Has blogging really changed the way we read/write?

Yes! Yes 100%!

Let's start with reading. Last night I finished reading a book called Rumble in the Bayou by Jana DeLeon. It was a *gasp* romancy book. In other words, it wasn't anything that I would have picked out for myself. Guess what. . . I LOVED IT! I mean, the character development was lovely and it was humorous and the dirty parts were HOTT! I felt like I really knew the characters. I even rated it at 85% on my awesomeness scale. I was shocked because, like I said, I wouldn't have picked it out for myself. I picked it up because I read about it in a blog and I thought I would give it a chance. Monday I bought a book from the library's sale because I read about it on a blog and it was sitting there like kismet.

Any way that you manage to get your name out there as a writer is good, excpet maybe a memoir scandal. Even then, I have seen an author's books fly off the shelves purely because there was a scandal. I still wouldn't encourage it. One of my favorite books that I've read so far this year is Looking for Alaska by John Greene. I would never have heard about it if it weren't for the blogs I read.

How does it affect the way we write? I think that writing a blog increases two specific stylistic things. The first is that it encourages a more personal voice. I love to write in first person. I love to play with the things a character sees and doesn't see, as well as the lies that tend to pop out in sticky situations. Since blogging, I think that I have improved my voice a little because it has become much more personal. The second is that blogging encourages some humor in one's writing. No one wants to read a boring snoring blog but, add a little humor, and you've got 'em hooked. Like my dig on mempoirs above. Of course, I'm the only one who realized that was a joike, right? I'm working on it!