This is Number 101.

There are those of us who enjoy writing.  We can’t explain why.  Most often, we don’t even try.

My name is Mike…..I am a writer.

My first job out of college was writing.  Five days a week, mostly 10-12 stories.  They ranged from a three sentence paragraph to a full page.  Always double-spaced.   All the words were capitalized.  If it took longer than 60 seconds to read, it was too long.  Self-edited everything.

Exactly everything wrong compared to the English and writing classes I had in school.

“Write like you talk,” they said.

An absolute deadline at 5:59 pm every day.  Television News starts at 6:00 pm.  I loved it.  One stupid day, I let it get away from me.

Two years later, I was back to writing.  Again, on the road, finding new stories, meeting deadlines.

Back in love with words moving from my mind, through my fingertips and onto a sheet of paper.

There’s no money in this business, not in Mississippi.   Sometimes it’s like trying to win a pro-fishing tournament with a cane pole, hook, worm and sinker.  You’ve got a chance, you may win something, but the big boys are just over the horizon.  Or, you need to live in the big city.

I made more money as a roughneck on a drilling rig than a working as a news reporter down at city hall.  Interviews with the Governor didn’t pay for the diapers and baby formula. I couldn’t live on typewriter ink and reams of paper.

I had my family. I put my writer’s hat away.

I did other things.  I ran away from my notebooks, I escaped the confines of my computer screen.  I made a good living.  I ached late at night.

I still wanted to write.  Something.

Eventually, I promised myself to return.

A year ago I couldn’t stay away from this white screen any longer

I promised myself I would write 500 words every day, seven days a week.

I lied and broke my promise.  But, I didn’t stop.

101 stories later, I’m still trying.  I push, sometimes I drag and sometimes I bargain with my day.  I argue with the clock on the wall and my list of things to do.  I change my priorities.

Here I am this morning, less than a year later, I’ve got 101 stories.

And, I’m still feeding my computer.  There’s more stories to tell.  More thoughts to capture.

A few people like what I write.  That counts.

I appreciate each and every one of you who clicks “Like.”

I love to read the comments.  My heart  is happy and what little ego I have, is soothed  when someone tells me how I’ve connected with their heart in some way.    I like to remind others that we all have different thoughts that seem the same or is it the same thoughts that seem different.

Thank you for your time, for your comments and for your “Likes.”

I’m already working on story number 102.

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Please feel free to share.  I welcome your comments and thoughts.  Contact Mike Windham at amwindham100@gmail.com.  You can follow my blog at mikewindham.com.