Blogging: Like a yard sale?

Kent Newsome wrote a recent post “Bloggers Challenge: Who Do You Write For?” and I think I would submit the last two paragraphs from a pervious post of mine, “Of course, but why?,” as my answer to his question.

I write mainly for myself. Before I put words to screen I spend time reading, researching, and contemplating, the subject I intend to write about. Then I may organize, reorganize, and edit, many times. The hardest part often is reaching a point where I feel I can stop making changes. I believe this process is beneficial to me. It’s a process that bleeds over into other areas of my life. I’m working to become a better writer (got a lot of room for improvement here), and I’m improving my logical thought processing skills..putting a sharp edge on the sword, so to speak. Then there’s the personal gratification. When I finish a post that I’m satisfied with I have a feeling of “job well done”. My opinions about the subject could well change later, but that’s okay. Each post is a part of me and I take full ownership and responsibility.

Now where does readership come into this? I don’t want my blogging process to take place in a vacuum. I want and respect others opinions or else I would record all of this in a private journal. I also want to feel that maybe my voice was heard. My ego hopes that the subjects I think are important or interesting are relevant to at least a few other people on this planet. When someone leaves me a comment or links to me I feel I’ve accomplished that. It may be part of my own sense of mortality. When posting I’m not concerned about popular opinion. People can love to read you even if they’re certain you’re dead wrong and bound to self-destruct. With different viewpoints comes opportunity for growth. I welcome this.

One of Kent’s interesting observations in his post included:

I’m just not convinced that blogs have much penetration into the general reading population. Stated another way, I suspect that the large, large majority of readers of any blog, save and except the TechCrunches and Techdirts of the world, are other bloggers and maybe the occasional relative or curious friend.

In all honesty, I would probably agree with Kent’s assessment. However, I know several technical post I’ve done such as the Power Book upgrade, the DD-WRT firmware install, and the GTD application of workflow, continues to attracted a fair share of attention from people searching for technical information on those subjects. I think it’s always important to think of your readers when you write even if you write mostly for yourself. Share the how as well as the why or the what. Share your knowledge because somewhere, sometime, there will be someone wanting to know that bit of knowledge you shared.

Alwin Hawkins of code: theWebSocket asked the question of “Is there anything too trivial for a blog post?”

We all stumble across things that somebody is going to Google someday. The only way those things are available is that we share them with each other. That’s the way the LazyWebWorks.

I agree with Alwin’s statement. One persons trash is another persons treasure…that’s why yard sales work.

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