Is Blogging Writing?

This question appeared on the Retirement: A Full Time Job blog.

She had a writing course teacher question whether blogging was actually "writing".

Putting marks on paper in any fashion including a blog page, a page that one can print out on paper, qualifies as being a form of "art". Writing and drawing are also forms of art.

Perhaps the question should be... Is a blogger an artist, like a conventional writer of articles or books? I think so. The PC and Internet are just new tools for putting marks on paper. More than that they allow instant publishing in a form that is available around the world.

Perhaps blogging goes one step further than conventional writing. The reader can immediately comment on their reaction to the post, or as I just did, go to his/her own blog and continue the discussion.