To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard. – Allen Ginsberg

In many of my blog posts, I’m taking time and space to give my brain an opportunity to think through things. In the process of writing, in the process of getting ideas and putting them down on paper, I take time to open my my head, and dump the thoughts out on paper…actually here into pixel.

Most of the ideas I share are half-baked…or less than that. Some of the ideas will go on to become other things, but some live and die here on the screen.

I say that they are half-baked, but that is only half true. There is something about a line, idea, or thought that I’m trying to crystallize and get out into a full fledged idea. It is a lot less organized than the full peer-reviewed publications that I also complete. In many cases, these thoughts of my own are viewed more often than those publications that are more valuable.

Someone may come across these at some point and try to make sense of them. Someone might see this and try to look for breadcrumbs to lead us out of the tunnel. This process is my own attempt and finding the breadcrumbs, scattering them, and trying to figure out if this is a map to something better.

In writing, publishing, and sharing online, there is often the question about the WHY of blogging. The audience of blogging. The purpose of blogging.

As I work with colleagues and students, I wonder if part of blogging is writing for yourself. I do it to document my thinking and ideas. I do it to make sense of the world, and archive that experience.

I do review these posts, and string them together. Sometimes they lead on to something bigger, different. But not every time. Sometimes they’re ideas that need their moment so they can get out of my head, and I can move on to something new.

Yes, it is in the public. But, I do it for my own benefit.

Photo by Shawn Appel on Unsplash

This post is Day 26 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com.