Related to: Why I write

Because it's the only way to share some things

Most of the stuff that I blog about (or that I envision myself blogging about) shares two common features:

• The content is not easy to share otherwise. It might be that it is too complex to bring up in day to day conversation, it might be that I am too emotionally attached; in any case: I do not find myself capable of honoring the points I want to convey in other formats.
• There's something about it that I do not understand, or that is bugging me, or that bugs me because I don't understand why it's bugging me. I want to develop a deeper understanding about the issue, or about why it is that it bugs me. And it is to that end that I put some words on paper, and that I try to pick my readers' brains.

I love deep, insightful conversations. But I have found that those only rarely happen spontaneously in my everyday life. It has been an usual frustration of mine: the depth of conversation that everybody seems to be happy with is usually too shallow for me. I hope this blog becomes a tool to catalyse those kind of conversations (written or spoken, synchronous or asynchronous) about topics I care about with the people I care about.

Because I am a slow thinker

Spoken conversations go by too fast. I typically need time in order to understand what you have told me. Especially those bits that are interesting and shocking to me. Which, almost by definition, are those that take more time for me to metabolize. I get my best thoughts afterwards, in the stairs. This blog allows me to follow my brain's natural rhythm, i.e., coming up with a valuable idea about once a month.

Not because I want it to scale

As of August 2024, there are a grand total of 12 subscribers to my blog. That number will go up when I give the link to some friends. But I do not aim for more followers than the Dunbar number.

This, I believe, is an uncommon approach: most blogs I know try to "build an audience". (Of course, it is possible that it is actually very common to keep really small blogs, and the fact that I know no other small blogs is explained solely in terms of the availability heuristic: how would I know of such small blogs if by definition they have so few subscribers?) Anyway, making new friends online is not my priority. But it wouldn't be un-nice if it happened!

I find this choice of keeping the blog small crucial and liberating. I do not need to sound fancy in order to impress people I don't know. Most folks who read me will continue to like me no matter what I write. I also get the benefit of knowing my audience, and I can write for them in the same way that I would speak to them. This, I suspect, impacts my style in a positive way.

(Upon a couple of seconds of introspection, I realize that I am writing this in English, which is not a language I use to communicate with any of the 12 subscribers to my blog. Still, I hope that the spirit of this point remains true!)

Because I want to practise paratelism

This blog is, in the economic sense of the term, useless. Increasingly, I have found myself defaulting to behave as though 'economic' is the only possible qualification of the word 'value'. I want to fight against that, and begin doing things that are valuable, even if (especially if) they will never become profitable.

I see this blog more as a shared diary than as a magazine. A home-cooked meal rather than a restaurant dish. (Allow all creations to be home-cooked meals)

Because I want to put something out there

So, if I do not care for building an audience nor turning it into some type of profit, if I only want to write a diary, why bother publishing at all? Sunlight is a great disinfectant: a little bit of external pressure helps me call my own bluffs and forces me to remain sharp. It is a stressor, but a positive one.

I also find that producing something changes the way you consume. Making music changes the way you listen to it, sewing clothes changes the way you appreciate fashion. On the one hand, this is because producing is much harder than consuming. Understanding the amount of work that every word, every sentence, every paragraph need, I read with a greater sense of trepidation. I find myself thinking "this topic must really matter to the author!". On the other hand, there's an identity shift. You can't produce without becoming a producer. And everything you consume becomes a potential candidate for the noble endeavour of stealing intellectual property. Or, as others call it, "creation".

Because it is exciting

This should probably be in the top. I do it because my body tells me to keep doing it. When I hit the "publish" button, I get an adrenaline rush. I get another one when I receive replies. All the other reasons are derived, a-posteriori rationalizations, and therefore, less true.

Because I wish others did this

I wish my friends did this too! As Kant did not say: do to others what you want others to do to you.

Implications for my readers

1. I encourage you to bring up blogposts in our other conversations! I don't like bringing them up myself ("hey, have you read my latest post? I wanted to ask you know about xyz..."), it feels weird.
2. If you feel like it, do answer my emails! It always warms my heart when I receive one, even if I do not always take the care of answering every them. It is a joy to know what somebody thinks of something I've written, even if they disagree with it.
3. Go and start your own blog! I would love to read it.