Writing is a way to enter into the permanent record everything from your transitory thoughts to your very existence, and no matter how modest a writer may claim his goals to be, on some level he’s doing this for posterity. You write in the unspoken hope that you will become part of the passing parade that was your time. As goals go, you could do a lot worse.
excerpted from Rule #102 from Robert Masello’s Robert’s Rules of Writing: 101 Unconventional Lessons Every Writer Needs to Know.