Nobody Cares About What I Blog About. Why Do I Still Do It?

I keep reading the occasional article encouraging people to write even if it sucks. They say things like “you really have something interesting to share”.

Evidently I don’t. I’ve gotten very few views and hardly any emails ehatsoever. It doesn’t help that I keep rebuilding this site over and over again but more the same nobody gives a shit.

Given that, why do I keep writing instead of doing something useful. A few reasons:

1. Therapy. It’s expensive here (except for the Friendship Bench) but I’ve noticed that there’s something about putting your problems on a page which helps calm you down.
2. Improving understanding. I am embarrassed at how often I think I understand something very well something until I write it down and I realize that it’s stupid as shit and I really need to understand it better. This happens far more often than it should but I’m glad I write things down since it starts the process of getting better.
3. A journal. It’s but it helps me keep track of how things went in my life along with certain themes at certain times.
4. A notebook to jot down the things I’ve learned and technical notes.
5. A cry for help. I’d really appreciate more money and I’m hoping that I can do that by writing. The secret to this is to write for other online publications (which I’ve done before), but that’s way more involved than I thought it would be.
   1. An offer for help. The few emails I do get are asking me for help with something. This seems to have the most potential for making more money so I should lean into it.
6. A hobby since I don’t do much else.

Wow, I was really cynical and dejected when I started writing this but listing out my reasons for blogging really outlined how useful it is. I’m gonna keep doing this.

As Jeremy Keith puts it:

When I write something here on my website, I’m not thinking about the world reading it. That would be paralyzing. I do sometimes imagine that one person is reading it; someone just like me who hasn’t yet had this particular thought, or come up with that particular idea.

I’m writing for myself. I write to figure out what I think. I also publish mostly for myself—a public archive for future me. But if what I publish just happens to connect with one other person, I’m glad.

So, yeah, it’s true that the world doesn’t need you to write and share and publish. Isn’t that liberating? You’re free to write and share and publish for yourself.