Why Write a Technical Blog?

01 Jan 2009

I have attempted to keep a blog quite a few times in the past decade or so, with varying degrees of success.  I love to write, a passion that started in middle school where we were given full creative freedom to write short stories, murder mysteries, and comedy sketches.

::We were also, with permission from our parents, allowed to read Stephen King…come to think about it we had a very progressive English teacher::

My passion waned in my early years of high school as I focused my energy on computer science and advanced calculus.  It wasn’t until my junior year that I joined the high school newspaper and my passion for writing was re-ignited.  In the vein of Mystery Science Theater 3000 I started my two-year stint as an opinion columnist, and in my senior year, was named editor in chief.  The newspaper served as the perfect outlet and break from the complex math and computer science I was studying at the time, and provided a great many laughs to the student body.

::Ok, maybe not every reader…maybe just my close friends…hey, I know what you are thinking…they were just being nice.  Well whatever, I enjoyed myself and that has to count for something::

College afforded few opportunities for me to write creatively and I have since had several blogs hosted around the Internet, however, none of them seemed to ‘stick’.  I would start out with fire, passion, and excitement for my new blog, but then it would quickly fade.

It wasn’t until I came across this series of articles by Brent Ozar, titled “How to Start a Technical Blog” that I realized what I truly wanted to blog about.  I have been reading the likes of Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky for a while but was never inspired to actually start my own blog until I read Brent’s series of articles.  This past December I followed Brent’s step-by-step directions and started to put to good use web hosting I had acquired back in 2006.

As 2009 hits upon us I have decided to make this my yearlong passion.  I hope to continue past this year, of course, but first things first.  And no, I’m not calling this a blogging resolution…calling anything a resolution is a surefire way to ensure failure.

Hopefully I will be able to develop my online voice like Jeff and Joel, and be able to inspire others like Brent did for me.