I'm a blogger who writes

Last week, @Modite posted, Bloggers Are Not Writers. I had an instant response to the title and the premise. She begins by asserting, "Bloggers pander to a crowd trying to satisfy the hive mind. Blogging is entertainment."

This was my response:

I could not disagree more.

There are many of us who write for the crowd and to entertain; however, I would dare say, the vast of majority of us, with our modest readerships, write for the pleasure of it. We have a point of view to express, and an audience who is willing to read it.

The rationale you presented would lead us to believe graffiti isn’t art, rap isn’t music and lockin’ isn’t dancing; thirty years ago, they weren’t considered forms of art or of having any artistic value. The standards, expectations and training for these genres is far different from their classical counterparts.

The fact that I’m an amateur, being neither published nor paid, doesn’t make me any less of a writer than someone who is. I write in a different genre. I am not a journalist, novelist, play write, poet or essayist. What makes the aforementioned anymore a “writer” than myself?

I am a writer. I hope my readers are informed, inspired and even entertained because that will keep them coming back. If that isn't the purpose of writing, then what is?