Looking for my reader

It's never good when you have to start a blog entry by asking your readers if you've already written about something. I know that I can go back and read all my posts since it is sort of my responsibility to ensure that I don't repeat myself. But you can clearly see that I'm trying to make excuses here, and that I never got around to doing basic research. Well then, let me know if this post reads rather familiarly, and I'll be grateful if you could tell me in which entry I've already mentioned this problem.

My problem is this: I don't have an audience. I enjoy writing, but I feel like I don't have an audience. Maybe it doesn't really happen this way. I imagine that a writer knows who he's writing for, and caters to his audience that way. I know that here, I am writing to my friends and I can just be myself. But what happens when you want to sell real short stories and books? Who are you writing for? The man who enjoys horror stories, or the woman who wants to lose herself in another woman's love affairs? The young student who fantasizes about being a cook in Italy, or the just-retired grandfather who has been wondering about making a pilgrimage? Am I doing it all wrong? Is it supposed to just flow from inside of you and find its own audience?

It's been a long time since I've written fiction. Back in school, we'd imagine lives similar to ours and write about them. But if I were to write about things that I know about, who would read it? For one, it's pretty boring stuff. Another concern is that the niche market of Asian students in the USA isn't exactly the easiest audience to go for -- our backgrounds are all very different, and our American experience really depends on where in the US we are, and who we chose to hang out with. And really, if I'm to write about a life similar to mine, why don't I just write about me?

I probably haven't been trying hard enough. Maybe I'll work a little harder. For some reason, someone near me is making me want to be a better person. You can't say that I'm an awful person, but we can always be better. I'm currently inspired.