I have been asked, Why do you want to publish? When I was younger, I often claimed that it did not matter if no one read what I wrote: I was writing for myself. While it is true that I write because I feel I have to, I need to, I have come to realize that the exaggeration of my youth was not accurate. As two-time U.S. Poet Laureat, Ted Kooser wrote, “It is, of course, possible to write for one’s self, and all of us do it…Writing that nobody but the author takes interest in… But poetry is too good a thing to keep to one’s self. A poem is meant to be shared with others.” (The Poetry Home Repair Manual, 2005)

Back when I was claiming that I only needed to write for myself, I think I was afraid of the appearance of ego-flaunting if I were to try to share what I wrote. Today, I feel differently. I believe that an artist—whether a poet, novelist, painter, or composer—only partially completes his or her creation. The creation is not final until the reader, or the viewer, or the listener brings to the work his own heart and his own soul, together with all of his emotions and experiences, collected over the years. So, in my mind, the act of creation of a work of art is actually a co-creation, even his mood at the moment—a collaborative endeavor of the artist, the giver and the guide, together with the receiver, the guest invited to be guided on a special journey.

And so, dear reader, I invite you to join me on a journey. Bring to me your emotions and your experiences, and hopefully I will be able to provide you with some words that entertain, inspire, make you think, make you feel, and together we can co-create a work of art.