This is not my first attempt to write a blog. Hopefully it will be the first one to succeed. I used to think blogging was a pretty egotistical endeavor, but the more I write, the more I realize that writing, for me, is more about helping myself think. I think differently when I am forced to write things down. More slowly, and more deliberately. I stop to consider and reconsider word choices and sentence structures. I go back, review, rephrase. Sometimes I edit after I finish writing something, sometimes I don’t. Depends on the kind of thinking I’m doing as I write a piece.
I don’t know what this blog is about. I tried to come up with a topic or list of topics. The title, “A Foo Walks Into a Bar”, suggests programming and humor. I like programming, and I like humor. But I also think a lot about other things, so I don’t think I’m going to set a topic. The only criterion for a post is that it is something that I want to write about.
I don’t expect many people will read this. I’m not really writing it to be read, although it flatters my ego to think that one day I’ll write a piece that resonates with a lot of people. My primary audience is myself. My present self and my future self. So why not write a journal? Well, I do write an entry in a journal, most days. I also write morning pages, which are specifically atopical and disposable. I never read back through morning pages. That’s not what they’re for, at least, not for me. I do read back in my journal from time to time. I find it very useful. Certainly, a blog has a degree of overlap in purpose with a journal.
So, if I already write morning pages, and keep a journal, why write a blog? I suppose I want to think communally on some topics. I may share entries with my wife, my friends, social media friends, or the larger world. Feedback and conversation are important parts of thinking. Sometimes the feedback loop consists solely of me, but sometimes I want to stake a position and invite the world to ponder it with me. I know this will help me think about things. This post has helped me to think about why I want to write a blog. Hopefully if you’re reading this and you’re not me you find something that helps you think about things too.