Who | What | Where
Who
I can't decide if it's that I can't keep a job, or I just haven't found my niche yet, but I've led a checkered life. My youth was spent playing the euphonium, but when it became clear in my junior year of college that my career options were either a military band or directing a high school band—in other words, either poverty or cultural annihilation—I changed majors and followed an oh-so-inspiring path: marketing.
Before I even finished my business degree I knew that I’d die in that suit, so I opted to stay in school, apparently forever. I took a second degree in English, then a Master’s, then flogged away another four years towards a PhD before getting thoroughly disgusted by the shameless and petty politics that drive higher education in the humanities. Oh yeah, and the job market sucked. So, one chapter from finishing my dissertation, I walked away when I was offered a job with The Motley Fool.
I worked as an editor and columnist for The Fool for a few years, publishing two books along the way. Then, because I can be a money whore, I started managing portfolios for private clients. The money was good, the hours were good, I worked from home, but I couldn’t take the pressure every day that at any moment, some pissed off client was likely to sue my ass if any of my trades went south. I was losing sleep and decided it wasn’t worth it.
Now I own a bookstore (that I’m trying to sell) and am working to resurrect my writing career. My agent is trying to sell my next project now, so for the next year I’ll be working on that manuscript and trying to plan future projects. I want to break away from writing financial books, though. They've paid the bills for me in recent years, but it’s no longer what I want to do. (I want to be Bill Bryson.)
What
Where does between the covers come from? When I wrote my first book, I sent the draft to my editor, expecting lots of revision suggestions and several more drafts. Instead, I got galleys. I learned quickly that a lot of publishers care a great deal about the title, the dust jacket, and the marketing angle. What goes “between the covers,” not so much. This site is my white space to think about where I want to go with my life/career, a place to think about what goes between the covers.
Where
Born in San Francisco, the son of an army officer, I moved a lot. I went to at least three different elementary schools and three different high schools. I’ve spent more of my life in Texas than anywhere else, although now I live in North Carolina. I feel like I’m in a cultural wasteland and want to be in (or at least within an hour of) a real city. It doesn’t seem likely—at least for now.
I can't decide if it's that I can't keep a job, or I just haven't found my niche yet, but I've led a checkered life. My youth was spent playing the euphonium, but when it became clear in my junior year of college that my career options were either a military band or directing a high school band—in other words, either poverty or cultural annihilation—I changed majors and followed an oh-so-inspiring path: marketing.
Before I even finished my business degree I knew that I’d die in that suit, so I opted to stay in school, apparently forever. I took a second degree in English, then a Master’s, then flogged away another four years towards a PhD before getting thoroughly disgusted by the shameless and petty politics that drive higher education in the humanities. Oh yeah, and the job market sucked. So, one chapter from finishing my dissertation, I walked away when I was offered a job with The Motley Fool.
I worked as an editor and columnist for The Fool for a few years, publishing two books along the way. Then, because I can be a money whore, I started managing portfolios for private clients. The money was good, the hours were good, I worked from home, but I couldn’t take the pressure every day that at any moment, some pissed off client was likely to sue my ass if any of my trades went south. I was losing sleep and decided it wasn’t worth it.
Now I own a bookstore (that I’m trying to sell) and am working to resurrect my writing career. My agent is trying to sell my next project now, so for the next year I’ll be working on that manuscript and trying to plan future projects. I want to break away from writing financial books, though. They've paid the bills for me in recent years, but it’s no longer what I want to do. (I want to be Bill Bryson.)
What
Where does between the covers come from? When I wrote my first book, I sent the draft to my editor, expecting lots of revision suggestions and several more drafts. Instead, I got galleys. I learned quickly that a lot of publishers care a great deal about the title, the dust jacket, and the marketing angle. What goes “between the covers,” not so much. This site is my white space to think about where I want to go with my life/career, a place to think about what goes between the covers.
Where
Born in San Francisco, the son of an army officer, I moved a lot. I went to at least three different elementary schools and three different high schools. I’ve spent more of my life in Texas than anywhere else, although now I live in North Carolina. I feel like I’m in a cultural wasteland and want to be in (or at least within an hour of) a real city. It doesn’t seem likely—at least for now.
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