I’ve been thinking some lately about the special skills required in blogging and what they might teach a college classroom of students. Stephanie Klein is a talented, beautiful, brave New Yorker who has parlayed her blog writing into an impressive measure of fame. Friday’s post included an interview by a current student of Stephanie’s alma mater:

Combining the writing style and medium Ms. Klein uses, I asked her how the two have shaped her “voice,” she replied that her style goes “through phases.” By inviting comment to her writing on a daily basis, she has omitted topics that stir up aggressively angry responses. She remarked, “Some days, it’s jut not worth it to open myself up to so much criticism.” Ms. Klein further explains that this flood of criticism “changes my future writing…makes me more self-conscious in my wriitng, which means less honesty…and then my writing suffers.”

And, with characteristic elegance, she nails why I see blogging as a powerful potential tool for creative writing.

Tags: academia, blogging, blogs, college, creative writing, social software, stephanie klein, teaching, university

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