A Life Update and the Beginning of a New Season
On entering a new season of life and a "pitch" for my novel-in-progress.
It’s been an eventful few weeks recently. The major news in my life is that I successfully defended my dissertation, a novel of literary fiction currently titled Return to One. As you can imagine, I feel a tremendous sense of relief. It feels pretty good to conclude a graduate school sojourn that has persisted for the last seven years of my life (including the two years of my master’s program). I’m grateful for what has been quite the intellectual and artistic adventure.
It has also put me in a more reflective mood, as coming to the end of any season of life tends to do. I’ve been wondering about what life would have looked like if I had not pursued graduate school as I’ve done. What if I had stayed in San Diego at my previous university job? What if I had decided to attend graduate school in D.C. or NYC instead of Providence (and then Dallas)? I realize these are fruitless questions at best. At worst, they can be distractions to living the life I’m called to live now—the one that is, actually, my reality.
But I’m excited about what this next chapter of life will bring. I’m still discerning what it might look like, exactly, though I trust it will entail continuing to write and work at the intersection of the arts, culture, faith, and education. I’ll also be polishing my novel manuscript in preparation for the not-so-fun task of seeking representation from a literary agent. For those interested in what the novel is about, I’ve provided a “pitch” below (it’s essentially what I’ll be sending to literary agents to “sell” them on the novel).
I’m also hopeful that I’ll have more time to devote to writing for this newsletter. One of the benefits of writing for it is that it creates accountability, and a sense of heightened responsibility in my writing life due to the knowledge that others will read what I’m working on. This then influences other areas of my life, such as my teaching, consulting work, personal life, physical health, and so on. I find that being disciplined in one realm of life has the tendency to shore up the others. And since we’re in the midst of Lent right now, it’s a good time for discipline.
In fact, I’m working on an essay that touches on this idea, though specifically on the danger of being too disciplined—of trying to “optimize” our lives in ways that instrumentalize our bodies and souls. I intend to share that with you all soon.
To conclude, here is my so-called “pitch” for those interested in the novel I’ve been working on for the last few years:
While at a marketing conference in Austin, jaded career coach Paul Zaleski has just finished giving a semi-disastrous talk to a small and bored crowd when he runs into an old coworker, Denise Cruz. Denise stokes old, dormant feelings in Paul and offers him the chance to work with her mysterious billionaire brother, Leon Wyger, whose innovative genome editing technology at his firm LuminGenix has the potential to revolutionize human health forever. Eager for the chance to reinvigorate his career after a former scandal, get closer to Denise, and help his mentally ill son with LuminGenix’s novel technology, Paul says yes to Leon’s Brave New World-esque proposal. As Paul begins to swap life as a husband and father for the allure of building a techno-utopia, he discovers a lurking darkness within Leon’s crusade of technological progress. Paul must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to protect himself, his family, and the most innocent of all. Return to One explores the quest for lasting meaningful connection, the limits of technology, and genuine love in the face of suffering.
As always, thanks for reading.