Answering Sam

Sam asks:

Do you blog for yourself, or do you blog for what you believe others will think of you?
Do you want people to read your personal thoughts and opinions, or do you want the traffic?
What do you hope to gain from blogging?

At the outset, lo these many years ago now, I used to blog for myself. Over time, through search engines like google and mainstream media attention, everyone I knew seemed to find one of my old sites, and I found myself swept up in a tide of misperceptions with regard to my personality that it was to my advantage, for a time, to perpetuate. Then it got old. Now, I'm here, I'm inblognito, and I say what I damn well please. So I guess I'd fall into the "blogging for myself" category, at long last. As for the traffic, the same rule applies: years ago, when I started blogging, the traffic was a big thrill. Now I could care less. What I mean is, it's nice to get traffic, but I don't think of myself as actively seeking it, like I used to. If traffic were my main concern, I'd never have gone underground - other sites I "administer" have much higher turnover than this disused little ramble.

What do I hope to gain from blogging? Writing practice, just a daily sharpening of my language skills, not unlike solving a crossword puzzle (which I also do every day). Beyond that? It's not so much what I seek to gain as what I seek to regain. A sense of self? A measure of sanity? A shred of self-respect? Blogging is very therapeutic.