Or, more specifically, who is the “you” I keep addressing in these posts? Who am I writing for? Why am I writing?
Blogs are just new bottles for old wine. In a sense, people have been blogging for centuries, even millennia — they just didn’t have the web to pour their thoughts into. Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, Pascal’s Pensées, and Montaigne’s Essays might all have been blogs if the technology had existed when they wrote.
The great thing about blogging is that it’s what you want it to be. You can post any series of off-the-wall writings on the web and call it a blog. (The OED defines “blog” as “a frequently updated website … consisting of personal observations arranged in chronological order …”). It could be a log of what you had for breakfast every day, or it could be a record of your progress in coming up with the Grand Unified Theory of Everything.
I enjoy writing, and (I know this is unusual) I enjoy rewriting. Like most white-collar workers, I’ve written a lot over the years as part of my job, usually in an attempt to explain something. (Think technical writing.) Occasionally, I flatter myself, I think a thought that others might find interesting. And over the past few years I’ve used writing as way to examine my life and make sense of it.
As I approach the end of life, this is coming together here in the blog. I’m not the Ancient Mariner, and I’m not my father, buttonholing reluctant people in order to harangue them. If you want timeless insights, read Montaigne. But if you’re a family member or friend who wants to know me a little better, or if you find any of my writing interesting for any reason at all, you’re the “you” I’m writing for.
Phil’s Blog 