Well, I post this to you and the link from which this came to me, through Jonathan Fields @http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/playing-writer-god-with-bloggers/

First off, I think you both can turn a phrase pretty.

That said, you have missed what to me is the more salient point: “It’s as if culture froze just before it became digitally open, and all we can do now is mine the past like salvagers picking over a garbage dump,” Lanier writes. “Creative people — the new peasants — come to resemble animals converging on shrinking oases of old media in a depleted desert.”

This, what Lanier points to, is not about writing per se. At least that is not how I am reading Lanier’s quotes. It is an indictment on society, culture and values. He uses blogging and writing to point us to a bigger topic: how we create value and ourselves socially.

I find it interesting that the he said she said about blogging and writing digressively clouds us from speaking to, envisioning and creating digital culture that values expression, creativity, connection that is sincere, creative and not merely market driven. Instead, we are lost debating whether or not blogging is writing.

So, to us all:
“… (L)et’s give credit where it’s due – to the true writers, journalists, novelists, reporters, columnists, and others who inspire us to boil their ideas down in an effort to hold onto them just a little longer.”

When you talk about writers, technically Dickens and, as someone mentioned, Shakespeare were hacks of their day(s), quickly producing written works meant to entertain the masses. There are always gems in the rough, and the blogosphere is likely to yield some truly memorable writing. The trick is finding it. Personally, I’ve found this blog (and the book) to be very engaging and extremely useful. It’s helped me to open my eyes to a new world of communication, since I come from the 2.0 model. With your encouragement, I’ve joined the blogging masses, and hope that some of my writing will find its way to a new audience—and teach me more about what I have to say.

Bottom line is, discussing whether a blogger is a writer is kind of like asking if a Pekinese is a dog. If you’re a Doberman or a Lab lover, it may not be the kind you like, but it is still a dog. And many people love them!

I am the egg that created the chicken or the chicken that created the egg. Damn, can’t ever remember which came first.

It strikes me that writing is about communication which, surprisingly, is what blogs and tweets and all those other social media tools are about. Writing well is pointless if you don’t communicate well through it and I’ve known a number of people who were great writers but couldn’t communicate through it to save their lives.

As far as being popular goes, Shakespeare was a pandering populist and I’ve heard from a number of reliable sources that he still managed to be held in fairly high regard, as was some guy named Dickens.

It is incredible hubris for someone to think that because they write for an elite group of self-anointed “real” writers that their work will somehow manage to escape history’s trash heap.

That is my long winded way of saying I agree with you. It’s also my pontificating rant for the day.

My definition of art contains three elements:

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

Enough said!!