For the simple joy of blogging

This week I shut down my Typepad blog, byronmiller, my byline for those of you who read it as the name Byron. I started that blog 20 years ago, but had all but abandoned it over the last several years, leaving it up as a memento to another time.

I discovered the notion of blogging at a blogging conference, Weblog Business Strategies, in Boston in 2003 (my press pass is pictured above). I was immediately taken by the idea that I could, without a formal publication, simply publish myself, unfiltered. It was a heady idea in those days, especially for someone who grew up in an industry where you had to have editors and publishers and printing presses. Suddenly, without gate keepers, it was all there for me to do...alone.

I loved blogging, especially in the early days, and although I never made money at it, it was more about having my own outlet without having to beg at the door of the owner of the means of production.

Today, newsletters like Platformer News and 404 Media, which share this publishing platform are delivering great tech news without having to answer to a corporate owner and reaping the rewards of their excellent work.

So here I go again, writing on my own again, for the thrill of it again, even as I continue to do my day job writing at TechCrunch – I don't expect I'll be nearly as successful as the cream of the newsletter writers, but I do it for other reasons, and I hope you enjoy reading my missives as much as I enjoy writing them.

Onward. And if you like what you see, please click the Subscribe button.