Why in the world would I want/need a blog to be able to write?
I write for a living. That means writing all the time, nearly every day, to make my clients and their products, services, opinions, or accomplishments make sense, sound good, and drive customers wild with desire (or at least pique their interest). In return, they pay me for my time (most of them, anyway) and exercise their editorial privileges liberally.
In the end, what I write is what they want to say.
Here I get to write what I want to say.
No reviewer loops. No tracked changes. No Drafts 2, 3, 4, or beyond. No deadlines. No marketing-speak. No invoicing. No worries! Just a chance to do for myself what my business cards advise I can help my clients do: “Discover your voice.”
Why scatter my thoughts and day-to-day musings on the Web for all to see? Why not keep a journal instead?
I’m a good writer — a good business writer. But I want to remember how to be a good everyday writer too. I can be funny, poignant, thought-provoking, intelligent. Yet I’ll probably never publish a book or see my name in a by-line. Throngs of people won’t wait outside Barnes & Noble for my autograph or stay up late to see me on Letterman (or, gasp, Oprah!). But, a few of my friends and family might read my blog. Might be interested in what I think and how I express it. Might be tempted to discover their own voice along the way and create a blog too. But you know what? Even if no one else reads it, I’ll get a kick out of writing it. Out of seeing it up there on the Web. Out of knowing it’s what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it. It’s a creative thing. It’s what all writers crave.
I don’t like to write. I like to have written.
~William Zinsser
Writing by Ear 
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