From proto to pro

As part of this week's assignment, spend some time with the archives of Jason Kottke. Kottke has become a full-time blogger now, and it's not his newest stuff that interest me most. It's the early stirrings, the mid-period. What kinds of choices has he made as he moved from nobody to noticed? Does a blogger follow the same arc as a writer -- or some other content-driven artist -- as he or she makes his way towark been known?
I call your attention to:

Not comfortable
This is not a diary. A diary is a personal, private thing that I don't feel comfortable sharing with you. Alas, I've occasionally let this thing turn into a diary. I've also shared information about other people that wasn't appropriate. I've used notes to send messages to people "in the know".
Not anymore.
To that end, I've removed some material from here. Personal material that was (maybe) appropriate at the time, but as I look back on it, was not such a good idea. Some of you might protest, saying that I'm tampering with the past. It's not fair of me to go back and change my journal entries like that, right? It's not "fair" and "sporting". Well, fair or not, it's done.
 Oct 19, 1998

and

A weblog?
Is this a weblog? I don't think it is. It's more of a diary/jotpad for my thoughts. Sometimes I include links, sometimes not. If I don't link, how can this be a weblog?
Maybe it is a weblog, but I'd hate to be accused of following the trend of the moment. Why don't we just call it a list of Jason's ideas & commentary and leave it at that, OK?
 May 3, 1999