A brief report

Not a lot to report from this weekend's National Writer's Workshop in Seattle, a gathering primarily for working professionals (journalists, mostly) and students.

The panel discussion I headed up with Tom Brown on blogging was a modest success. We had about 30-50 people in the room as we discussed how and why blogs matter, especially for journalists. A number of them seemed to have trouble wrapping their brains around the whole blogging concept, but most were receptive and contributed some excellent questions to the talk.

Probably the best question was from someone wondering how blogging could make them a better writer. My answer: It won't necessarily, except to the extent that just the act of writing itself makes you eventually better. I used my own work as an example; much of the time I use the blog to keep my writing gears turning, especially when I'm in the middle of another project. I've found that the sheer discipline of big projects can be stultifying and causes my gears to jam up; at those points, I'll often turn to the blog so that I can think about something else, albeit briefly, and pound out a post or two. This keeps me writing and the words flowing, and when I return to my project, I'm often fresh and ready to go again.

Of course, blogs -- much like journals -- also give you a chance to work out some of your worse writing habits, and refine your techniques, and in that regard I think they also help make you a better writer.

In any case, it was a fascinating workshop. Of course, I couldn't attend everything, but I found those sessions I made it to well worth the time. Charles Pierce made a great presentation at the keynote speech; Tim Egan gave a really useful workshop on how to turn from journalism to book writing; Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times gave a witty and fun presentation on film criticism; and two of Seattle's finest local columnists, Robert Jamieson and Joni Balter, were spot-on in discussing the finer points of opinion writing.

On a personal note: Charles Pierce is every bit as charming and smart as he appears in print, and it was a real pleasure meeting him. Likewise with Elvis Mitchell, whose massive dreads were almost as impressive as his obviously penetrating intellect.

A nice weekend, and I was honored to take part.