Why I'm here

Have you ever worked at a job that you started hating? Getting no reward for a job well done? Feeling nothing but frustration day after day after day?

Hey, we've all been there. For the past several years, I've been in that same place. To put it mildly, my dream job went to hell in a handbasket.

I am an editor at a newspaper in Maryland. This was the place I wanted to be. We were (and still are) the best newspaper in the immediate area. I thought I was at the place I would stay until I retired.

Funny how things change. There have been a lot of changes at the paper over the last several years, just about all of them for the worse. It has gotten to the point where I've had a knot in my stomach just walking into my workplace. It's not fun.

I have bitched and complained about this place. I have hoped that somehow, things would turn around and everything would be OK again.

But I no longer can wait for things to get better. Nothing is getting better. Over the last couple of months, I finally decided to stop complaining and start doing something about it.

I have always dreamed about being a writer, but that's all it has been. I know I have the talent to do this. The questions have always been my commitment and my drive to make something happen.

The first thing I did was buy a book by John Tesh called "Intelligence For Your Life," based on his popular radio show. Yes, I turned to JOHN TESH to help get me started. But somehow, reading his book inspired me to go after what I really wanted in life.

The next step was figuring out what to do about possibly getting something published. So I bought the "Everything Get Published" book.

The biggest thing I learned from this book? I needed a computer and Internet access, and I needed those in a hurry.

So the search was on several weeks back for a notebook computer at the right price. I finally settled on one, then got Internet access through my cable company. It had been three years since I had Internet access at home, and going from my former dial-up service to cable was like going from a Yugo to a Ferrari.

I got my Internet access last Monday, then started looking for a Web site to get jumpstarted on pursuing my dream.

I had never heard of writing.com until I typed in "Online writers" in my Yahoo search. I came to this site and saw everything it had to offer. I knew I wasn't going to make a buck, but this looked like a good place to get started.

It's only been a few days, but it's been a productive few days. This is the fourth story I have written. I have read many others. There are a lot of talented people out here, and they are inspiring me to continue writing.

I've put in a lot of extra hours after work on this site and I'm getting used to not getting a lot of sleep and loading up on caffeine. It's kind of tough trying to pursue something you really want to do with your life.

But you know what? Sometimes you have to go through a little bit of pain in order to gain a reward. And at this point in my life, I'm more than willing to do whatever it takes to find out whether pursuing my dream can become a reality.