one thing a successful writer learns, whether that success is local in a small town or national, is they represent the thoughts and feelings of their readers. i am constantly congratulated for my letters to the local paper; read by a few thousand people, the words strike a chord with friends and neighbors. i have the ability to use words to say what others around me are thinking and feeling. i never write with that in mind; it's just a fact of my life that i am in tune with so many people here in Corvallis.

Liza & Lorraine and a number of the writers here at CK are in that same position. the website is doing well because the writers here speak for their readers. i don't mean this as in "preaching to the choir" (although any successful advocacy writing will always have a lot of that gong on). when Liza discusses the activities she's involved in, or shares her observations on events surrounding her life, it's not a solipsistic exercise. it's what writers do. no, she doesn't have the audience Jane has (who also speaks for many), but she dos have a readership because there's a connection that's real and legit.

to be a good writer, you have to have a certain arrogance. actually, a shitload of arrogance. you have to believe that when you sit down and the keyboard and start poking at the keys — and later, when hit the Submit button — that your words actually matter. i may have an audience of two or one or none here; but i persevere regardless. Liza is not being pathetic to critique the blog gathering; she's representing a perspective, a small piece of the world shared by herself and a number of others. she's right to report on this view; she has a duty, as a writer, to do this.

which is why Jane, who has had the good fortune to see FDL grow from a hopeful exercise on Blogger to a nationally recongized news & infotainment site, was so wrong to attack Liza as she did. underlying her original post was the idea that she, in possession of Truth and Accuracy, Must Tell Poor Liza How Very Wrong She Was. rather than take a positive approach — private message, explanatory post sans snottiness — she deigned to piss all over Liza. and then she defended herself by blaming Liza for starting.

so yes, blogs do become about the writers. i don't recall Liza ever saying she wouldn't be a major player in the narrative. i, for one, dig it. her life is so different from mine; she can write about herself all day, and i'll be learning all kinds of new things. most of my posts to Blue Oregon are about me me me — and they work. they generate comment and thought and productive conversation. the real sin is not to write about yourself; it's to write about nothing.