The blogosphere offers amateur writers such as myself a means to do what paid pundits do. One might ask, “Why do it at all if you aren’t getting paid for it?” The answer lies in the original meaning of the word amateur.

The Online Etymology Dictionary describes the word’s origin:

“1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from French amateur "lover of," from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love".”ⁱⁱ

In short, I blog just for the love of doing so. Sure, it would be nice if I were to be paid to blog, but I am not holding my breath while waiting for that to happen.

Anyway, the afore-quoted “defense” of me is bewildering in an amusing way. I would like to know how my afore-quoted critic defines “very young” because I am no spring chicken. At the time of that particular criticism of me, I was age 52. Me immature? According to what standard? One does not become an NCO in the U.S. Navy like I did by being immature.

When one decides to blog, one decides to expose one’s self to ad hominem, such as the afore-quoted one. [Additional negative comments about me are featured later in this publication.] Such is routine for anyone who dares to opine in public, both the professionals and the amateurs. The professionals can take comfort in the fact that they are getting paid to expose themselves to the ad hominem aimed at them. The amateurs, however, have no such comfort. The latter have to find something within to motivate them to continue writing despite all of the verbal arrows shot at them.

For me, the motivation is two-fold. First, writing is therapeutic for me in that it takes my mind off my personal burdens. Second, I refuse to let a critic chase me away from the blogosphere. Critics are a dime a dozen even if they sometimes gang up on you. As I see it, as long as the owner of a blog continues permitting me to write for that blog, then I should write for that blog. The blogger is accountable to whomever owns the blog, not to the readers of that blog. In other words . . .

Shortly after I started writing for the blog The Moderate Voice, I received coaching from Joe Gandelman, the blog’s owner and editor-in-chief. Joe is a professional journalist who has had his fair share of criticism in reference to his articles in mainstream publications. Joe encouraged me not to let my critics get to me. I didn’t even need to read the comments that readers made in response to my posts. I could respond to my critics if I so choose, but I would be better off not doing so.

When one is going to be a blogger, it is good for one to have a mentor who is a professional writer, and in Joe Gandelman, I have that mentor.