It runs through the various entries I've made here and elsewhere over time, that I've had the same question. On that question, the resolve for me is that I will, I must, write for my own satisfaction. Though I haven't put the time into it that would be required, I don't see much possibility of having any of my written work -yes, it is work, sometimes- published for a readership. A readership would be the only real point of publishing. Yet, I do anticipate the possibility of some readership. I 've said, without elaborating, that I also write for posterity. To elaborate, I think that there are more than a few of us who take some sort of pleasure in coming across "old writings", preferably of kin, but perhaps anyone, as well. Such writings give us a glimpse back in time into people's lives and lifestyles; of how things were that we could not experience. Think of what it's like to handle a book or piece of paper from "way back when". We wonder even about the properties of that paper. We wonder about the writing tool. We wonder about the place and space in which the writing was done. And, we wonder about the writer, the person. What were that person's circumstances; socially, financially, emotionally, intellectually? And I suspect that there will be some kin of mine to follow that, for whatever their purpose, whatever their judgement, will take some pleasure in perusing some of what I have written sitting in this era I now occupy. And now that I've thought it out to this extent, given the existence, as it were, of some future-kin, I take my beret off to you, and to you I owe a better job than I've done to date at my writing.
A whole other question arises -as I've raised elsewhere in the past- with the allusion to old paper or books, as to in what sort of format writings such I'm doing now will survive if they survive at all? Stone comes to mind first and foremost as a medium with log-term durability. No doubt it's demands and limitations make it a reject out-of-hand. Still, if the nuclear holocaust that some have predicted does indeed happen, we -our species- may yet find ourselves re-inventing the wheel, or, tablet.
Somewhat more practical is the amassing of one's work on storage units such as CDs or hard drives. Here the hope would be for legacy equipment would be maintained for the purpose of reading and translating units. That has already become a technological consideration in many quarters. I suppose that one could self-print on paper copies of all one writes. This is actually feasible and may become the preservation of choice. A hope here is that there will be discovered a paper product that does not require the killing of trees. I would suspect that is in the works as we write. Finally, for today, there is the possibility of simply accummulating writings on storage devices -such as servers- within the construct of the Internet much as we're doing now. A huge problem with that is cost. I fail to see Google's interest, longterm, in storing my digits, especially for free. And if I'm not around to make the payment will there be future-kin with sufficient interest and means to do so?
Well, I am at an age and health condition where this need not matter just yet. For today, I'm willing to use and store -with thanks and appreciation- on an Internet website. Suffice it to say -today- that the matter is on my mind unresolved, and may yet find resolution elsewhere.
