I have been thinking about why people write.

It’s not at all obvious in many cases. Certainly, the vast majority of writing out in the world is done to convince or to inform, the latter often a form of convincing. When a church group tells the world, “We are having our Christmas food drive,” they are informing the world of the project for the purpose of getting people involved; it is an appeal to convince potential volunteers of the need. A grant is a call to elicit money from someone else. Writing to convince makes up the bulk of what is written, and the need is generally obvious enough.

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