Well, here it is, the very first post on my new blog! But what to talk about? I mean, I’ve got no shortage of things that I could write about. I could philosophize at length about why I chose to devote so much time and effort into building a camper van in my driveway. I could give detailed descriptions of my van’s electrical or plumbing systems. I could talk about the experience of taking the partially built van on a camping trip for the first time, and how it made me realize just how much more stuff I still needed to do…

But which of those things are going to be of interest to you, my dear reader? And what does it make sense to write about first? For that matter, is anyone other than me ever going to read this?

OK, I think it would help if I kicked things off by talking about who I’m writing this blog for, and why on earth anyone might spend their precious time reading it.

In a nutshell, I’ve got three audience buckets in mind.

Firstly, there are friends and family who know me personally, and have expressed an interest in seeing what I’ve been up to in the months since I quit my job as a Google software engineer. Hello there!

Secondly, there are my fellow DIYers in the van building community. I’ve learned a ton from reading other people’s accounts of their van building experiences, on YouTube, on other websites, and on the various online forums devoted to this kind of thing. Maybe someone else can get inspiration from something I post here, or at the very least learn from my mistakes! Other, more experienced van builders might just enjoy vicariously reliving the experience, while not losing any skin from their own knuckles.

The third “bucket” that I’m targeting is, well, me. It sounds a bit narcissistic, but even if nobody else ever reads this blog, I’d probably still write it. Designing and building a van involves making thousands of little decisions and trade offs… and then changing those decisions on a regular basis. I think that writing about the process is useful for coalescing one’s thoughts, and reflecting on where the project is going. If nothing else, future me is sure to get a laugh out of the nonsense that I wrote here.

Welcome to the blog, everyone!