morning at this time, yet the writing reflects no virtuosity. Inspiration interrupted and dead to appreciation, I’m awash with writer’s block.

Discontentment creates unwelcome impressions on the snowy white page before me. Polluted thoughts cast shadows over inspiration….

Knowing I landed on a blog, my first thought is, “She’s more than a “blogger. Davina is what I would call a “writer”.”

Today’s Lesson

So, what is a blogger?

Is a blogger a writer? Is a blogger someone who goes online to freely voice their opinion? Is a blogger a blend of many things? And, can we be a blogger, but not be a “writer”?

Although I’ve written hundreds of letters (both personal and business), wrote speeches for corporate executives, dozens of paragraphs in employee manuals, enjoy putting pen to paper and have been told I have a gift for the written word, I’ve never considered myself to be a “writer”.

My definition of a writer is someone who knows how to tell a tale by keeping us captivated with each word, leaving us with a longing for more.

When I blog, I don’t write to captivate my audience, but instead I write to share knowledge. And, knowing many will scan my writings/lessons, I’m more concerned with getting to the point than spinning a yarn.

Confused as to how I would define myself, I checked how Wikipedia defines a writer. Here’s what they say:

Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.

Although Wikipedia is not the best source for definitions, I found this one to be so broad, my grandchildren would be classified as writers.

Digging a little further, I looked at two other examples.

Journalist

A journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren’t biased.

Reporter

A reporter is a type of journalist who researches and presents information in certain types of mass media.

Since journalists and reporters attempt to be unbiased, even though bloggers “gather and disseminate information”, many bloggers are quite opinionated so even those definitions might not apply.

So what are we?

Are we writers who blog? Biased journalists and/or reporters? Left or right wing radicals/non-radicals who practice our first amendment rights?

Or are we just bloggers – “people who keep and update blogs”?

I don’t know about you, but I know I’m more than that.

Today’s Assignment

If you had to define what a blogger is, what would you say?

What do you call yourself? A blogger? A writer? A journalist? Or something else?

Raise your hand, share your thoughts and let’s see if we can come up with a better definition of what a blogger is.

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We often talk about being authentic with our blogging. You know, do your own thing, don’t follow the crowd, write from the heart, etc…

But sometimes when we’re blogging we come up with ideas that just don’t make the grade.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my share of ideas that went bust, as well as mistakes I willingly admit to.

Today’s Lesson

When I first started using affiliate ads, I signed up for dozen of companies. Some were companies I had heard of, some not. As I wrote in the Pick Your Advertisers Carefully post, I had chosen an advertiser based on their name. I thought they sold classy wedding favors, when in fact, they sell kinky brides and bridesmaids gifts – not the best choice for my blogs which are rated PG.

Four months after I started blogging I was having problems with my blog. Long story short, I decided to “clean up” my WordPress FTP files. Don’t ask “why”, but I deleted my “wp-config.php” file and crashed my blog. Thankfully I had done complete backups and my host was able to restore it for me.

In the early days of blogging I had the mentality, “if you build it, they will come”. They didn’t. It wasn’t until I got out there, started commenting on other blogs that I began to get noticed.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I was too stubborn to ask for help with my blogs. Instead of posting a question on another blog or forum, I would struggle to learn how to do it on my own. Although I eventually learned enough to get by, by not asking for help kept me from actual blogging.

Early on I decided I would start a page and call it “Blogging Buddies”. On that page I would record a link to every person who commented on either of my blogs. I kept it going for almost a year, but due to the excessive amount of time I was spending on keeping it updated, I took the page down.

And then there was the time I didn’t check my spelling close enough. In a post titled, I Can’t Believe I Said That I detail how instead of typing “publically” I typed “pubically”. One missing letter changed the whole meaning of the word. To top it off, I had done this when I commented on a corporate blog. Oops! Fortunately it was on a blog that belongs to a blogging buddy and everyone had a good laugh.

So there you have it; my confession to some of the things I did wrong.

How about you?

Today’s Assignment

What has been your biggest blogging mistake?

Have you tried an idea only to have it bomb?

Raise your hand and share a blooper or two.

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P.S. Have you seen John Hoff’s blogging blooper post? In his article titled, How To Install WordPress – Outtakes  & Deleted Scenes, he shares a video of how his video takes don’t always work as planned.