David McElroy

Everything I’ve written for the last five years has been for an audience of one. Everything I’ve had to say was ultimately for her.

Part of me has known that, but the conscious part of me has been in the dark. And now that I understand, it all seems obvious. It was all for her.

On Brian Koppelman’s podcast this week, Seth Godin was talking about how creators change their work depending on the audience they choose. Godin’s argument was much deeper and more complex, but it was on this particular point that I suddenly had to stop the recording Sunday evening — because I had experienced an epiphany that I hadn’t seen coming.

A little bit more than five years ago — May 13, 2014, to be exact — I had run out of things I wanted to say here. On that date, I actually wrote something explaining that I had realized that everything I’d done for the previous three years had all been for a woman. I no longer had anything to say to that woman. I was moving on — and I was seriously considering shutting the site down.

And then something happened. In a miracle of timing, someone else came into my life — and I had a lot to say again. The words I needed to write suddenly changed.

Without having any intention to do such a thing, this woman changed my work.

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