Comment by drakonka
7 months ago
I feel a little stupid (or naive, maybe) each time I read one of these types of posts, because I've always just taken for granted that people don't need convincing to write if they feel like it. And if they don't feel like it or don't think it brings value to them, it's really not that deep - maybe they simply shouldn't force themselves to do it. Then I pause and realize we need instructional blog posts on how to "persevere" or explainers on why writing is valuable even without an external audience.
I think a lot of people are just inherently predisposed to Posting Thoughts on the Internet but it's not really that common in the real world. And it does feel a bit different doing so in a dedicated blog on your own website with your real name, vs under a pseudonym replying to someone else on a giant site.
> realize we need instructional blog posts on how to "persevere" or explainers on why writing is valuable even without an external audience
Definitely don't think we need another 10,000 Kubernetes Tutorials published on Medium.com but I think the idea of writing for yourself or just without "having" to do it is something most people don't actually have exposure to. It's really not that common in most communities or people's lives, and most people grow up only ever doing it as schoolwork or an obstacle to a job or something. It's been like this since well before the Internet. In fact, I'd bet that well over 90% of people do not personally know a single person who regularly writes for themselves or just for fun.