Is Medium your Journal, Blog, or Outlet?

Channeling your thoughts in print

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

Write without fear. Edit without mercy.

Write without fear. Write what?

I’ve always been a writer, way before the days when I had to write school essays to pass a language arts class or publish in academe to keep a job.

I used to journal my silliest and deepest thoughts in a journal as a teenager. I always found the need to express myself on paper. Before I knew what it meant to keep and analyze data, I wrote to keep a log of my thoughts and actions to learn more about myself. I saw patterns emerge. Isn’t that the power of data anyway?

Then came the internet and the advent of the blog. A web-log = Blog that is a compilation of distinct, diary-like entries that caught on in the 2000s. I started one in 2007 titled, In Japan with Kids to write about my experiences as a new expat living in Tokyo.

My friends and family interested and intrigued about my move and new experience were my audiences. I don’t believe I had anyone I didn’t know read the blog. It was a public forum with a personal audience. I once wrote a post about smokers and smoking. My wasband, being a smoker, took direct offense to that and that was the end of that.