I’ve been writing a technical blog for over 20 years, and I believe that each blog post helps me think more deeply, examining every source and related code carefully. This process has been incredibly valuable to me, and even in the LLM era of 2024, I still enjoy blogging. Often, the primary user of my blog is myself; I go back to my past entries to help guide further research and exploration.
I once heard a senior developer say, 'I’m not shy to admit that after I finish a blog post, I’m at ease to forget about it—because I know I can always look it up again.
The most on point quote I know about this idea: "I don't write to say what I think, but to know what I think." (E. Berl)
Writing can help to become less confused, but being confused can incite to write a lot (J. Joubert: "The supremely false mind is the one that never senses when it goes astray.").
>the creation exists afterwards, and is thus available as a form of mnemonic for the creator. They can revisit and re-experience that sensation of creation that would otherwise have been transitory.
Other parts suggest that the literary writer writes to sharpen and go deeper into the experience of thinking, to extend it.
My number one productivity tip for blogging is to lower your standards. Don't hold onto a piece until you think it's good enough - always publish when you know that there are improvements you could still make.
The alternative is a folder full of drafts and never publishing anything at all.
With the exception of egregious errors none of your readers will ever know how much better your piece of writing could have been.
I don’t think the original comment you’re replying to was about productivity. I agree with the original comment - 99% of what I write is for the purpose of making sense of things. They aren’t for external consumption, and never will be. Writing for oneself is entirely different than writing for others
Also the perceived need of (not) being useful. I don't feel the need to have all my stuff out there. That's as true for many of my unpublished blog posts as it is for many of my unreleased projects.
The world doesn't need another sudoku solver, and I don't think mine is any better than the thousands already out there. The same is true for my unpublished rants or my unpublished howtos.
I once heard a senior developer say, 'I’m not shy to admit that after I finish a blog post, I’m at ease to forget about it—because I know I can always look it up again.