So is this blog a good or a bad thing?

.

I have a post I've been meaning to write a long, long time, and Edgy's "Okaaaaaaay . . ." comment seems to suggest that time has come.

For better or for worse, this blog has nearly entirely replaced my notebook-filling. It may be better because this way throwaway comments get immediate feedback and I can determine just how much they suck. It may be worse because practically all I write are throwaways--haven't finished any novels since Thmusings (née Tehachapiltdownman) started up. And worse than that, since these throwaways have been published online, I would feel a little plagiaristic if I later incorporated them into a book. The wonderful thing about notebooks is that ten years later, a little idea on a scrap of paper can become a witty thing just said by David Them. On a blog, it's something I've already shared and don't I have enough creativity to come up with something new?

Of course, even Charles Schulz and Shakespeare copied themselves. But I am better than Charles Schulz and Shakespeare.

(Aside: Since my blog does not go through forty-seven rewrites, severe thediting, or cruel fobberation before being published, it is also creating a sense of "Theric as Hack"--most of the world outside the reach of my former employer only knows my blogwork, and it is second rate indeed. So a question: is any exposure good exposure or would I be better off not blogging until after paper-publishing, thus retaining fans of my "good" work without polluting minds with poor writing? After all, I'm not sure anyone wants a book of Thmusings, and if they think this is all I write, why would they buy any book o' mine?)

Anyway, back to my first whine issue, most of the writing I do now is here, on Thmusings. And of course, it is good to write always and not faint, but am I spilling my seed on the ground, so to speak?

It's a hard question.

Perhaps I will return to it sometime....