Writing is an interesting thing. It can outlast civilizations, give a time capsule of what life was like at a certain period, and provide a shared experience inside one person’s mind.

But why do we write? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. My career is writing, though I’m not rich because of this website. I’d like to explain why I write for this website later on. There are three main reasons I can think of why people write today, even though each one seems to have its downsides.

The 3 Reasons

Do we write mainly for the algorithm, our audience, ourselves, or some other reason? If we write purely for the algorithm, our work may get seen, but it won’t be true to us because none of our soul is poured into it. We start using proper keyword choices and stretching paragraphs into just the right length so that everything is perfect for AI to scan.

If we write for others, we’ll always be chasing popularity and fame. And again, we’ll be missing a critical element of ourselves in the final product. Do people want to read what we think they want to read, or do they want to read our perspective on something that is new and interesting? Fine line, I suppose. A writer can’t always predict what is going to be interesting to someone else.

If we write for ourselves, we’ll likely remain unheard. We may never improve and write something worthwhile. And we might just miss out on how to get people interested in what we have to say, no matter how worthwhile it is. I remember hearing that Francis Ford Coppola made The Godfather because the movies he really wanted to make were too expensive and artsy, and he needed to score a box-office hit to continue making his movies. That turned out to be a brilliant move, proving that the right movie made for the wrong reason can still succeed. However, we can see the stagnation he went through when he started making movies purely for himself in the 1980s, like One from the Heart and The Cotton Club. Those were legendary bombs.

The reason we write something depends on what it is we’re writing. If you write purely for the algorithm, you generate a keyword-dense ebook that doesn’t rock the boat. If you write purely for other people, you look at what’s popular right now and create a blog post that mimics that short-term trend. And if you write purely for yourself, you keep a journal that’s not meant to be read publicly.

Why I Write

So why do I write? Because I have something to say, and I want to be understood.

When it comes to the Deja Reviewer website, I tend to write a combination of for myself and others. I want my work to be intriguing and speak to people on a deep level. This is my outlet for creativity, no matter what it might generate monetarily. I can’t say that I write purely for my own satisfaction because I’m grateful to have wonderful readers like you who can appreciate my efforts to share unique thoughts.

I do write for a living at my job, which I appreciate every day. This website is different. I don’t measure every word to see if it will appeal to the algorithm. There are no A/B tests or keyword analyses I’m running to see what performs best. What you see on here is just my authentic, unpolished self.

I try to only share things I consider to be of value. They’re just never as beautiful as they could be if I wrote for different reasons. Hopefully there’s still beauty in that kind of imperfection. One day, our great civilization might go into the dustbin of history like the ancient ones preceding us. But the words we write today will always retain power and meaning. Let’s make sure to leave behind something worth sharing with the future.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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