Why Write?

Go back through the annals of one of your favorite writers and, at some point, you’ll almost always find the writer justifying the writing to himself. Headlines typically include: “Why I decided to write” “Why keep a blog anyway?” “Benefits of writing” etc.

Kevin Simpler writes amazing stuff at Melting Asphalt and right in his About section, he quotes Paul Graham.

"An obstacle downstream propagates upstream. If you're not allowed to implement new ideas, you stop having them. And vice versa: when you can do whatever you want, you have more ideas about what to do. So [keeping a blog] makes your brain more powerful in the same way a low-restriction exhaust system makes an engine more powerful."

Why do writers feel the need to justify their writing to an imaginary audience? I say “imaginary” because these little ramblings on the benefits of writing come early when they are relatively unknown.

I think there are a few explanations.

1. They see bullshit on the internet and that they don’t want to contribute to the huge conversation about nothing.
2. They feel they have nothing interesting to say. Why would I expect people to value my thoughts and experiences when they could read stuff from people who are way smarter and more experienced?
3. It’s fucking hard. You don’t actually know what you think you do. Writing is literally distilled thinking. It’s much easier to just assume you understand something than feel the writer’s block when you hit the keyboard.

Even if any of the above is true, the benefits far outweigh any imaginary barriers you set upon yourself. For example, it helps:

1. Clarify your thoughts and gives a more coherent stream of consciousness. Even if you don’t publish what you’re writing, free writing is a great way to brainstorm & problem-solve.
2. You become better at writing (obvious), a skill that cannot be underrated. Language allows us to invoke precise thoughts into the mind of the reader or listener. Great political figures, philosophers, statesmen, authors, have swayed entire generations through writing & speech.
3. You network at scale. Enlighten readers while carving out a little area in their mind. It makes it easier for people to get an idea of how you think before they meet you.
4. You propagate the good ideas. Most ideas will be terrible, but hopefully some are money. The only ideas that spread are those with memetic fitness. All your garbage will be forgotten and the useful stuff will spread. When was the last time a friend sent you a blog post that she was sharing because it was so bad?
5. You get feedback on ideas. If your ideas exist in a vacuum, you can’t improve them, let alone know if they’re even coherent.
6. It’s an excuse to play with ideas. If you just sit down and start typing you’ll have no idea where you’ll end up.

If this inspired even one person to take action, then it was worth it. I learn so much from great blogs; hopefully this one evolves into something useful for people too.