On writing online

I have heard (and read) from many people that writing is not so much an activity done for others, it's for oneself.

Writing is a way to take something from all that jumbled mess of thoughts on the head and put it down on paper (or online).

What happens when we write is that notions we have, that we think we know well, are quite blurry and we don't understand them as much as we thought.

In this way, writing is more a way to sharpen and polish those concepts.

Far from thoughts floating around, they become clear and solid concepts. Concepts that we can relay to other people for them to think about or benefit from it.

So, if that's what writing does (or one of its many results) then we should write more often.

The issue is more around the frequency of writing and not the act itself. Writing all on its own is a tough skill to develop. And when I say it's "tough", I mean it in the sense of writing "well".

We all can cram words on a paper or in digital format push it out and call it a day. But that not only is useless, it's also actively detrimental.

You don't want and you shouldn't contribute more to the noise out there. People want to read useful and valuable stuff. More in a digestible way instead of a "deciphering hieroglyphs" way.

Writing for online consumption is a whole different ball game than the traditional "dear diary".

And that's the goal.

Writing for others.
Writing for humans to communicate with other humans.
Writing as a way to discover other people's thoughts and what they ponder on.

The next important part is the medium. But I'll leave that for another entry.