Thinking about Blogs and Journals

Now that I've been blogging for a couple months I've had a chance to think about blogging and how it compares to journaling.  There are certainly things I don't want to say in a blog that I would say in a journal, so there's definitely one level of self-censorship.  There are even things Idon't mind publishing in a book that I don't want to put in a blog, maybe because it seems easier for a blog to be excerpted and taken out of context.  There are things I wouldn't write about members of my family in a blog; although most don't read books regularly, they all are on the internet (facebook, etc.).  

Of course you can set your blog so that no one can see it.  

I'm also not so sure about using a blog to write bits of a memoir.  Although my previous blogs have contributed to the piece I'm writing about playing WoW, I'm not so sure the structure of the blog is a good one if you want a longer, book-length work, to have an uninterrupted narrative arc.

I still think blogs are useful for creative writing prompts, especially shortish pieces, and for exploring new ideas.  I know a lot of people use blogs as intellectual journals, places to reflect on all kinds of things, but I'm mostly interested in seeing what kind of role they might have in the imaginative life, what role they might play in helping us to write more and better and be disciplined to write more and better.