I Write For Me

Sometimes, I just have to write things down. I really have no choice as they just spin around in my head until I flush them out on paper. Usually, it's because I'm learning about something new and writing it down is my way of figuring things out. This results in a couple of odd things.

First, I don't generally write about things I'm an expert in. I write about things I'm learning. For example, I'm an expert in Microsoft operating systems... paid professional, 25 years experience, yada, yada... I don't have any desire to write about that. None at all. I don't write under some profound sense of duty to share my wealth of experience, even if it sometimes sounds that way.

Second, I write for an audience of 1, me. Most of the stuff I write never gets to a blog and the stuff that does is just a "why not?" I went through all that effort to write, maybe somebody will find it useful. Because of this, the tone is often a little odd. I write down the bits that I think I've figured out, straight and direct. A "this is what I know" tone of voice. I'm not trying to convince anyone else that I know something so I'm not writing in a subdued tone, trying to lead people along to the conclusion I want. These aren't persuasive essays or paid work, they are my study notes. They are organised thoughts pulled out of the jumble that's rattling around in my head, pulled out to make sense of things and stop the damn rattling so I can sleep. Sorry about the tone; it's not deliberate. I just couldn't be bothered to re-write everything to make it more friendly.