Effective writing happens when the values of a genre and the desires of a writer match. Studying the blog entry as a genre has strengthened the author's assumptions about the possibility of using blogs as examples of emplaced, agency-granting writing and as bridges to academic writing. Because blogs are a relatively new form of communication, the blog entry is a relatively unstable genre, which means it may be more open to change from the inside, more indicative of the recognizable play of agency by communicants, than more staid genres. Once students see the way genre structures the blog--with its stress on voice and intertextuality--the author believes they will begin to see the way that genre structures academic essays, and the way that they can take agency over their own writing. This article promotes the use and study of blogs in the composition classroom in order to motivate students toward academic writing. (Contains 2 notes.)