At the time of writing this, it’s been almost exactly 10 years since I last wrote an essay. I am 29 years old and 10 years ago I was a 19 year old student finishing my final year at secondary school. Back then, I was fairly certain that I would never write another essay again, but times have changed and here we are.

So, why call them essays? Why not just call these blog posts?

There are a couple of reasons which I will attempt to explain below.

1. What’s the difference?

First of all, there’s little difference between an essay and a blog post. I guess a blog post is could be seen as a more casual form of an essay but both are a form of creative writing where an individual shares their ideas and thoughts.

One could argue that essays should be more formal and in-depth, but there are many famous blog posts that are just as long and formal as essays.

2. Habit

I am far more comfortable writing what are called “essays”. I wrote them throughout secondary school and the format and formal prose feel much more natural.

3. Intent

Blog posts feel like they should be about myself and I don’t like the idea of writing about myself.

I’ve been partly inspired by the essays of Paul Graham. I feel like his essays have shared interesting ideas and thoughts and I want to try and emulate that.

4. Sounds cooler

I think “essays” sounds cooler than “blog posts”.

Yep. That’s it.