It seems that my re-introduction to blogging post is generating quite the discussion.
In that post, I basically said that it was a waste of time for new writers to keep a blog, and that they should focus on writing fiction instead. Since I’ve stirred up a little controversy, I’d like to elaborate:
Writers are basically small business owners with a product to sell: their words. A blog should really be a sales tool, and I think even beginning writers acknowledge this when they say they blog to “get their name out there”. However, if you’re writing short fiction (or have written an unpublished novel), you are not selling to the public (the people who will be reading your blog), you are selling to editors (who very likely do not read your blog). In any case, a cleverly written blog post will not make them accept a poorly written story. Therefore, writing a great story will sell your work more than writing a better blog. QED.
However, if you DO have a product to sell to the public, as Robert Swartwood pointed out in the comments, now it makes sense to keep a blog. The target audiences are the same. People might read your blog, like your writing, and go out and buy your book. This has been demonstrated time and again by John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, and Charles Stross (of course, it helps that they all wrote terrific books).
So, from a business point of view, new authors should not write blogs and newly-published authors with novels to sell should.
From a personal point of view, as Deven Atkinson and Suanne Warr mentioned in the comments, if you like keeping a diary, by all means put it on the net. Just be honest with yourself about how much it will really impact your career.