About Mike L Lane
Do you remember in school when your English teacher assigned the “I Am” project for creative writing? It was either a poem or an essay simply entitled “I Am” and forced you to talk about all the things you are.
I am Joe and I am a great person. I am the starting quarterback for the 2-6 Tigers! Go Tigers! I am the Prom King and I am head of the debate team. I am dating the hottest girl in school and she loves me. I am going to graduate with honors and get accepted into Harvard. I am God’s gift to the universe because this essay says so. Don’t you wish your I Am essay was as good as mine?
I hated those! To me they always seemed over-bloated and pompous. I cringed listening to other classmates prattle on about how great they were and all of their “accomplishments” at age fifteen or whatever. But what I hated the most was writing about me. The “I Am” assignment was always about putting your best foot forward and telling the reader what makes you, you, but every time I sat down to craft one of these, all I could think about was my shortcomings. Mine always went a little something like this-
I am Mike. I am plagued with acne so I am not the Prom King. I am way too short to play for the 2-6 Tigers and I damn sure couldn’t play quarterback. The debate team wouldn’t have me because I try to get along with everyone- mostly so I go unnoticed. I’m dating my right hand for the most part. I make decent grades, but I know I won’t be going anywhere impressive for college, if at all. I do wish my I Am essay was as good as yours Joe, but that just wasn’t in the cards for me and so be it. I am who I am (as Popeye would say) and that’s all that I am. Take it or leave it- I could care less.
Now I know how bleak and depressing that sounds, but I learned something from those dreaded I Am projects that I have held onto all these years- I see things the way they are and although I may be harsh at times, I’m honest. So for my “about me” page, I won’t give you the glossed-over version of how great a writer I am. The truth is that I’m just now starting out (40 some-odd years of procrastination and dreaming has got me to this point in my writing “career” and although I wish I could say I was dedicated and persevered in my writing endeavors all these years, I did not.) I wish I could say I was utilizing those years to “learn the craft” and “study human behavior”, but that would be a lie as well. The bottom line? I was lazy. I followed life where it took me like a leaf on the wind and never got serious about trying to right the ship and chase my dreams. I want to be a writer and I want to entertain people with the stories I tell. I hope you are one of the people I get the opportunity to entertain and I hope that you will like what you read. So who am I really?
I am Mike L Lane. I am a writer who enjoys crafting horror stories and leaving readers with something to think about long after the story has ended. I am constantly devoted to improving my craft. I am a character driven writer who believes the best stories are about the people in these tales and how their traits and flaws shape the outcome of the story for better or worse. I am the odd spider lurking in the corner; watching and observing from the shadows. I keep all eight eyes on you and jot down your behaviors in my web for safe keeping. You haven’t noticed me, but that’s okay. Someday you may be my next story.
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