It was five years ago this week that I wrote my first Letter to an Unknown Audience (with a strange dream about New Zealand) and started "blogging." Back then I didn't know what I was getting into, I was just full of raw excitement; I just wanted to get in. I wanted to say something to the people out there who were reading, who were writing, and who were ultimately participating in this great big community: people who were thoughtful enough to write a couple of paragraphs on a regular basis and respond to other people who were doing the same. Those are my people.

Since then, this column has been an always-ready seminar room for me, a chance to make use of the truest thing I've ever been told, that "You don't learn something until you've spoken up and been told why you're wrong." It's always been here, taunting me, a gaping maw for the food of experience, and dozens of times, just having it here has been an inspiration to go out and live, to observe, to bring back life and process it. It's introduced me to people (now some of my best friends) and ideas and experiences. It's been like a lover.

There've been dry spells, times when it's been hard to write (hard to live) and arguably this year has been one of them. There's a temptation to get out of the game by the five-year mark. How much can one person have to say, after all? Especially when tapping that stream on a daily basis, rather than saving it up for years like a novelist (like a proper writer). Yet, although it's arrogant to think so, I believe I've got more in me. I intend to keep writing, here and elsewhere, on a semi-regular basis. Whatever I haven't said over the past five years is only a hole, only a gap that needs to be filled. In the future I hope to leave fewer gaps.

If you, reader, grow weary of this column, you have two options: one is to leave a note, and the other is to unsubscribe. I heartily encourage you to take advantage of the first. Be polite—but don't be quiet. I value nearly every comment that's ever been left, every note I've ever received on this blog. As they say, "Feedback is a gift" (Hello, David).

As it is, we are young, we are fierce, and there is lots more to be done. Onwards and upwards; blog on.