Hello friends,

Welcome to 2025! I hope this post finds you well and ready to take on a new year. I have a few fun tidbits to share with you below, so let’s dive on in. I’ll begin with my annual reading list:

Like last year’s post, I won’t go into detail on all the books; instead, in no particular order, I’ll address a few of the more notable or impactful titles in my opinion…

First, a handful of writing-related books made my list, as I’m always striving to improve my craft; these include Mastering Plot Twists, The Emotional Craft of Fiction, How to Create History, and Structuring Your Novel. As with some of the writing-related books mentioned in my New Year’s 2024 post, these books were great reads that provided further insight into the craft of writing, and I certainly feel more in tune with the inner workings of storytelling and writing. I’m excited to apply these nuggets of wisdom to future writing projects (more on that below).

Next, a few books on instructional design and learning science also proved helpful; these include Co-Intelligence, Learning Science for Instructional Designers, and The Accidental Instructional Designer. These were actually part of my reading list from 2023 but I didn’t finish them before the end of the year, so they got shifted onto my 2024 list. While there’s a lot of literature out there on AI, learning science/theory, and the like, there isn’t enough time to get through it all; that said, I feel like I’ve come to better understand and appreciate various theoretical frameworks and principles behind my job as an ID in higher education. I’ve got a few similar books on my to-be-read list, so I’m sure these will be just a small portion of a longer, overarching attempt at reading deeper into the subject over time.

Lastly, a handful of books on history, politics, international relations, and society/culture made the list this year; these include Age of Revolutions, Nineteenth-Century Europe, The Virtue of Nationalism, The Birth of Politics, After the Fall, The End of the World is Just the Beginning, The Habsburgs, Phantom Terror, and Why Nations Fail. For anyone who wants to understand our current world from a larger picture perspective, Age of Revolutions by Fareed Zakaria provides a cogent and readable look into this topic. I’m aiming to use this book for a Western Civ II course I’ll be teaching in the next year or so, which leads me to The Birth of Politics by Melissa Lane. This is another book I’ve used for my Western Civ I course, and it’s proven popular with students so far; it addresses how key Greek and Roman political ideas began and have developed over time, which is a perfect way to contextualize content for a history course. The other books in this group are pertinent and applicable in their own right, and I encourage anyone interested in them to check ’em out.

Here are the books listed out for those interested:
The Accidental Instructional Designer
After the Fall
Age of Revolutions
The Birth of Politics
The Complete Husband
Co-Intelligence
The Emotional Craft of Fiction
The End of the World is Just the Beginning
German Catholicism at War, 1939-1945
The Habsburgs
How Does Sanctification Work?
How to Create History
It’s Good to Be a Man
Learning Science for Instructional Designers
Mastering Plot Twists
Nineteenth-Century Europe
Phantom Terror
Robbo: Now You’re Gonna Believe Us. Our Year, My Story.
Structuring Your Novel
The Virtue of Nationalism
Why Nations Fail

Professional News

It’s been just over a year since I transitioned from teaching to working as an instructional designer, and it’s definitely been a whirlwind year! I’ve settled into my new team and the various processes and systems that we use to complete our course designs, and I’ve contributed to a number of proposed changes (documentation, processes, etc.) and other projects. I am so grateful for this new(ish) occupation change, as it’s been a blessing to my family and me. I’ve worked on courses in fields including technology, psychology and counseling, business, communications, and leadership. I’m also excited to say that I’ll get back into my content wheelhouse through designing some history courses sometime this calendar year; there’s an on-campus professor who will be traveling for field research over the next year or so, and he’s going to be teaching his courses online — this presents a somewhat unique opportunity for me in my position, so I’m thrilled to get to help design and develop those courses.

The Ivory Obelisk and Future Projects

If you’ve been following me for the last couple of years, and especially this past year, you’re aware that my newest book has recently launched. The Ivory Obelisk is a story that’s been in the works for the past seven years, the final form of which really took shape in the last two years or so. It’s been such a fun experience writing this story, particularly because some of it “wrote itself” in the sense that the story unfolded organically outside the general plan I laid out at the start. I also applied some of what I’d read in the various writing craft books of the past two years, which has helped make the story feel more cohesive, coherent, and engaging. Another aspect of this project that makes me proud of my growth as a writer is the fact that the book received an award from a writing contest. I am extremely honored to have my story be the recipient of the Gold Book Award from Literary Titan, and I look forward to hearing back from a couple other contests I submitted the book to (but won’t hear word until later this year). If you’re interested in seeing the author interview and 5-star review for my book from Literary Titan, or to purchase my book, click here.

Now that the Obelisk project is wrapped up, my mind has shifted to my next project. In the same vein as Obelisk, what I’m planning to write next has been a project years in the making (an idea I originally created and started developing in high school)…but it’s still very early on, so I’m not going to share any details just yet. But I will say that my next project will be different from my WWII-based “Faces of the War” stories as well as The Ivory Obelisk, and you could even say it’s more audacious in scope and vision. I will share what I can in the coming months, so stay tuned.

That’s it for now. Thank you all for reading and following along with me on my journey as a writer, as an educator, and as a person. I hope your 2025 gets off to a great start and that things go your way in life, work, and play!

Until next time,

Mike/”Eli”

Friends,

I hope the last three months have treated you well since I posted my Summer 2024 Update blog! We’ve been busy doing life in our household — between school starting, the soccer season kicking off, spending time with family, and so much more — time has flown by. I also have some juicy updates for my next book, so let’s jump on in…

Life Update

Everett and Marin have begun the new school year and have settled into their new grades/routines nicely. Parent-Teacher Conferences were just last night, and both of their teachers had only positive things to say! Adler has enjoyed getting to spend time at home with me, just him, since the other three are out of the house. It’s been a joy for me as well, getting to see more sides of him on his own. Eliza-Jean is growing into a spunky little girl; all her hair is wild, and her squawking and cooing is loud and adorable. It’s crazy that she’ll be 1 here in just a couple months. Sarah and I just sit back and watch the kids do their thing, raising them up as best we can and trying to enjoy the little moments we know we’ll talk about years from now (and even those we may not remember by then). Time is a funny thing, and growing kids certainly highlight that fact.

Work and Education

My job at UJ has been going well, albeit kind of hectic over the summer months into the start of the new academic year. My course designs for the new MBA program have been met with satisfactory approval from the program director as well as my boss, so that’s reassuring. Again, with the notion of time, it’s hard to believe I’m approaching a year into this new position already. I’ve learned a great deal and have really found a new passion for work doing what I do.

As for the teaching side of things at Mount Union, I wrapped up my Western Civ summer course and got the fall term up and running effectively. I was particularly pleased with the activity and assessment I created to gauge my students’ knowledge of Chicago style citations/formatting, which they need to use in their course papers (even for non-majors, as part of the liberal arts educational experience). The majority of them scored well and have applied what they’ve learned to their weekly discussion forums; and those that are a little behind have shown progress too. I still haven’t heard about any course offerings for the Spring ’25 semester, though I should hear either way within the next few weeks. If anything, I know I can look forward to offering courses in the two terms next summer. And at UJ, there may be a potential to design and offer some history courses, but that’s more of a medium- to long-term project, likely not to bear fruit for another 3-5 years. But I’ll wait — as far as I know, I’ve got time.

Progress on The Ivory Obelisk

Wow! That’s all I can say at this point. It’s been such a fun ride developing and writing this story; I could never have guessed that it would go where it’s gone when I started this project back in September 2017. I’ve learned a good deal about the writing craft and have tried to apply those learnings to this story. And the early beta reader feedback has been positive and constructive; I can’t wait for it to go live so others can read it. As for the word count, the in-revision draft is currently at a little over 77,000 words, but I’m sure it’ll slim down a little by the time I’m finished revising and it’s officially finished. I feel good about the plotline, the characters, the themes of the story, and the general outcome when I sit back and consider all I’ve done on it. In past blog posts, I’ve given working book blurbs as a sort of teaser; here’s the official book blurb:

In the late summer of 2007, Fabian Loxley is a conflicted man with a complicated past. On the cusp of merging his pharmaceutical company in order to save it, a turn of events thrusts him into circumstances he could never have imagined nor be prepared to handle. A series of grim developments exacerbate the situation, forcing him into a corner as revelations are made, questions are asked, and his past confronts him head-on. With his life in the balance, Fabian’s chances of saving himself dwindle as time ticks away — will his actions be enough in the end?

As for the book cover, I’ve been working with a professional designer on finding the right look for this story’s cover; it’s been a good experience so far, and I’m happy where the cover design is going. As for timeline, I’m currently tossing around a couple different ideas on how/when to obtain editorial book reviews to post on the Amazon sales page as well as on the print covers; however, this shouldn’t affect the launch of the book from a reader perspective. Therefore, I’m still aiming for the Kindle version to be available for pre-order on Black Friday (11/29) and then go live on December 12. The paperback (and hardback, if I end up doing that as well) should go live within 1-2 weeks after the Kindle version. I will add that I’m planning a discounted price for the pre-order, so if you’re interested in buying the book you may want to do so before it drops on December 12 and the price goes up (not much, but still). All in all, I’m excited to see my work come to fruition, especially this project — the first new book in almost 8 years!

That’s it for now. I plan on posting a special update to the blog when The Ivory Obelisk goes on pre-order, so keep an eye out for that — and spread the word to your book-loving friends!

Take care,

Mike/”Eli”

Hello friends,

What a crazy few months it’s been since my Spring 2024 post back in April! Here’s to hoping things on your end haven’t been as seemingly hectic or chaotic — and if they have, then I pray things settle down for you. Summer is a great time to relax and slow down to enjoy what we have in life, but it’s also an easy time to get sucked into running around too much or doing too many things. Remember to make time for yourself and your loved ones 🙂

I have some great news in this summer post, so let’s dive on in…

Life Update

The school year ended for Everett and Marin on a high note. We got to do a zoo trip to Columbus, and Marin’s PreK graduation ceremony was fun. Summer has come, which means the kids have been playing outside quite a bit: Alder loves to scoot around on his Paw Patrol car; Everett and Marin are both now riding their bikes without training wheels; and Eliza-Jean smiles and squawks like she’s a bird because that’s how she shows us she’s having fun. Sarah and I have enjoyed our backyard patio/pergola area, having eaten outside a number of times as well as having had a fire with s’mores to top it off.

Combined “Faces of the War” Collection

In my last post, I mentioned the launch of the combined edition of my first four books — The ‘Faces of the War’ Collection — which went live on April 25. You can get the paperback or Kindle version here if you’re interested: Combined Edition – Kindle & Paperback

The Education Front

As you probably know, I pivoted into higher education by taking a new job as an instructional designer for the University of Jamestown. Since December, I have designed and developed a number of courses ranging from tech/computer science to counseling to leadership to business. I have mostly been working on courses for the University’s new MBA program launching in the fall, and I’ll continue designing courses for that program into 2025. I have grown more comfortable in my role, and my teammates are wonderful. I’m kind of at a point between courses, so it’s a nice breather for a second before new courses are added to my plate later next month.

Regarding my adjunct lecturer job, things have remained somewhat steady there. I’m offering a Western Civ I course in July and August, and then will teach the same course (but for a semester term) in the fall. Having grown more in my understanding of instructional design principles and theory, I’ve decided to revamp my Western Civ I course to be better designed and aligned than what it currently is, so that’s been taking up a little of my time here and there. I won’t formally design/develop any new history courses this academic year, so I’m focusing on what I can offer and do at this point in time.

Progress on The Ivory Obelisk

Last but certainly not least, I have a big update for my upcoming book. Just this week, I finished the final round of revisions on my rough draft and sent the manuscript to my beta readers! The word count for what they’ll be reading is almost 78,000 words; for some perspective, I believe the longest of my first four books was around 50,000 words. Over the past few weeks, this process has boosted my confidence in the work I do, revealing a higher level of storytelling compared to what I’ve previously published. I’ve ironed out what kinks remained in the plot, refined any grammatical/spelling/voice errors, and finalized the documents for the beta readers. As I did that last part, excitement coursed through me, an excitement which I haven’t felt since I launched my last book “Needless” in 2017. I must say, though, that it’s an excitement mixed with a little anxiety, mostly because this new book’s plot is very different from what I’ve written before, and it kind of developed on its own over the past two years (different from the original story idea). I constantly find myself asking, “What if this story doesn’t ‘feel’ right? What if the plot doesn’t make sense? What if the characters are developed enough?” I’m hopeful that I’ll receive some constructive feedback to act upon when I revise for my final draft. At the end of the day, though, I think it’s a story with meaning that’s told in a cool way, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing it.

As for this project’s remaining timeline, here are my thoughts at the moment:

• June 28 – September 2: Beta reading and feedback
• September 3 – October 10: Revise based on feedback; final draft of manuscript
• October 11 – November 28: Submit finished manuscript for reviews and finalize Kindle/print book covers with review blurbs
• November 29: Kindle pre-order begins
• December 12: Kindle version launches; print version(s) live soon thereafter

I’m hopeful that there won’t be a lot of major changes to the manuscript after Labor Day, meaning I can adhere to this timeline and launch the book when I want. Also, I’m not sure what the final page count will be, which plays a part in determining whether or not the book will have a hardback version, or if it’ll only have Kindle and paperback versions. I will certainly keep you posted over the coming months!

That’s it for this post. I look forward to updating you all in my next post on or around October 1. Thanks and have a great summer!

Mike/”Eli”

Hello friends,

I hope this special post finds you well since my New Years 2024 post was published a few months ago! Things have certainly been busy on my end — personally, professionally, and creatively — and I’d love to share some details about it here. Let’s dive in!

Life Update

I mentioned in my last post that our fourth child, Eliza-Jean, was born in November and has been healthy and happy in the first couple of months of her life. She has grown so much in the last three months, exhibiting all the tell-tale signs of a curiously alert infant whose smile lights up our world. The other three kids adore her, always looking to entertain her or make her smile; she’s just starting to develop her laugh, so we’re looking forward to when she finally “finds” it. Our third child, Adler, is ornery as ever but is also sweet and kind, and tries to figure things out and do things on his own. Marin is also finding her place as part of the older pair of kids, sharing responsibility with Everett to help keep an eye on Adler and even EJ at times; she also is growing up too fast — she’s signed up for kindergarten in the fall already! The oldest, Everett, is becoming a fine young man; he’s just getting into the start of the spring soccer season and is enjoying his time at school. He has a family heritage/culture project due in a couple of weeks which he’s excited about completing, so that’s on our agenda over the coming days. Sarah and I are on the cusp of celebrating our 10-year anniversary in May, which will be before the next blog post; sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years because we’ve done and experienced and grown so much in that amount of time, but it’s 10 years that I wouldn’t trade for the world!

New Job at the University of Jamestown

If you’ve been following along the past few months, you should know that I pivoted away from teaching at the secondary level after 8+ years online into an instructional design (ID) role in the world of higher education. Working remotely for UJ (whose physical campus is based in Jamestown, ND) has been utterly refreshing and rewarding, in more ways than one, and I’m so very grateful to have found this position when I did. I’ve made a handful of new work friends and have settled into a more comfortable routine in the work that I do, which involves collaborating with subject matter experts (SMEs) to design courses at the undergraduate and graduate level; I haven’t gotten to work directly on any postgraduate courses yet, but I will eventually. A few people have asked me if I’ll ever “go back to teaching,” to which I usually reply something to the extent of “not in the K12 world.” I enjoy educating others, especially on topics relating to history, but at the moment I have no desire to return to that part of the education field; I think I can thrive more in higher education. For the foreseeable future, I intend on continuing to adjunct lecture history courses through Mount Union when I can, while working my full-time job as an ID at UJ.

For those interested in a more detailed description of my work process as an ID (because many have asked), here’s the basic gist of what I do:

• I hold a virtual kickoff meeting with the SME contracted to aid in designing a course — they offer their content-related expertise from their field (nursing, philosophy, technology, math, etc.) while I offer my education-related expertise (learning theory, design principles, LMS knowhow, etc.)
• the SME and I examine the course’s learning objectives — we determine what it is the students are really being asked to do or the knowledge they’re being asked to demonstrate at the core of their learning in the course
• from there, we reverse engineer the design of the course via Backward Design — this means that instead of dividing a textbook by the number of weeks in a course and building out weekly content to reinforce the book’s topics chronologically (i.e., “forward design”), we begin with the assessments in mind and then determine what content the students will engage with in order to demonstrate their knowledge on those assessments
• once we have this worked out, we transfer all our brainstormed and collaborated ideas/material onto a formal document that spells out everything needed for the course to be built and “come alive”
• after that document is completed and filled out with as much detail as is needed, the SME and I either 1) have a closeout meeting to wrap things up and formally end the design process, or 2) we communicate this through email (which usually ends up being the case if the SME will also be the instructor who teaches the course)
• at this point, the course is ready to be built — this is done by our instructional technologist, but I also help clarify wording or other details on the document they use as reference, and sometimes will help build out parts of a course (e.g., rubrics) if the technologist is crunched for time

I repeat this process for each course that I help design, and I have anywhere between 3-5 courses that I’m working on at a given time.

Progress on The Ivory Obelisk

Six and a half years — that’s how long I’ve been working on this story idea. It’s a crazy time frame given that I pumped out my first four books in four years, but it also speaks to the comparatively larger degree of focus and attention I’ve given to this project. Granted, most of the writing didn’t take up all those years, and I didn’t work for consecutive days or periods of time early on…but still, it’s something I’m proud of looking back as I also look forward to finishing this project in the next eight months or so. I mentioned in my last blog post about expanding on my original rough draft after considering editor feedback as well as reading through some books on the craft of fiction writing; I can say that this expansion of ideas has really taken the plot of the book into places I wouldn’t have originally conceived but am so glad that I did because I truly believe it’s improved the story in multiple ways. My goal is to finish rewriting the final two chapters (one of which has been added onto the original manuscript) by June 1 to then allow a few weeks of proofing and revision; this will then be followed by about two months of beta reading, which will give me a solid “last look” at the manuscript by someone other than myself to ensure any spelling/grammatical/aesthetic errors are caught and any gaps or holes in the story are addressed. I’m still aiming for a release in the fall, sometime in late November, but that isn’t necessarily set in stone. As the summer months wane, I’ll have a better idea on the timeline and will update you accordingly. In any case, the end is in sight!

Pre-order for “‘The Faces of the War’ Collection”

I mentioned in my New Year’s post that I am re-releasing my first four books as a combined single-volume edition to mark the 10-year anniversary of my first foray into writing and self-publishing in April 2014. The Kindle version has been available for pre-order since January 1, and will continue to be available alongside the paperback version until they both are released on April 25, 2024:

• Combined Edition – Kindle & Paperback Pre-Order

In addition to that, the four books will be individually discounted on Kindle over the coming days in the run-up to the 25th:

• Resistant — FREE between April 2-6
• Unguarded — Kindle Countdown Deal between April 7-12
• Imminent — Kindle Countdown Deal between April 13-18
• Needless — Kindle Countdown Deal between April 19-24

I am excited to be able to celebrate this milestone in my writing life, and to share it with you and others who support my love of storytelling!

That’s it for this post. I look forward to my summer update post where I’ll have a solid update on the status of The Ivory Obelisk for you, among other things. Thank you!

Until next time,

Mike/”Eli”

Hello friends,

I hope this post finds you well and enjoying your summer, wherever you may be and whatever you may be doing! My family and I just got back from an extended family vacation in Florida, during which time we went to three Disney parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios), visited Clearwater beach on the Gulf side, and relaxed in our AirBnB house on our off days. It was a crazy, hot vacation but one in which we spent time with family and friends, and generally took a break from our normal routines. Now that we’re back home, I’m ready to enjoy the rest of my summer before the new school year starts in August. There are a few things I wanted to talk about in this post, so let’s get to it…

Master’s Degree Progress

In my Spring 2023 post, I revealed that I began a second master’s degree with the hopes of eventually securing employment in higher education working as an instructional designer. I started on March 1 and had completed five courses by the time we went on vacation. I have five courses left, which I hope to finish by early November (more on the why later). Part of my capstone project for this degree is that I will implement an e-learning unit that I create into a class I already teach, so I’ll be utilizing my pre-existing student population to complete this task and finish out my degree. I’m excited for the possibilities that await once I officially finish the program; ideally, I’ll be able to continue working from home in a remote position, but I will certainly be grateful for anything I can find that allows me to better provide for Sarah and the kids.

The Ivory Obelisk Progress

As mentioned in my last post, the release of this work-in-progress won’t be until later into 2024, but I have been chipping away here and there at details and aspects of the story that need attention per my editor’s suggestions, as well as my own desire for changes. While these revisions will result in eliminating chunks of text from my manuscript, what I’m changing and adding will hopefully improve the story and make it more impactful; after all, deleting chunks of text is all part of the revision process. The current manuscript is around 66,000 words, which is right around where I originally aimed to finish; however, the finished product might eclipse the 70,000 word mark — which wouldn’t upset me, to be honest. While I didn’t set out to write a huge book, the story is developing in a way that is seeing elements of the story enhanced and expanded…and it’s kind of a cool process to be a part of.

‘History of the Holocaust’ Curriculum Development

If you’ve been following along for the past few years, you probably know that I have done a lot of work in curriculum development for both the high school and college courses I have taught. As part of starting my second master’s degree program in March, I was quickly inspired by the competency learning model and felt compelled to apply those principles to my ‘History of the Holocaust’ class that I teach with my high school students. The curriculum currently in place is okay, but in my opinion doesn’t challenge the students as best as perhaps they could be challenged, nor does it offer an authentic opportunity for student-led learning and inquiry (not to mention assessment). After getting the green light from my administration, I began implementing curricular changes I had already been plotting and planning. At my current pace of development, this new curriculum should be finished the week before I go back for teacher pre-service on August 14.

The basic gist of this competency-based format is that our live class sessions will be very student-centered and interactive, gamified by various tech tools, and all built to help students brainstorm, develop, and produce final versions of a piece of competency evidence — essentially the demonstrated proof of students’ understanding of each course competency. There are 10 competency statements in the course, and students can complete up to 4 competency evidence assignments each, resulting in a total of 40 assignments across a semester. The more evidence a student submits, the higher their grade; and they must demonstrate competency on all 10 statements at least once in order to pass the class. There is a summative assessment over larger concepts and topics in the course at semester’s end, which contributes to 20% of their overall grade (with the competency evidence portfolio constituting the remaining 80%). I’m excited to implement this new system and see how it positively benefits my students.

There’s a lot going on this summer and into the coming school year, but I’m excited for how I’ll learn and grow from everything I do and from those with whom I work — whether learning, writing, or teaching. I wish you well over the coming few months and hope you enjoy your summer!

Until next time,

Mike/”Eli”

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”

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and ready to take on the start of a new calendar year! At the start of last year, I began with a post about books I’d read and planned to read, emphasizing the aspiration to increase my literacy and reading stamina both for pleasure and in preparation for my PhD program (whenever that may begin). In keeping with that trend, let’s start this year’s first post off with what I ended up reading in 2022.

Like last year’s post, I won’t go into detail on all the books; instead, I’ll address a few of the more notable or impactful titles in my opinion…

First, we have Why? Explaining the Holocaust by Peter Hayes, which I found to be a straightforward and enlightening read for anyone not engaged with Holocaust history and discourse; being someone who is, though, this book — compounded by the other Holocaust-related books in this year’s list, especially Denying the Holocaust by Deborah Lipstadt — further deepened my knowledge and grasp on the subject. If you don’t know much about the Holocaust (especially beyond the basic gist of “the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews”) and would like to better comprehend it, this is the book for you.

Next, the book In Defense of History by Richard J. Evans was something I wish I had read during my undergrad studies, if not my graduate studies. This renowned historian, who wrote the two Third Reich books in this list and also was the expert witness in the Holocaust denial case sparked from Lipstadt’s book mentioned above, did a wonderful job of conveying the historian’s craft while expounding on its evolution and underlying premises that all facilitates how history “works” in the modern era and why studying and understanding historical developments is such a necessary endeavor. Historians (myself included) lament the fact that not everyone can engage with historical study to great degrees; such a reality would theoretically lend better insight into how people understand and perceive the world, its history, and how we as a society came to be the way we are now. This fact emphasizes the need for historians and other scholars in similar fields of study, so that the future is informed by deeper understandings of historical truth and memory rather than ‘fake news’ and misinformation.

Third, we have Atomic Habits by James Clear, which was one of my non-history books this year. Though I listened to this title via Audible, it was still impactful because I wanted to engage with the content in an attempt to improve my life. The author breaks down the psychology and physiology behind how we function as humans, how we think and process, and how we develop habits over time — all with great clarity and purpose. He elaborates on his own experiences and how he shaped his own habits to improve his daily routines and replenish his mental state, and how those same methods can be replicated in the lives of others for their own benefit. There is a website that goes along with the book that houses a myriad of downloadable sheets and resources that you can use for making new, positive habits and breaking old, negative ones; I intend on working through some of these as the New Year gets up and running, with the purpose of improving myself little by little.

Lastly, the book The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray provided some interesting insight on the seemingly unraveling fabric of European culture and society resulting from a number of factors over time and space. While some points in the book may have walked a controversial line, overall it was an informative read on developments relating to the state of Europe in recent years. A good chunk of its content tied directly into aspects of recent history that I taught in my Contemporary Europe college course a year or two ago, so it was nice to build on that knowledge and understanding. It also touched on important historical, diplomatic, and geopolitical questions that plague European politicians, intellectuals, and citizens in general — questions that have been asked more and more as of late and could (and probably will) have dramatic and profound implications for Europe’s future. For anyone interested in European affairs in the present day — which you should be, if you’re interested in our place as a country in the globalized world — then this would be a great book to check out.

Here are the books with links to Amazon for anyone interested in checking them out:

After Nationalism
Alexander the Great
Atomic Habits
Classics – Why It Matters
The Coming of Neo-Feudalism
The Coming of the Third Reich
Denying the Holocaust
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
The Guilty
History – Why It Matters
In Defense of History
The Last Jew of Treblinka
Masters of Death (note: I already mentioned reading this book in my Fall 2022 Update post)
The Renaissance in Italy
The Strange Death of Europe
The Third Reich in Power
Why Liberalism Failed
Why? Explaining the Holocaust

Progress on The Ivory Obelisk and Other Projects

I am excited at the developments my WIP has experienced over the past few months. In the Summer 2022 Update post, I revealed the book’s title and blurb, and mentioned my hopes of putting my manuscript through a professional editing process. That has indeed occurred, with some major yet needed and important changes made to the plot, as well as fine tuning dialogue and some other aspects of the story. My editor read through the manuscript and gave me her thoughts and suggestions, we discussed a few things over email, and then we had a phone conversation to dig deeper into my plan to improve the story’s direction. I feel great about putting my manuscript through this process, as it will make it better and hopefully more enjoyable for readers.

That all being said, I’m planning on taking my time over the coming ten months or so to really polish up the manuscript to produce a quality story. Given that I’m not teaching any college courses in the spring or fall of 2023, I can devote that time to writing and revising, which is exciting. I don’t yet have a solid release date, but I feel like I can safely say it’ll be Fall 2023 at the latest. As part of this process, I intend on taking some writing classes (hopefully through MasterClass) that will reinforce the revisions in areas of my story that need work. When the dust settles, hopefully I’ll be a better writer for it.

As for other projects, I would like to revisit my Short Story Collection by adding another volume to it; however, I don’t feel that I currently have any great ideas to expand into properly sized narratives. I do have a few ideas that have either been on my shelf for a while or that I’ve jotted down just recently, but I’d have to sit down and really try to develop them enough to feel comfortable taking the time to write them. Perhaps as the year progresses, something will develop and I’ll have some stories to work with and publish in the near future!

One final thing about my books: I am running Kindle discounts on Books 2-4 of my WWII collection ‘Faces of the War’ between January 1-8, while Book 1 and the two Short Story Collection books are free from January 1-5. You can easily access all titles from my Amazon author page if interested in purchasing.

Family News

Aside from periodic bouts of illness, everyone is doing well. Everett’s kindergarten year has been a whirlwind so far — it’s hard to believe we’re halfway through the year — but he’s loving his classes, the friends he’s made, and the things he gets to do and tell us about. Marin has also enjoyed her preschool/daycare routine, though she isn’t as elaborate or wordy in expressing those feelings; she’ll be in preschool/daycare again next year, but she’ll advance to kindergarten sooner than we know it. And Adler — well, he’s our first climber and is obnoxiously cute while also managing to act lovingly anarchic. He specializes in loud noises (parroting his siblings), getting on top of the couch and kitchen table, and being a little clingy…and we love him for all of it!

Recently, I got to attend a surprise wedding vow renewal for my oldest sister’s and brother-in-law’s 25th anniversary in Kentucky. Originally, we all were invited and had planned to go, but the kids were sick and then Sarah got sick as well, so I went alone to be there for my sister and to celebrate her and her husband. It was nice to see them and their kids, and to be with some of my other family even for just a short while. I’m a firm believer in trying to change up our routines from time to time — even just a quick shake-up here and there — and even more so when it involves being with family.

On the same token, we all missed the Christmas night party at my parent’s house (historically it’s always been there, but this year it was at one of my other sister’s home) because everyone still had a little bit of sickness. We video called them and chatted for a few minutes, and they all sang Happy Birthday to Marin since her big day is December 26th; she really liked that, though she was shy about it. I am so proud of the young girl she’s growing up to be, and for her brothers for loving her so much (even when they can be mean to her at times, as young siblings often tend to be). Hopefully we can all get better soon and can get together in the initial weeks after New Year’s!

That’s about it for right now. I’ll have the next post up sometime April, by which time I should have some more updates on The Ivory Obelisk and maybe a few other things. Until then, I wish you a Happy New Year and ‘good luck’ getting started with any goals you might be setting for yourself or any routines you’re trying to develop.

Take care,

Mike/”Eli”

Friends,

What a wild few months it has been since I last posted! A new academic year has begun, a new soccer season has commenced (both for my 5-year-old son and for Liverpool, whom I follow in the English Premier League), and a new college course I’ve been working on has developed nicely. Now that things have settled down in this transition period of my year, I can talk at length about a few things…

Work-in-Progress Manuscript

I’ll begin with news on my story. I worked over the summer on the rough draft, finalizing it as best as I thought it could be within the time frame I had. Just before the new school year started, my draft hit 66,000 words, of which 5,000-8,000 will likely be eliminated in a solid revision. I have initiated the process of utilizing a professional editing service on this project, which hopefully will render a better quality manuscript in comparison to my previous books. Depending on the timeline on which the editor and I agree, I hope to have the finished manuscript uploaded into Amazon for a spring or summer 2023 release, though it could be sooner. Either way, I will likely wait until at least January 2023 to officially publish so I can enter my book into a writing contest or two; those things usually require publication earlier in the given year of the contest. The Kindle version will be available for pre-order, and I may even look into getting my book produced in hardback in addition to paperback. Lastly, there are two details of the book that I want to share prior to its release, with one of those details being the story blurb below:

In the fall of 1959, Fabian Loxley hosts a masquerade dinner party at his rural New York manor. The revelry is halted by a series of developments that forces Fabian into a corner, makes his guests ask questions, and brings revelations about the host and his guests to the surface in the process. What will the end of the night bring for them all and how will it change Fabian?

The other detail is the story’s title: The Ivory Obelisk. As I’ve mentioned before, this story is different in terms of how I approached its creation and how it’s told, but I’m very excited to polish it off and share it with you next year!

College Course-Writing

The next bit of news is the progress I’ve made on writing the Early Modern Europe college course. I finished compiling information included in the shorthand notes that I provide the students, which allowed me to then start recording the video lectures using those notes. In the spirit of student accessibility, the school encouraged professors to amend their online lectures to be broken down into multiple videos of shorter length instead of one long lecture video. That being the case, I have 50 lecture videos to create in total; between the time I started and when I got sick with a sore throat and cold, I had recorded 16 lecture videos. This week at the time of this posting, I have resumed recording lectures and hope to finish them before Halloween; this will afford me plenty of time to upload all the lecture videos and other course content into the online course platform and get it finalized and approved before Thanksgiving. Then it’ll just be a matter of finishing reading the few books I’ve earmarked for that course so I’m ready to start it when the spring semester commences in January 2023.

In addition to the Early Modern Europe course, I’ve been green-lighted (green-lit?) to develop new versions of the Western Civilization I course for summer 2023 as well as Revolutionary Europe for fall 2023. This will occupy most of my time in terms of working on college course materials between November 2022 and July 2023, at which time I’ll transition into working on the Western Civilization II, Medieval Europe, and Ancient Greece and Rome courses. I am excited to dive deeper into these courses and their historical periods, reading more on them as I work on their content and thus cementing my understanding of their developments.

Amended Reading List

I’m a planner, and it oftentimes serves me well. However, things don’t always go to plan and so we must adapt and rearrange variables in the equation. Part of that includes the books I decide to read. Most times, I set out with high expectations and perhaps even lofty reading goals, only to change my plan in accordance with other factors that require me to shift gears in what I’m aiming to do. That being said, I’m already banking on including a tentative reading list for 2023 in my New Year’s post just a few months away. For now, though, I’ll expound on some of the year’s remaining reads as well as others I plan to read in 2023 as they relate to the aforementioned college courses I’m working on.

The first pair of books is for the Early Modern Europe course, of which I’ve already talked about in my last post:

• Europe’s Babylon: The Rise and Fall of Antwerp’s Golden Age by Michael Pye (Amazon) 
• London and the Seventeenth Century: The Making of the World’s Greatest City by Margarette Lincoln (Amazon) 

After that, I aim to read two books that I’ll use for the Ancient Greece and Rome course as well as the Medieval Europe course, but which will also aid in my revisiting content for the summer Western Civilization I course:

• The Story of Greece and Rome by Tony Spawforth (Amazon) 
• Medieval Europe by Chris Wickham (Amazon)

Then, into the summer I aim to read two books in prep for the Revolutionary Europe course next fall:

• The Wars of German Unification by Showalter and Strachan (Amazon) 
• Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer (Amazon)

There are other books I intend to read next year, but as I said — I will reserve those for a later post.

Lastly, I just finished reading all the way through Masters of Death, a book on the Einsatzgruppen — the mobile killing squads attached to the German army (Wehrmacht) as it invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 — as part of my self-guided professional development this year for my full-time teaching job. It is a grim account of the gruesome mass killings of Jews and others in the occupied East that was the realization of Nazi racial policies aimed at obtaining the much-desired Lebensraum for future German settlement and colonization. I concede that it’s a tough read, and certainly not something of the everyday reading type that most people would consider, but for anyone at all interested in this significant and pivotal component of the process of the Holocaust, I highly recommend this book.

Family News

In closing, I will add that my son, Everett, has started kindergarten and has loved it so far; he goes to school every day and comes home with stories each afternoon. My daughter, Marin, has also started school this year, but she’s in twice-a-week preschool for half a day and then goes to daycare (through the school) for the other half of the day; she’s home with me or at work with mom on the off days. Each and every day, though, I have my other son, Adler, at home with me while I work; he plays and enjoys the little things, then takes a good nap while I teach. It’s definitely not the routine I thought teaching would entail when I declared 7-12 Social Studies as my minor way back in 2009, but times change and I wouldn’t change it for the world. As I alluded to earlier, we have started another outdoor soccer season and Everett has shown improvement from last year already. He enjoys it but still has much to learn. Marin and Adler like cheering him on from the sidelines; I can only imagine what sports and organizations all our kids will eventually get involved in over the coming years…but I can’t wait for it.

That’s all for now, so in case I don’t see you…good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Mike/”Eli”