Why blog?
I’ve been blogging in one form or another since I first accessed the internet in University back in the late 90s.
(I realise that ages me like a survivor of the Titanic or someone who remembers the end of the First World War.)
Whether it was long, complex commentaries on Star Trek, reviews of gadgets, or stories from my (many) travels, I’ve always enjoyed recording this stuff - mostly, so I have something to look back on. Yes, I could simply journal - but there’s a public accountability element of blogging missing from a journal. In other words, if I imagine an audience waiting on that next blog post, I’m more likely to start typing.
There is frequently no audience whatsoever, but that’s not the point. If I wanted readers in their thousands, I wouldn’t keep deleting, moving or otherwise altering my blogs.
Additionally, when I write something meaningful to me, or something I really do want a record of, I simply save it into Day One once it’s published. That way, even if I later decide to nuke the blog and walk away, my journal has a copy of the words.
Some (if not many) of my posts are straight from my brain, with minimal reflection, and quite a bit of emotion. So part of me wishes nobody else sees them. They serve a cathartic purpose for me, and that’s just fine.
I started this blog half way through 2024 as I was sick of the complexity of Wordpress, its plans to use blog contents for AI and the spiralling cost of maintaining a blog there. It was also becoming something like a full-time job with all the tinkering around design.
I also wanted something beyond the capability of a microblog, or one of the many social media accounts I dip in and out of. A place for longer thoughts and reflections.
A place to gather this mental detritus and then get on with my day.