It’s surprising how much a little can add up to a lot.  I’ve been writing on this weblog for over two years and I’ve finally posted more than 100 articles! (this one is 101)

It’s funny initially I tried writing mini-essays, something similar to Paul Graham.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep up with it (also they weren’t nearly as good).  The task of writing a 500 word piece was so daunting that I wasn’t motivated to keep up.  So I stopped for a while.  After a brief hiatus, I realized why limit myself to 500 words?  So I decided to set a goal of 4-6 posts a month regardless of the length. Up until lately, I’ve actually done pretty well with that.  The periods of few posts typically correlate to some trip I went on or some deadline that I have to meet.   So it’s usually a good thing for me, but I guess not so good for the number of posts.  Going forward, I’m going to try to keep up with 4 posts a month.  Hopefully by the time I hit two hundred, I will have kept pretty close to this goal.

To wrap up, here are some things I’ve learned or random thoughts about my weblog:

• I keep posting here for a few reasons: writing down ideas help solidify and reinforce them in my head, to practice my writing, and to share knowledge with anyone who cares to listen.  Funny enough, the last point is the least important reason for my writing but the most satisfying one (when something I wrote is useful to someone).
• Stories are a much more interesting (read fun) way to express ideas.  Explaining the facts in a logical manner just doesn’t seem as sexy.
• It’s pretty scary telling personal stories in public but after a while you get used to it (especially when readership is so low).
• It’s also pretty scary telling people that you have a blog; it makes you vulnerable.  Anyone can read a post, criticize you and put you down.  Fortunately, no one has really done that… yet.
• I actually enjoy writing.  It’s kind of nice to take off my hat as a consumer and actually be a producer (of something else besides code).
• Practice makes perfect.  I’ve found that words flow much more easily than before I started.  This also translates over to writing papers too.  The quality of my first drafts are much higher and produced more quickly than before.  This is exactly why I started writing.
• I always wanted to write about some of my other hobbies such as investing or something technical like coding.  But for some reason, I always felt that I wasn’t enough of an “expert”.
• I turned off public comments on my website because I was getting way too much spam. (Although, people can still comment on Facebook).
• When I co-posted with Facebook, my readership skyrocketed (from almost nothing to still a very low number).  Surprise, surprise, turns out most people get their information through Facebook.
• There’s a real sense of accomplishment when I look back at all the “work” I’ve done.  Even reading some of my previous posts, I’m pretty happy and surprised at how good they are.  Unfortunately, this definitely doesn’t apply to all of them.

What good is knowledge if you can’t share it?  I’ll keep sharing and hopefully someone will keep reading.