Why Do I Blog???

Daily writing promptWhy do you blog?View all responses

The initial reason for blogging was my desire to have a diary of a sort for my own thoughts. I had tried doing this on paper, but I found it would tend to fizzle out. I found that having a potential audience not only drove me to write… but also to craft my writings and develop my thoughts more carefully. I feel this sort of thing is not likely to resonant with that many others. Some people prefer to keep their thoughts private. They may feel uncomfortable putting things out into the public. There are certain thoughts that I keep to myself, believing that making them public may not be in my best interest, or fear that I will be misinterpreted. However, public scrutiny is a good filter for one’s thoughts— rather than keeping them bouncing around in one’s own echo chamber of the mind.

A second reason for blogging has developed over time. The more I write the more my thoughts clarify on some subjects and the better prepared I am to express them in a different setting. I have used my blogs as the basis for some sermons, some education lessons, some articles, and some books. Having written over 1500 posts on this website alone and many of my posts are quite long (in 2024, my average post has over 900 words) so there is a lot to draw from.

A third reason is it gives me a written record of the past. On some of my websites associated with ministry I can use them to go back through and remember what happened in the past. For this website, I get to see where I have been in terms of my thoughts and values and gain a sense of my trajectory. Sometimes I go back and am not that happy with my former self. Sometimes I am too didactic… or my focus was just a bit weird. Occasionally, I have thought about rewriting or deleting old posts. However, with the exception of minor editing, I have fought the urge. It is a part of me. Often, on the other hand, I am surprised how insightful I was on topics that I have not thought about in a long while. I am thankful that I wrote some things down when they were still clear in my head.

A final reason is that I do want to have some influence in the world around. I don’t presume to have wisdom that simply must be shared with the world. Perhaps my thoughts are ill-considered or just plain wrong. But that puts me no worse than most others… and perhaps my ideas are needed to be part of the tossed salad of thoughts that make up the world in which we reside.