Inside Signal Fire: A New Direction

The Matchbook | 2.6.26

If you find yourself falling through a rabbit hole, I suppose sometimes, you can blame a witch.

In this case, it’s my dear friend Kate Belew, the Word Witch, who sent me my star chart, exactly where the stars and planets were the moment of my birth. It got me thinking about a lot, but mostly about alignment. About what happens when you live out of step of who you actually are.

Somewhere along that fall, I realized something important about Signal Fire:

If I keep trying to make it into something it isn’t, I dim its light, and make myself miserable in the process.

I’ve spent too long trying to explain this place, trying to convince people of its value, its worth, trying to convince them to UPGRADE HERE and all that nonsense. Clearly, it’s never worked, and I think it didn’t because it was never me. I’m not a salesman, I hate selling shit, I hate trying to package meaning into offers, enticements, and perks. You can’t box up the damn fire without putting it out.

Signal Fire has always been about something better. Something quieter, deeper, and a hell of a lot more human.

So, I’m fixing things, I’m realigning. I’m an empathetic autistic who is painfully honest and completely allergic to bullshit, and so going forward, Signal Fire is no longer gonna just be about content, it’s gonna be about connection. Real connection, that’s it. I’m sick of the upsell, I’m sick of racking my brain to figure out sales.

The Sunday Edition isn’t going anywhere. I’ll still share my poems and photographs and all the little sparks you seem to love will still float off into the world, but now, at the center of it all, it’s gonna be YOU. Your thoughts, your presence, your voices. This place is the fire we’ll sit around and toast marshmallows on. Together.

The paywall thing will look different from now on. Going forward you’ll see a small graphic at the bottom break of the posts. It looks like this:

Trust me, it ain’t a lock, it’s not a door slammed in your face or a pay-to-read scam. It’s just an invitation, really, think of it as a matchbook, for anyone who wants to step closer, into the conversation, into community, into what lingers after the essay ends.

You do NOT have to join. Like I said, the free space stays whole and bright and The Sunday Edition will always be free and complete, but if you’ve ever felt the tug toward something smaller, slower, more intimate, that’s what lives Inside Signal Fire. It’s something REAL in a world that seems to be leaning hard towards fake. It’s like analog in a very digital land.

Bottom line, I’m sick of making myself miserable watching metrics and worrying about losing paid subscribers. That’s not what started this place, and it’s damn sure not why you keep coming here. Signal Fire has always been a beacon in the dark, I just wanna turn it more into a fire we can all sit beside together. Especially now.

Worry not, however, if you are here in the free space: You still belong, you always will be, and if you really want to step Inside Signal Fire but can’t afford it, reach out and I’ll comp you, cause your voice is needed.

For those who want to step inside, to see what stays glowing after the last word, I’ll be here, waiting, with a match in hand.

I love you all.

Be good.