State of the Writer
Haven't done a public update in a while, so here's what's up:
1. New Job
Old job is out, new job is in: for the past six months I've been working from home (aka The Dream TM), copywriting 15,000 words per week (~8-10 articles), and generally living the way I've always preferred since I was a latch-key kid: very much a night owl, running my own schedule, never leaving the house except to check the mail (fun fact: since visiting my sister in South Korea this past March, I haven't left the building once, and I pretty much like it that way). I make significantly more money and am now comfortably in a career-sphere that makes sense with my skill set and education. It only took about 10 years since getting out of undergrad to finally get in on the ground floor! When does being a Millennial stop? I'm over 30 now and still can't seem to shake it off.
2. BFF In DTX
Here's something that'll get me out of the house though: my college BFF Kate has moved to the DTX area as of this week, and that's a game-changer. We've been visiting each other back and forth since undergrad, we've survived grad schools and multiple moves and international travel, and more. I only ended up in Dallas because she was in Austin for grad school, and now she's happily returned and at long last we've synced up. We're gonna start podcasting again from these outer Dallas 'burbs (we're the Mutual Admiration Society), we're gonna introduce ourselves to many beers and tacos and sushi rolls around town, and probably hanging out with her will revitalize my social life once again—I'm social, but on my own I do all my socializing via the internet. Being buds with Kate brought me into person-to-person friendships once before, and I'd bet good money it'll happen again, just as a matter of course.
3. Fiction Works
When last I left you I was working on an annotation of Joseph and His Friend , now published. Since then I was contacted by Wayne Goodman, who also did a treatment of the book: a retelling called Better Angels that addresses women and race and homosexuality with more freedom than the original had—someday we'll discuss our different treatments in his own podcast!
I was also polishing up Gay A Day with my MFA buddy Tyson Kadwell (which we continuously collect new names for in case it merits a follow-up edition) and venturing into TV scripts (we came up with and wrote two separate shows in matter of weeks, we're very proud). The job upheaval got in the way for a bit, and Tyson has been living in rural places with ghastly-weak internet, and yet still we're hard at work with:
A three-book series: These are about a group of college friends who have to solve personal mysteries over a span of about 20 years. It started as one book, Back to the Morgue (currently under consideration by four different literary agents), and by now we're nearly halfway through the sequel (Home for the Funeral), and have the third book largely sketched out. They take place in Pittsburgh, Maine, and (so far as we know) Los Angeles or California. It's basically America: The Millennial Mystery Series.
Independent projects: I have my gay Sherlock Holmes short story collection on the back burner still, and Tyson has written a fictionalization of a supergroup from the 80s that I got to bring my marketing skills to help with—I wrote that thing a pitch letter, and a summary! It's under consideration by two agents right now. I wrote the pitch letter for the Morgue book too, which has had seven requests from agents so far (though three have turned it down). Maybe I'll go into agenting if I get bored with writing someday, I may have the chops for it.
Future plans: Not only do Tyson and I plan to get back to our personal education of watching a lot of gay and/or clever movies or shows three nights a week (we're hashtag MillennialScienceTheater on Instagram), but we also have a new pilot script idea in the works for a mutual acting friend, and plans to turn our first script into a novelization because we loved it so much.
Up and Coming
I can't seem to stay busy enough, because I look forward to collaborating with Kate on a novel too, and I assume that someday I'll want to go solo again, but not at the moment. I've already written so many dang books after all! For example, that 5th and final book from my YA Disorder Series is scheduled to be out before the end of this year, titled Fixation.
At the moment it's very stimulating to adapt in around another writer's style and structure and ideas. It's granting me new creative skills and knowledge, just as my potboiler copywriting job is keeping me precise regarding word count and staying organized.
So: that's the state of this writer in summer of 2019.
1. New Job
Old job is out, new job is in: for the past six months I've been working from home (aka The Dream TM), copywriting 15,000 words per week (~8-10 articles), and generally living the way I've always preferred since I was a latch-key kid: very much a night owl, running my own schedule, never leaving the house except to check the mail (fun fact: since visiting my sister in South Korea this past March, I haven't left the building once, and I pretty much like it that way). I make significantly more money and am now comfortably in a career-sphere that makes sense with my skill set and education. It only took about 10 years since getting out of undergrad to finally get in on the ground floor! When does being a Millennial stop? I'm over 30 now and still can't seem to shake it off.
2. BFF In DTX
Here's something that'll get me out of the house though: my college BFF Kate has moved to the DTX area as of this week, and that's a game-changer. We've been visiting each other back and forth since undergrad, we've survived grad schools and multiple moves and international travel, and more. I only ended up in Dallas because she was in Austin for grad school, and now she's happily returned and at long last we've synced up. We're gonna start podcasting again from these outer Dallas 'burbs (we're the Mutual Admiration Society), we're gonna introduce ourselves to many beers and tacos and sushi rolls around town, and probably hanging out with her will revitalize my social life once again—I'm social, but on my own I do all my socializing via the internet. Being buds with Kate brought me into person-to-person friendships once before, and I'd bet good money it'll happen again, just as a matter of course.
3. Fiction Works
When last I left you I was working on an annotation of Joseph and His Friend , now published. Since then I was contacted by Wayne Goodman, who also did a treatment of the book: a retelling called Better Angels that addresses women and race and homosexuality with more freedom than the original had—someday we'll discuss our different treatments in his own podcast!
I was also polishing up Gay A Day with my MFA buddy Tyson Kadwell (which we continuously collect new names for in case it merits a follow-up edition) and venturing into TV scripts (we came up with and wrote two separate shows in matter of weeks, we're very proud). The job upheaval got in the way for a bit, and Tyson has been living in rural places with ghastly-weak internet, and yet still we're hard at work with:
A three-book series: These are about a group of college friends who have to solve personal mysteries over a span of about 20 years. It started as one book, Back to the Morgue (currently under consideration by four different literary agents), and by now we're nearly halfway through the sequel (Home for the Funeral), and have the third book largely sketched out. They take place in Pittsburgh, Maine, and (so far as we know) Los Angeles or California. It's basically America: The Millennial Mystery Series.
Independent projects: I have my gay Sherlock Holmes short story collection on the back burner still, and Tyson has written a fictionalization of a supergroup from the 80s that I got to bring my marketing skills to help with—I wrote that thing a pitch letter, and a summary! It's under consideration by two agents right now. I wrote the pitch letter for the Morgue book too, which has had seven requests from agents so far (though three have turned it down). Maybe I'll go into agenting if I get bored with writing someday, I may have the chops for it.
Future plans: Not only do Tyson and I plan to get back to our personal education of watching a lot of gay and/or clever movies or shows three nights a week (we're hashtag MillennialScienceTheater on Instagram), but we also have a new pilot script idea in the works for a mutual acting friend, and plans to turn our first script into a novelization because we loved it so much.
Up and Coming
I can't seem to stay busy enough, because I look forward to collaborating with Kate on a novel too, and I assume that someday I'll want to go solo again, but not at the moment. I've already written so many dang books after all! For example, that 5th and final book from my YA Disorder Series is scheduled to be out before the end of this year, titled Fixation.
At the moment it's very stimulating to adapt in around another writer's style and structure and ideas. It's granting me new creative skills and knowledge, just as my potboiler copywriting job is keeping me precise regarding word count and staying organized.
So: that's the state of this writer in summer of 2019.
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