Three Simple Questions...
Why do I blog? Why do I write? and Who is the blog for?
I was asked these questions by a co-worker nearly a year ago, and I didn't give it much thought (Sorry Jeff), but I think I'll share it with my "friends" on G+ now, and the answers I just came up with.
Let's start with Why do I write, that's the easy one. I write because I love it. I have a game I'm in the process of creating, I enjoy telling, and documenting RPGs and stories, and I just love looking back on something I wrote years later, and tweaking (not twerking) it, laughing at it, and what not. I've even learned to not be entirely humiliated by a writing my fiancé found that I made in 3rd grade or somewhere around there. I love to write, that's why.
Who is it for. This is relatively easy to explain. It's for me, more than anything else. I write because I enjoy to write, and blogging will give me a spot to write in regularly. Yes, I hope someday that people will come to read my blog, maybe even learn about something that interests them, learned a little lesson I might share, or even walk away smiling because I shared a funny story. Yes, I hope to touch readers in some way, no matter how small, but if I'm really going to be honest, my blog is not going to make a monumental change in the world, or raise the country's expected lifestyle. The blog is for me first.
Why do I blog? That's pretty easy too, I blog because it's a way to get tidbits out of my mind, thoughts I want to share, and honestly as I said, I hope that someday I'll have some people that regularly check my blog to see what insights, thoughts, complaints, or just whimsical RPG story lines I might propose. Perhaps it's a little vanity, or pride, that I hope people come to enjoy my reading enough to look for it again. But my blog is not to make money, it's not to be rich, etc. Sure, I probably will always have google ad-words in the corner, it's free and every 500 trillion viewers I get earns me enough to play a round of Galaga, but that's not revenue, and the blog isn't a revenue stream. It's fun for me.
That's the problem I've had. I made two blogs, categorized them, set up a schedule, worked hard to find topics that kept tightly to the established themes, and the thing became a job. And worse yet, a job without pay. So my Geek Personified blogs (Gaming and Technology) will be closed. I'm leaving the links up, and please, feel free to look through them, there are a number of postings that I'm really proud of in both. According to google I've gotten around 1000 views on my gaming blog, and nearly 2800 on my tech one, so I'm very proud of that. You can find those blogs linked from my Google+ About page.
Now it's time for something new. I would humbly ask you all, when I post it sometime this week, to check my new blog out. Thoughts from a Script Monkey (JustAScriptMonkey.blogspot.com). I'll try to post every weekday, but I won't even guess about the topic. Might be about gaming, or technology, or business etiquette. Maybe I'll post about changes to my code standard, who knows.
If you're a programmer that likes gaming, then the odds are you will at least relate, if not enjoy, every post. If you've only got part of that, then you'll like part of my blog. If you don't program, don't play games, and just hate fun, then screw you and don't bother reading it. :)
See you all soon!
P.S. General Warning: I invite you all to read my blogs if you like. My blogging is not hate based, there will be no racial slurs, or anything else that I personally deem to be offensive. That said, I don't often censor myself as this is my "personal time" blog. This means that I may or may not curse, use innuendo, or make casual references to "15 gold-plated hookers." In other words, I don't go out of my way to be crude or vulgar, and I try my best to have a deliberate, clean and moral point, but sometimes I get there through the circular route.
