When I’m writing for myself, I’m writing for myself. Meaning when I’m the one deciding to do the writing, I’m primarily targeting an audience of one. I write to form my own thoughts, to record them, to learn from them. If, as a happy side effect, people who have similar struggles or experiences get something out of it, I’m thrilled. But the writing isn’t really for them; it’s for me.
Professionally, I often write for other people. Someone will pay me dollars and say “Please write this kind of thing for this kind of audience,” and I’m happy to do that. So then I’m writing for someone else, and the writing itself is for someone else.
A third type of writing, a type that I rarely do, is when I’m writing for myself, but I want the writing to be for others. I almost never sit down on my own accord, without someone else asking me to, and decide to write something whose intended audience isn’t me. I mostly don’t do that because I mostly don’t try to convince other people of anything, and I try to avoid giving unsolicited advice. I try to stay humble to the extent that I’m able, and that means not letting myself believe that whatever I have that passes for “wisdom” is worth dispensing.
But, you know… maybe it is. Maybe it’s fine to just ask people if they’d like to read something. No force, no coercion. Just leaving it out there. Maybe it’s time to try to write for others now and then. Who knows? I might learn more in the process, and then I was writing for me after all.
The Opportunity Machine 