I’ve wanted to write about why I blog for a while, and I was recently encouraged to stop procrastinating by Mattias Geniar:

Much is said, and frequently, about why you should blog. As I find most such articles to be impersonal, I thought I might share the reasons and rewards that have driven me to blog and keep me going at it. So, why do I blog?

• To express myself. Sometimes this means artistically – being creative and showing it off – but other times it simply means organizing my thoughts and presenting them to other human beings. This forces me to clarify my thoughts, construct an actual hypothesis, and begin to test it. The end result is a refined idea that can be actually be consumed by myself and others. This is especially helpful if I will be presenting the idea to my boss or coworkers, even when that is done in a different format or medium.

• To improve at writing. Communication is vital in any relationship, personal or business, and the written word can be tricky to wield effectively. I write emails every day, but I had not written a long-form article since college (15+ years ago, at the time!) and not on deeply technical subjects. I like to think this has been paying off for me, even with non-written communication as I’ve become more methodical and self-aware of how I communicate in all forms.

• For community. I consume a lot from a number of different communities – security, virtualization, automation, etc. – and I feel that a good citizen contributes back when possible. Maybe I only help one other person, but I hope that I enable or inspire that person to do something awesome – like get home an hour earlier to spend more time with their family that evening.

• As a portfolio of work. We all need to keep a portfolio, resume, C.V., etc. A blog is part of that – even if I don’t view it as a portfolio, others may, so it’s in my best interest to treat it as such. I keep this in mind before hitting publish – is this something that I want other people to see? Is it of high enough quality? Does it say something worthwhile? Does it send a positive message? Will someone else want to read this, and would they be satisfied if they did? Set your bar high and make sure you’re hitting it every time you publish something.

• For recognition. This isn’t a very altruistic reason, but it has contributed to my efforts. A desire to write well enough to have a popular blog used by people everyday isn’t a bad thing to aim for, is it? Page views also give feedback on who your audience actually is, not who you think they are, and helps you see how they react to various article types and formats. Stats drive my morale and motivation. I like seeing that my page views went up 10% for a week, it makes me more eager to blog again. If page views go down for a few weeks, I want to know why and do better. Use it as a healthy feedback loop for your writing.

The last two reasons may seem a bit selfish, but I think that blogging as an independent is in many ways inherently self-serving. Improving my writing probably benefits me even more than building a portfolio or gaining recognition. Regardless, we all have egos and by acknowledging how they drive us, we can harness our drive rather than be controlled by it.

However, the most rewarding reason I blog, by far, is:

• For my future self. I’ve referenced my own blog numerous times and even it had it come up as a Google result when I forgot that I had already solved a problem. Writing, reading, and applying my own article is a great feedback loop. Do something, write about it, do it again based on the article, rewrite the article, repeat until accurate. All the assumed knowledge is discovered and added to the article, bit by bit, so that anyone can follow the process. This is a practice you can apply to general documentation, as well. I also follow my own blog articles to replicate the results from my lab work, in my work environment (e.g. everything puppet related). This is critical to me, as I can prove to myself that I really have gained an understanding of the subject matter.

If you’re looking at blogging anytime soon, think about what it is you intend to get out of it. It can be extremely rewarding, but only if you go into it with some awareness. Have fun!