Friends,

I hope this post finds you well as we enter into warmer days ahead! There have been some exciting developments in my life since we last touched base, so let’s dive right in…

The Ivory Obelisk Progress

As of the New Year’s 2023 post, I had been working on refining my manuscript based on my editor’s feedback. Part of that included rewriting the beginning of the story to reshape how the plot is framed as well as adding in elements from two books that I read and found very insightful (as someone who’s never seriously read about writing creatively): Creating Character Arcs and Writing Your Story’s Theme, both by K.M. Weiland. I certainly feel more confident and comfortable with my writing process and the future of my story.

That being said, my originally planned release date was to be sometime in the autumn of 2023. I had targeted this time given that I would not be working on developing or teaching any college courses in the interim, and would thus have free time in which to write. However, through some discussion and self-reflection, I decided to enroll in another master’s program with the intention of better equipping myself with credentials that would allow me to do what I’ve been doing in developing online college courses but as a full-time job. This leads me to my next bit of news.

Master’s Degree from Western Governors University

I came to the decision to pursue a second master’s degree mainly from the notions that 1) I don’t want to teach at the secondary level forever, 2) I enjoy developing college courses currently, and as such could use that as a gateway into working in higher education, and 3) I want to bring home a higher salary that would enable me to better provide for my family and to start saving for a PhD, if I opt to pursue one in the future. I never really gave much thought to working in higher ed in any capacity other than as a professor, so this route was a little foreign to me. But a colleague encouraged me to enroll in the MS in Learning Experience Design and Educational Technology program through Western Governors University, which would allow me to complete my program fully online and at my own pace. My intention is to complete my program within a year (so, by or before February 2024) and then finish out that academic year in my current job; ideally, I’d then transition into a full-time higher ed position as a learning experience designer (also known as an instructional designer).

Due to my accelerated pathway through this program (by default, the University paces students out to a two-year timeframe in which to complete the degree), much of my extra time is now dedicated to progressing toward the end of my program. As such, my original intention of knocking out my book and publishing it before Christmas of this year has been pushed back. It pains me to know that I am minimizing the utility of that creative outlet, but I know it’s for the better in that I’ll be able to be more secure in my occupation and provide more for my family. Silver lining — I can still write here and there; I just won’t have as much free time in which to do it.

For anyone interested in better understanding what it is that I’m doing, feel free to check out this 2-minute video or this 3-minute video.

That’s all for now. This post is on the shorter side, but that’s okay…bucking the trend periodically never hurt anyone.

Until next time,

Mike/”Eli”