Why we write?

There isn't much more imposing than a blank sheet of paper. Generally, it's best to subscribe to the wisdom that if you don't have anything interesting or useful to say, you should just be quiet and pay attention. Journalists, myself included would do well to do more of the last two activities.

However, how exactly do you know when you've observed something worth saying? Most writers spend their lives laboring away in obscurity, never read, only to be eventually forgotten. And with the advent of blogs and self publishing, many more people can put their thoughts and feelings into the public discourse, for better or worse. Even then, one could argue that little of value often comes from this seething mass of html code. Perhaps then, we write not because we really believe someone else cares what we have to say, but rather because we care what we have to say, and want to leave, if nothing else, a simple record of our existence.