In this space we all strive to speak to an audience, to reach people on a level they understand and enjoy. Our intention is to enlighten or amuse, to shock and impact our readers, or to simply free the voice in our head. Regardless of why we are here, we want to write. We want to put our words into the world so people will read them and come back wanting more because something we said reached them on some unspoken level. We want to feel that some part of our psyche left an indelible imprint on their brain and they connect with our words in a multitude of ways.

We write for different reasons and we write in unique voices, but within the vast forum of the blogosphere there is a common thread that binds us all – we write. We may compose those words for a variety of reasons and our passions may be fueled by different fires, but we all burn with same intensity. Sometimes those flames completely engulf us and we are overwhelmed by the fury of the fire. And sometimes those embers simply lay in wait, still, with the hope of becoming a fire and requiring the strike of an idea to rekindle that pyre of words.

My intention when I started this blog was simply to write. What I didn’t expect was to encounter the myriad number of people who enrich my life with their words. I didn’t anticipate the number of people who are rapidly becoming a staple in my day by simply doing what they love to do and by sharing their voices as well. My voice has not been quelled, but amplified by the influence of those around me. My fire, although burning at a steady pace, is not only sustained by their thought-provoking words, it is intensified by their true passion for putting words to a page. For that, my fellow bloggers and potential friends, I thank you.

The light of the fire still warms me. It envelops me and hypnotizes me with the patterns in the flames. My sleep is disrupted. My moments of REM are becoming non-existent, but I accept that fate because my intention is to listen to the voices that rouse me from that slumber and give them the freedom to say what they want to say. Let the fire burn.