Author Blogs (updated below)

Question from Neth Space: Just How Much Do You Like Author Blogs?

Answer: I like an author blog to the degree that the author is serious about blogging. Charles Stross' Blog is one of the first blogs I always check, because when Stross puts up a post, you know a lot of thought goes into it. Sadly, nothing new since the 22nd. Hopefully, that means he's writing a new book!

Neil Gaiman's Blog is, well, it's cute. But I don't think of it as an author's blog, exactly. It's more like a regular this-is-my-life blog by a person whose job happens to be writing books. Gaiman is one of the most interesting fantasy writers out there, but I'm not going to go to his blog to get brilliant ideas about writing or the nature of fantasy or anything. Maddy Gaiman, his daughter, has been running it for the past few days, at a movie shoot. She seems like a great kid, and no doubt this is great for fans, but it's not much use for a writer.

Neth Space's question was inspired by Jeff Somers' supposedly compulsory blog. Based on the humor and thought that went into this piece, and the obviously tongue and cheek nature of it, (ex. "So, for the time being, I’m playing along. The fact that I was knocked unconscious and brought here is one reason. The men outside my door is another.") suggests that the blog isn't as compulsory as he claims. But if it is, this is a stupid idea. Not only does requiring an author to blog potentially lead to a lame blog (it doesn't in this case). Worse, it leads your writer to waste his time blogging instead of writing a book!

Update:
If I'd read the comments, I'd have seen that Somers stated that he had, in fact, made up the whole 'compulsory blog' premise. But the possibility that it might happen in the future shouldn't rule it out, so my opinion remains in force.