As some of you know, I have been blogging for quite some time. I started at The Big Stick and was eventually invited to join The League of Ordinary Gentlemen as a regular contributor. The question remains though, does a hobby as an unpaid blogger make one a writer?
In a recent interview, author Steven Pressfield was asked, “At what point can someone who writes call himself a writer?” His reply:
“You are a writer when you tell yourself you are. No one else’s opinion matters. “
For a number of personal and professional reasons this is the right time for me to see how far I can take this hobby. It’s time to start thinking of myself as a writer. Looking towards that goal I have been advised to create a ‘platform’ where people can see all of my work in one place. Today I am launching a new site.
Since my audience here are blog readers I am not going to go into a much detail about the site. It has most of the usual features; a blog, a portfolio page, contact and social media links. I would encourage people to add the blog to their feed readers and visit me through Facebook and Twitter. I am still getting the hang of Twitter but I am mostly trying to use it to share content from other sites that I think my audience will enjoy. My only request is that if you like what you read, please share the links with your friends so that I can start to build a larger audience for my work.
As for my writing here at the League, I have no plans to slow down or stop posting. This site is where my heart is and I hope to be around for a long time. The new site will feature some original and also links to what I am writing here.
I also want to take the opportunity to thank my fellow Leaguers, especially Erik, Mark, Tod and Patrick for giving me a place to develop further my voice as a writer and to match wits with some of the smartest commenters on the internet. I hope I continue to deliver work that people enjoy reading.
Hope to see you all at the new site and feedback is appreciated.
Mike,
I think you need to fix the link.
(Sorry to start your new adventure out that way! Good luck; I’ll have to pop in sometime.)Report
Thanks! Fixed it.Report
Good luck Mike. My favorite definition of what it means to be a writer is this: someone who writes. Someone who can’t not write. Who likes to write. Who, you know, actually writes.
You’re also pretty dern good at the writing thing.Report
Good luck, Mike. I’ll add your site to my feed, but unfortunately, I don’t really do twitter or facebook.
As for the question you start with, I sometimes ask this in terms of “who can be a historian?” My short answer is, anyone who does history. But that leaves unanswered the question of what doing history is. I’m fine with that. I’ll call myself a historian even if I never get a professorship.
Again, good luck!Report
Bets o’ luck Mike.Report
One of the best things about TLoOG has been its role in facilitating just this transition for a number of its contributors. It’s really remarkable what this thing Erik, Mark, Scott, Chris, et al. started four years ago has blossomed into.
Best to you as a writer, Mike.Report
Mike, I like the clean layout a lot. Best of luck.Report
I concur with Dr Glyph. Very clean and approachable. I plan to be a regular reader.Report
Looks awesome Mike!Report