Why do I blog?

I attended a dinner party this past Christmas season and the topic got around to blogging. It was well known to half of the guests at the party (the half who were my coworkers) that I had been blogging for a couple of years. Among the other half there was even some question about what a blog was. After several explanations one of the guests exclaimed, "Who the hell would want to do that?" It was a bit of a conversation stopper to say the least. When I admitted that I was an avid blogger the most natural question (I can't remember if it was actually expressed) was "Why the hell would you want to do that?"

Since that evening I've given the question a great deal of thought. Of course there are the usual reasons one does anything - it's fun, it's challenging, it's a good way to exercise one's writing skills, etc. I think it's all that and more. Like journal writing, keeping a blog trains one to look for the unusual and the interesting in life. Of course "interesting" and "unusual" are relative terms as I'm sure readers of this blog will attest.

In my thinking about this subject I checked out a book from the library called "Blogging for Dummies". A review (or at least a mini-review) has been written about it in particular which I posted yesterday on this blog. It surprised me how little there was on this topic in that book. I would have thought it natural but I suppose the author decided you wouldn't be reading the "how" unless you'd already gotten past the "why".

I also found an interesting reference at http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2007/04/is_blogging_a_g.html. The author of that blog answers the why question very well for the professional. And the answers carry over to a large degree for personal blogs like mine. I still find myself a little frustrated explaining something for the umpteenth time especially when there is a perfectly good explanation complete with pictures on my blog. And I am overjoyed when someone brings up a topic that I have discussed in my blog and notes that he has read my take on the issue. I don't care whether he agrees or disagrees, he HAS READ MY TAKE. We can start at a completely different level than we would otherwise.

There's also something scary about writing your thoughts down for all the world to see. Some people don't mind causing offense, some actually take delight in being offensisve. I'm not afraid of being controversial but generally I try to steer a careful line between not saying something that needs to be said and saying it in a way that will be misunderstood.

That being said, why do you or would you write a blog? Or why would you NOT write one?