The Person Who Wrote This

Hi. My name’s Iain and I wrote this for you. Jon, from Japan, takes the pictures. We’ve never met, although I consider him one of my best friends.

Why did I write this?

I work in the advertising/design industry. I write copy and conceptualise things. I’ve done quite well at it and apparently people enjoy what I write and what I think of.

I wrote this, in a way, to reduce what I could call my ‘cultural footprint’. For some reason, I have this ability, this gift, to write. So why should I use it solely for the purposes of selling things? I don’t think I should. It costs me nothing and I enjoy it.

What did you write it for?

To help people and to help myself. A lot of the posts I write are, in reality, advice that I give myself. I step back from whatever problem I’m dealing with and put myself in someone else’s shoes and try and think of what they would tell me. I think we all share the same basic human condition.

If I had a normal blog running alongside I Wrote This For You, you’d see that many of the posts are reflections of what’s happening in my life.

I want I Wrote This For You to be a message in a bottle. A piece of advice at the right time for the right person. In more abstract terms, I enjoy playing with the one-to-one nature of reading (people read things on their own, inside their heads) and the contrast between that and the one-to-many nature of the internet.

Why have you been writing it anonymously?

Because the anonymous nature of the person writing it gives it power. You don’t know who’s writing it, so it could be anyone. I wanted the person writing it to be a special anyone, an old lover, an old friend, someone you met on the street or someone you’ve yet to meet. There’s also enough ego in my industry and I wanted to create something that went completely against that.

So why have you stopped that?

Because I don’t want people to assume that I’m so kind of man on the mountain, a guru who knows exactly what’s going on in life or that I think of myself in that way. The truth is, I don’t know what’s going on. No one does. I’m just like you. I have my weaknesses, my flaws, my blemishes, my ups and my downs. I’m not a prophet. I’m not Buddha. I’m just as confused as the rest of you.

However.

If even one person feels better about themselves or the world around them after reading it, then the blog would have done its job and I can die happy.

What now?

I’ll continue to write this, as long as I enjoy it, as long as Jon takes pictures and as long as someone (you) keeps finding it. So we're here for the duration.

And then?

I Wrote This For You will eventually become a book, as soon as I get off my ass, containing the most popular posts, complete with high-rez photos from Jon. It will always continue in blog form.

Anything else I should know?

I'm 27 years old, 28 in June, bald and I live in Cape Town, South Africa.

I smoke too much. I’m a cat person.

I look like this.