To Kill a Blog

So lately I've been considering killing the blog. And in a way, the idea terrifies me, because the old adage "publish or perish" is true, and in an age where people aren't reading books, the adage might as well be "blog or perish" and soon will be "twitter or perish" and I am sure this will all be replaced with an even more brief and perhaps visual way to communicate with each other. I do think people are reading more than they ever have, but I don't think they are reading books, and I don't think what we are all reading is very good. This blog is written in coffee shops, on busses, early in the morning before walking the dog. It is, as you know, rarely checked for spelling or grammatical errors. A book is thought through, over months, edited, rewritten, and then presented. A blog is "published" seconds after it is written. The writing life has changed. And my fear is the true craft is dead. There may never be another John Steinbeck, because the next Steinbeck won't be able to sell enough books to pay for a year or two of writing the next book. He'll need to speak, and in order to speak he will have to hire an accountant and a travel agent because God knows his creative mind can't manage a checkbook or get to Detroit by Thursday. And then he'll be treading water, not honing his craft. And he will never become the next John Steinbeck. So the question is, do you publish (blog) what people will read, or hone a craft and publish hard-earned books that may never be read? I'm leaning toward the good book unread.

So here's a question? What writers have you read this year who have no online presence? Does it honestly make a difference to you?