First Post

Yes, this is one of those posts that you find on any blog if you go back far enough, a first post, justifying why there is a blog here in the first place.

So, why a blog?

For the last decade I have tried to put my assorted thoughts not on a dedicated blog, but on social media sites — Facebook, Goodreads, DeviantArt, Medium. My thinking, at the time, was that by posting on existing networks I would benefit from organic discovery — people would find my posts using the relevant site's own tools, and that would drive interest in the sum total of my creative endeavours.

To some extent I think this probably worked. My Medium posts have attracted views, my Facebook pages have followers, my DeviantArt posts have been favourited (if that's a word). But at the same time it means that my creative output has been splintered. I'm spread over a dozen sites. There isn't one place anyone could go to see all the things I do, except of course this website, which I've unintentionally made an effort to direct people away from, just by posting elsewhere.

Hence the blog. My intent is to create a place where all my news can be found. I am not planning to give up on Facebook and the rest, but what I post elsewhere I will also post here. Will it work? Will I end up abandoning the whole thing for my original plan? Only time will tell.