Something about freedoms on an anniversary

It's astonishing to me that I've been on the blogosphere for one year today. When Lane at my publisher first introduced me to blogging, informing me that they were doing a book about blogs, and I investigated the whole concept, I became tremendously excited and said I'd like to take a whirl at it. And being a maverick book distribution company with a publishing side and totally in love with my first novel, they decided to help me set up my blog and appointed the chap who'd created the book's website to design something for me. (That, to me, was the advantage of being first published by a smaller publisher; they really know how to move quickly...although, admittedly, they gave me many a tummy upset as my book went through six readings at the house before they gave it the greenlight. So they're fast on the web, but slow when it comes to making decisions about which projects to take on...which I suppose makes sense as it's their money on the line.)

At first, I thought my blog would last but a few months and few would read it and, as a result, I'd lose interest--or I assumed other writing projects would take precedence and the whole thing would dwindle. I also panicked I wouldn't have anything interesting to say:I didn't want the blog to just be about books because...well, there are many blogs about books...and I found I lost interest in most of them after a while. Nor did I want it to be tiresomely political because there are far too many of those too and, while I follow politics and get angry at the current ineptitude and downright dishonesty of many American politicians, I felt I didn't want to get bogged down rehashing what many others in the blogosphere do far better.

As the months passed, the blog began to take shape and I found my style of telling anecdotes and commenting on social issues and art--anything from the Pope, those Saffron Gates in Central Park, Charles and Camilla, scouting and Northern Irish matters, was something I enjoyed. The number of visitors to the blog started growing astonishingly quickly from all over the world and, quite frankly, I found this thrilling and an incentive to continue what I was doing.

Now seems a good time to thank all of you for joining me on the ride. Blogs are important, vital, because they are one of the purest forms of individual expression. Freedom of expression is something we must hold dear, it's the lifeblood of a true democracy, and, given the recent outrageous violence targeted against Europeans, the Danes, French and Norwegians in particular, I believe we all have a duty to stand up and assert those freedoms, especially when zealots try to intimidate and beat us into absolute submission vis-a-vis their values and beliefs. I salute what my fellow Europeans had the guts to do because, here in the United States, I fear our media is controlled by powerful conglomerations who seem more interested in profits, power, and corporate image than truth and freedom of expression. They are so paranoid and lily-livered, they have not as yet shown us, mature Americans with the ability to reason and make up our own minds on the subject, the cartoons in question. This, in the greatest free country in the world!!! And they continue to cover the story incessantly, pixelising and blurring the cartoons as if they were women's naked breasts, etc.

What was even more surprising this past year was the discovery that my terror of running out of things to say has not materialized...at least not yet. Moreover, my latest projects in the shape of the stageplay of 'Gabriel' and now a brand new screenplay project have not dampened my interest in blogging...though at times it has and will continue to cut into the number of posts.

So, as the second year begins, I'll continue to do what I've been doing and we'll see where it takes us.

[technorati: blogging, blogs, freedom of expression, Islam