My Blog is dead. Long live my Blog.

My movement to Medium. 

I’ve decided to let my blog die and to start a new blog here, which isn’t really a blog. I’m actually not sure what this is. That last sentence sums up the internet in general and my feelings about internet journalling in particular.

When I first began keeping a blog, the daily traffic kept me motivated. I would write and then see the numbers of people who read my writing and that would push me to write more. I didn’t understand at the time that I was hurting myself. When my web-traffic slowed, so did my motivation. It also altered what I wrote. I would write about topics that I knew would get a reaction, instead of writing about what I really wanted to write about, instead of writing about subjects that were interesting to me or important to me. I was writing for the reader, which every writer will tell you is a damning stroke. Readers don’t seem to mind it, though, which says a lot about writing and reading in particular.

Letting my blog die is amazingly freeing. But, it also allows me to be lazy. Pushing the words out on a regular schedule helps my mind to be sharp, keeps the pressure on me to convey meaning through words. It would be simple and pleasurable to just stop writing all together. It would also be incredibly sad and lonely.

For the first time, I understand the proper motivation for writing. A writer has to write for themselves. Ideally, people will enjoy your work. If not enjoy, then they will appreciate it. If not appreciate it, then they will comprehend it. If all else fails, they’ll hate it. But they still will react to it. That’s the most important part: The connection between the creator and audience, with the creation in the middle, seen and thought about for years to come.