A Return to Blogging

So it's been a long time since I've blogged, and a lot has happened in that time. I've been on hiatus, reassessing many things in my life.

One of the foremost among those things was whether I should be blogging at all. My last post was berated by one reader as badly written. It hit me pretty hard, and is probably the primary reason I stopped blogging at all.

For me, writing is a passion, something I do because I enjoy it, and because it flows naturally out of me. The reader in this case went on to state that the intent of my article was to claim that all software should be open source. That was never the point of the article; rather, the point was that you should strive for the kind of quality and responsible behavior in your code that instilled the confidence that, should anyone actually have the opportunity to view it, you would fear nothing, knowing you weren't doing anything you shouldn't be.

But his criticism struck a resounding chord in me. All to frequently, I fail to get my point across. I am too wordy. I dance around the point, rather than just coming out and saying it. So, perhaps, "badly written" has the unsettling ring of truth to it.

This caused me to reevaluate what I write, and how I write it. If I'm going to write, I want to do it well, and I want to make sure that my point gets across clearly. I haven't always done that. What's difficult for me, however, is that many of the ideas in my mind aren't easily conveyed with step-by-step instructions, or clear cut language. I have a tendency to see things through metaphors, analogies, and the like. My writing has always tended to reflect that.

As an aspiring fiction writer, those are strengths. As a technology writer, I'm not convinced they are. I'm fairly certain people read tech blogs for clear guidance and opinion, not mystical, philosophical musings. That, perhaps, has been my biggest mistake. I need to be clearer. And I will strive in the future to do so.

But there is a caveat to all that. This isn't strictly a tech blog. It wasn't originally intended to be so. While software development is a great passion of mine, it is not my only passion. And so, I would ask that those who read here have patience with me when I choose to blog about nontechnical topics. My emotions will surely shine through when I discuss writing, politics, gaming, society, religion, or any of the other nontechnical aspects of our lives.

Overall, things are improving for the better. For those who knew me, or followed my blog before, I hope that this will mark a return to steady blogging that is enjoyable for both my readers and myself. I've given it some thought, and blogging is just good therapy.