It is no secret that blogging helps sell books. Even the most prolific authors of our day have blogs, including  Amanda Hocking ,  Danielle Steele , Stephenie Meyer and many others. I recently met a young woman who said she was a writer. Immediately, I asked her for her blog address and she said she did not have a blog. It turned out she was afraid to blog because she was afraid of criticism. She was afraid that someone might read the blog, disagree with her about something, then criticize. I tried to tell her that she can control all comments on her blog and that if someone posts a negative comment, she can simply remove it. But, the idea of being criticized was too much for her and she shrugged it off. I felt bad for her and encouraged her to think about blogging, even if it's just about a hobby she has. Blogging is becoming necessary to writing success. It's a fearful thing even for some established authors, but, most take the plunge and are always so very glad they ...