Just Who am I Writing to?

After reading Walter J. Ong’s article on the fictitious audience that writer’s must deal with, I really have never thought that in depth on who I was writing for. Never did it cross my mind, what kind of person will read this or where are they going to be reading this? This may stem from the fact that I only have written for teachers and school projects. Thus, making my audience choice for me and I write to the teacher. But I will be honest, I never think about my audience as I write. I have my topic, and how long it has to be, and what my points are going to be. That’s it. I understand that many writers must accommodate the idea of an audience, but as we discussed in class, should the author have a responsibility to their audience? I said in class that I thought authors have that responsibility to their audience, but I'm going to change my opinion and say that authors don't have to write for their audience. This is because I have realized that I don't write for an audience and the more I think about having to change how I write to accommodate others, I’m not a fan. I write some poetry in my free time and it’s so much more enjoyable to write freely. That’s all for now.