Desmond Rivet wrote in a new blog article (in which he picked up my article) why he writes on a blog. Writing helps him to think:

The fact of the matter is that I just enjoy the process of writing. Moving words around a blank page like so many Lego bricks is fun. Skill and readership have very little to do with it. I write to clarify my thoughts. I write to try see if any of my beliefs contradict each other. And, sometimes, I write to discover what I think.

He also has a counter-argument to the argument that one does not want to have a public record of one’s thoughts:

You’re allowed to grow, you know? I like having a record of my old essays so I can see how my thoughts have evolved over the years. I think I’d be suspicious of anyone who’s opinions haven’t changed at least a couple of times in twenty years, and I’m really not interested in getting to know someone who’s offended by that idea.

I couldn’t agree more. I am also in the early stages of my twenties and I doubt that in 10 or 20 years, probably even in 5 years, I will still see everything as it is today. I will have made new experiences and learned new things. But to be able to see how you have developed, to look back and see where you might have been wrong in the past is kind of exciting. Writing has helped me in difficult times to get along with my thoughts, and I have learned to love it.