Free Blogging Advice: Writing is hard. And easy. The goal of the Free Blogging Advice (FBA) series of short articles is to provide some free advice on… blogging! All you have to add is some time and effort. And love. Lots of love.

FBA Episodes

• FBA Episode 1: The beginning
• FBA Episode 2: What to write about
• FBA Episode 3: Develop your story
• FBA Episode 4: For whom are you writing?

There comes a time where any blogger wonders…

“Why am I doing this?”

This question can arise more than once in the beginning of your blogging endeavor and it will also come up later in time after you have established yourself as a known blogger. (or I would better say it SHOULD come up again after you have succeeded as a blogger – more on that later on)

Not being able to answer that simple question usually ends up in full demotivation and eventually to the end of your dream to become a blogger and share your ideas with the world.

But is there a right answer for that question?

Truth be told, there is not.

But there are many wrong ones.

Aristotle once very intuitively said that “the question contains the answer”…

This couldn’t be more applicable here.

Some say they are blogging for their followers…

That is so nice. Except that if you are writing for the ones who read you, then you will inevitably become just a puppet belonging fully to them. A writer does not care about who reads him. He (or she) simply writes whatever is in his head just… because! Creativity is a deeply irrational urge, not a calculative urge to gain more followers or retain the ones you have. Van Gogh only sold one painting while he was alive.

Some say that they are blogging to share knowledge…

Some say they are blogging because of other reasons…

That is the great trap though. That you need a reason to blog.

If blogging does not come from deep inside you, there is no reason you should be doing it in the first place. If you need a reason to blog, then you should stop right now. Because the moment that reason seizes to exist, that will be the moment when everything will look useless and futile. And a true writer never sees his (or her) work as futile or useless! Pure creation is never done under special conditions or within specific context. It just flows out from you.

Search within you.

Imagine yourself after many years blogging.

Having written thousands of posts.

With zero followers.

Zero page views.

Will you be happy?

Will you feel full?

Only you can answer that.

And when you answer this question you will understand.

Why everyone asking “Whom am I writing for?” is simply trying to find a reason not to…