More About Writing

I was engaged in a conversation with Dan last week that was boiling down to its bare-bones question, "Why write?" when I rudely and abruptly ended the conversation. My apologies.

First, regarding keeping a notebook: there's a lot to be said for writing down your thoughts. As I discussed with Amanda last week, you can think about things until the end of the world, but putting them on paper as completely as you can helps to put things in perspective. Sometimes you'll have a revelation such as "Oh, this isn't such a big thing to worry about." Other times you'll look at what you've written and say, "Oh, is that what was bothering me?" And then again, there are times when writing things down only serves to confirm what you'd thought you'd been thinking all along (I'm not sure if I've ever written a more convoluted sentence than that last one). Take my word for it, writing for yourself helps.

Now to the more general question, why write? I've thought about this a fair amount in the past week (both thanks to Dan's post and my short sojourn from blogging). Even so, I can't come up with a fair answer. It certainly feels right, and where would I write if I didn't write here? I don't consider myself a great writer, but neither do I consider myself a poor writer; where would my skills go if I didn't practice?

I suppose the loftiest goal of my writing is that it will reach someone out there and help them with something. Maybe it'll be one of the posts I've written about CSS that'll make the lightbulb go on in someone's head and say "Cool! I'm going to learn this!" Maybe it'll be a concert review that encourages someone check out a new artist. Maybe someone will read my account of my PMB road trip and be inspired to take one for themselves, or get an idea of how to go about it. It's not entirely humble, because it'd be nice to know that I helped in some small way, but I suppose that it is altruistic. After all, I'm paying the hosting bill for this site.

In summation, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've got to have your own reasons to write. If it feels right, do it. If not, don't.

I'm so helpful.

November 19, 2002 - 01:45 PM