[I tried to post this on Thursday, but the site was down. Hopefully you saw it in last week's email]

Shaler,

Maybe it's the fact that I turned 40 this past August. Maybe it's because it is the day before Thanksgiving. Or, it could be the fact that I am writing this from the campus of Regent University, the place where I started law school 10 years ago. We decided to make a pit stop here as we travel home from a few days of R and R in the Smokey Mountains. It's probably a combination of all three reasons. Whatever the reason, I'm in a bit of a reflective mood and would like to share some things with you. Bear with me if have heard some of this before.

A bit of a quick history lesson. It's been more than 6 years since this shale network of ours was born with its initial website, GoHaynesvilleShale.com(GHS).  Soon after that came the launch of GoMarcellusShale.com (GMS) in 2009. And a bit later, came the launch of EagleFordForum.com (EFF) in 2012. Initially, the discussions on the Eagle Ford took place on GHS, but soon it became apparent the Eagle Ford needed a dedicated website.

GHS, the first site, was created out of a need. Simply put, our family needed information about what was going on in Louisiana during the Haynesville Shale boom. The biggest challenge to this was that my wife and her three siblings were all out-of-state landowners. They had inherited the family farm after their dear grandmother passed away. As oil and gas companies moved into the area to lease rights to drill for natural gas, we realized we were woefully uninformed about the process of leasing and drilling. So this led to what would become GoHaynesvilleShale.com.

When we received that initial "knock" on the door by a landman, I had recently graduated from law school and was preparing for the bar exam. At the same time, I was busy building GHS. It didn't take me long to figure out that my heart was really into GHS. Specifically, it was the value that it brought to people. The notes and expressions of gratitude were overwhelming and by June of 2008, I knew my future was tied to shale.

When I started law school, owning a network of shale websites was not the plan. My plans focused around public policy and the JAG Corps. A few weeks into my 1st year, I started experiencing alarming symptoms. Daily episodes of dizziness & lightheadedness, heat intolerance, ringing ears and muscle spasms were the norm. One day, I can run 5 miles and then the next, a walk around the block is nearly impossible.  This blindsided us. We had just sold our house and made the move for the purposes of law school and now 4 weeks later it was unraveling. When I lost vision after a work out, it hit home that this was a life altering condition for us. Soon class attendance became a challenge. Then keeping up with studies became impossible. I had no other choice but to withdraw that semester.

The next year, after things abated a little, I reenrolled. The symptoms were still an issue, but with a lot of prayer and God-given strength, I was able to get through the 3 year program. The questioned turned to, "Now what?" I had done some summer clerkships and legal internships and realized that practicing law was pretty much out the question due to the random nature of the symptoms. So when graduation came, it was a mystery to us where God was going to take us.  I needed something where I could 1) create my own schedule, 2) take a break when symptoms occurred, and 3) support a growing family. Not too many law practices fit that description.

So... in walks the shale revolution and GHS, the website we started to hopefully learn something about leasing. By the end of that first summer after graduation, membership was hopping and I was receiving inquiries for advertising... and the rest is shale history.

So today, I am thankful for God's faithfulness in hard times, for a wife who has been by my side through it all, for opportunities that arise out of "ashes" and for a community of loyal shalers that have been at the center of that opportunity. It's a blessing to call you friend.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Keith Mauck

Publisher

P.S. After 8 years of dealing with these symptoms, I saw a doctor in 2013 at John Hopkins who gave me the partial diagnoses of vestibular/atypical migraines.  Prescribed medication has really helped my day to day and I have been able to live a mostly normal life the last 18 months. Another reason to be thankful!