A friend of mine (one of the dads in my son's scout troop) followed a link in an email to my blog, and asked if I got paid somehow to write this. I had to laugh at that, and explained that it actually costs me money for my TypePad account.
But I also realized that some people might legitimately wonder why I take the time to do these posts.
The first reason is (and I know there are many other bloggers out there with the same affliction) is that when I get a thought I think is worth sharing, my wife, my kid and my dog couldn't care less. (Actually, my dog will sit and listen to me while I explain some new revelation or insight, but I'm not sure she "gets it"). A blog is a "captive audience". This is the same thing that motivated me to write articles for programming journals years ago, and say "yes" twice when a publisher asked me to work on a book. Ditto speaking at conferences - captive audience.
Well, to be honest, at conferences you'll spot folks sneaking out to go to some other session, so they're not actually "captive", but enough will sit politely through whatever topic you are jazzed about at the moment to make it worthwhile.
Writing these entries also improves my own thinking on a particular topic. It's one thing to have an understanding of something, and another thing entirely to articulate it. You gain another level of understanding when you have to put your ideas into words, and to do so clearly and effectively. I won't tell you how many blog posts are sitting in the "drafts" folder, simply because I can't find a way to get across what I was thinking; usually a good indication that the whole idea is a little half-baked. Sometimes I need to read something or hear a speaker say something that relates to a potential topic before it crystalizes for me. Sometimes it never happens.
Then there is the "give back" factor. So many people have helped me in so many ways in my professional life, that I feel obligated to pass along anything that I think might help someone else. It's still going on, too. Now that so many smart people are sharing their thoughts, I frequently will pass along their observations, or encourage folks to check out their blogs directly.
Finally, there is always the hope that someone will read my blog and decide that I'm just the guy to hire or engage in some kind of project.
Hasn't happened yet, but we live in hope...
