To say that this project has been in the works for a while would be a huge understatement.  I have fought with myself over what I want it to be…what I want it to be called…what I want it to DO.  Combine that with what can only be described as a critical case of writer’s block, and you end up with a big pile of frustration.

If you were ever a follower of the Morgan Minute, then you’ve seen the starts and stops. What you haven’t seen is me trying to figure all of this shit out. I get the ideas…I try to expand and work out the fine details of the ideas..I write and talk about the ideas. But in the end, I’ve failed to actually IMPLEMENT the ideas…and that’s REALLY the most important part.

When COVID-19 started occupying every aspect of our lives last year…upending our routines and turning us all into bakers and gardeners…it hit me again…just like it hit me after the tornado in 2012…that I needed to put SOMETHING out there.  I needed to find a way to connect…connect me to you…connect you to each other…just CONNECT.  However, just like after the tornado, the idea was strong, but the self-doubt and the lack of a focused vision was even stronger.

Still, the concept of “connecting” has been a constant theme and was at the root of the decision to start this project a couple of years ago.  I was convinced then, as I am today, that the people who live in the Appalachian region have far more in common with each other than they have differences.  That being said, I have never seen us as divided as we are now.  We argue over the silliest of things and often act in a manner that works against our common interest.

Still, absent any thought about political affiliation or conspiracy theories, we hold the door open for each other at the store; we smile or wave as we pass; we rally when our folks need help; it is who we are…it is IN us to be that way.  And even though it seems like we stray from that at times and are at conflict with one another, it is that common ground that I want to write about…to find those shared places of thought and have us walk them together.  But while the desire to do that has been strong, the inspiration on HOW to do it has not.

I have worried and fretted over every aspect of it.  I don’t want it to be TOO political…but maybe a LITTLE political.  But how much is too much? How much is too little?  It was so much to think about that it turned into a weight that just bogged the whole thing down.

Over the past few weeks, though, that has started to change.  New thoughts started to form.  And progress started being made.  When I talked to my wife about it, I referred to it as a passion project, but, as she correctly pointed out, if it truly is my passion, why have I let it linger for so long? Good question.

All along, I have been trying to craft this as some sort of community news or editorial site, with an eye on eventually monetizing it, potentially even creating a print version…so basically, shit I don’t really know ANYTHING about. Because of that, I have struggled with trying to figure out almost everything about the project.  At its core, though, I think all I’ve ever really wanted it to be is just some good honest writing and for people to enjoy themselves.

So, that is where I’m starting.

The content will be varied.  It may be about issues in our community…it may be about the dangers of social media…it may be about some music I really like…it may be about good people and the good things they are doing…or it may be about how it felt to finally gather again post-vaccine.  Basically, it MAY be about just about anything.

I expect that some of the writing here will be on a more personal level, but I don’t really want to call it a “blog”.  I have one of those, and I’ll probably save the more personal writings and random thoughts for over there. The style here will probably be more of an op-ed variety, but my aim here is to form a connection, and I think that would be hard to do without making it at least a LITTLE personal.

This site…well, this site is going to be something else.  What that something is, I’m not positive about just yet, but I’ve also decided that I don’t need to be.  I just need to get started.  What it won’t be is a community “news” site.  I thought about that, and that may be something that takes shape down the road, but I don’t think I’m ready to produce the level of content I feel like would be needed, or produce it in a timely enough manner, in order to make a site like that what I think it should be.

The one thing I’m SURE it is going to be is a work in progress.  You are welcome to come along for the journey, and you are certainly welcome to drop me a line with thoughts and ideas.

I’m still not sure if what it is NOW is what it will be in the future, but for now, I am going to be happy that it simply IS.