What if No One is Looking?

Here I am, seventeen days into this new blog adventure.

For the first few days, I didn't tell many people I was doing this, and it showed. No one knew the blog existed except for those few, and I got maybe 2 or 3 hits per day.

After a little while longer, I decided to go a little more public about the blog and posted a link on my facebook status.

Suddenly, I got a lot more hits. About twice as many as I get on one of my other blogs- one I've had for nearly a year, and one for which I had been writing a post every day for two and a half months.

How interesting.
Suddenly, I'm popular.
I started wondering why that might be so.
Part is that in the unschooling world, there are people out there who have heard of me. I've written a fair amount here and there over the years.
For my other blog, I'm pretty much an unknown. A newbie. Not someone most people would have much interest in hearing from.
So it made sense, and I thought I had it figured out.

Turns out, that probably had nothing to do with it.

After having announced every new post for several days in a row, I stopped. Not intentionally- I just got busy with other things and didn't think to post about it.

If my theory about people being more interested in this blog because I have a lot of experience were true, then if they liked the blog, they'd come read it, whether I specifically announced each post or not.

Well.
That's not what happened.
Suddenly, back to two or three hits.
All those people who responded to my facebook status did not find the blog interesting enough to take action on their own to find out about updates.

Apparently, they only went to look at it because they saw my status post about it. A case of bringing it to their attention, making it easy for them. Putting it in their face, in a way.

So here's the question...
What do I do now?
Do I go back to announcing each post so I get more hits again?
Do I stop writing, if no one is really interested?

And isn't that interesting, right there?
How long did it take for my actions to potentially change based on whether or not I get some reward for what I'm doing, or on whether or not people "like" me?

That's a little scary.

It comes down to something very simple.
Am I writing this blog for myself, or for other people?
Does it matter if anyone reads it?
Am I dependent on other people's opinions?

I've decided, for now, not to announce my posts anymore.
It feels too self-serving, somehow.
It feels like it may change what I write, or how I write it, if I even consider whether other people are reading it.

I'll keep writing about my experiences for myself.
If anyone finds it interesting, that's great. If not, then not.
I don't need to get an "A" in blogging or something.