Like many a blog before it, and probably many to come, this blog represents a new beginning.
For the past two decades, I have primarily been an academic. I spent about eight years pursuing a Ph.D. in film studies at The Ohio State University before I was fortunate enough to become a professor, first at Union College in Schenectady, NY and then later on at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. I enjoy teaching, and I had good jobs that supported the work I was doing, whether that was traditional scholarly research or creative work like screenplays, films, or fiction.
Now, I’m setting out on a new phase of my professional life. My partner is pursuing a dream job in Pennsylvania, and I’m going with her. This comes precisely as my debut novel hits the shelves and some new, exciting, and scary opportunities open up. So, I have resigned my tenured position as an Associate Professor of Film in order to write full-time. I will still likely pick up some classes here and there, but I may never again hold a professorship.
Joseph Campbell wrote, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” Freelancing is absolutely the cave I fear to enter. I have always pursued more stable and secure forms of employment, and contemporary professional writing is anything but that. I know it will be very different from my career up to now, but I also think I have finally honed the discipline and the self-awareness that will keep me on track, butt in the seat, every day.
Sure, this site is my artist/author landing page, but my plan is to keep things interesting for you here, too, by sharing tidbits of research from past work, works in progress, and other odd things that wash up now and then. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to follow here and on social media. (I’m more active on Facebook than Twitter, for now.)