This Blogging Thing....

Blogging - it's a very bit catch-all term to cover what is really a variety of types of writing, ranging from the personal diarist who finds the internet a convenient place to base it, through those who love to write, to those that are very newsy and information based.
There are of course others, the self-publicist, the campaigner, those that just need to get something off their chest or shape some thoughts. The ones I read are a mixture and I seek out different ones according to my mood.
I was reading someone's the other day and it made me think about what motivates us to write. I've never been a diarist (beyond the coded shorthand of a teenage life) and until about 5 years back would have clearly said that I don't like writing - it was about that time that I found I had a poem or two in me and my approach to writing started to change (funnily enough, filling the gap left by earlier creative forms of expression that I had allowed to lapse).
I started this (well in it's other form) 16 months ago. I like taking pictures on second life and there were some I wanted to share. A friend mentioned Bletaverse to me and I began what was mainly a photoblog. I've noticed though that the words are taking over - it's interesting to stand and observe changes in yourself.
So why do I write?.....and therefore, who do I write for?
I think I need to approach that the other way round.
I write for me. if I'm not in the mood, I don't do it and if I'm feeling a bit late-night-reflective, then maybe I do - that's it.
I know some writers cast their words to the winds with not a thought or care who reads it, whereas although I write for me, I do it in the knowledge that others may well read it, but not on the assumption that anyone will. This, and my character, influence what I might say, just in the same way that I will speak my mind in one way 1-1 to a close friend, but decency and good manners dictate that if I were on a crowded bus with the same friend, I'd do it differently.
Publish and be damned may be fine if you are the Duke of Wellington but for me, I prefer to keep some things private.
The internet is the crowded bus - you never know who is on it. Probably a handful of anonymous strangers, some of whom may be reasonable people, maybe with a sprinkling of people you casually know - who knows!
Once it's out there......