Right now, my creative work appears to the outside observer to be a mish-mosh of disparate ideas, topics, and activities. This makes it difficult to explain to other people what it is, exactly, that I’m doing. Which makes it more difficult to market and get out into the world.
I’m not a one-trick pony. I never have been. So it’s silly to expect myself to narrow down my interests, projects, and ideas to one topic and forget the rest. However, I also understand the value of having a specific, dedicated space for a single topic.
I promise, this will all make sense once you see the bigger picture.
The Through-Line:
The basic through-line of my current writing, teaching, marketing, and creative projects is summarized in the following statement:
I want to apply the knowledge from my Ph.D. in practical ways to help people because I believe there is a healing and psychological value to revisiting and retelling old stories like myths and folk tales.
Most, if not all, of my current projects are based on this desire and belief.
The other thing that I’m noticing as a consistent thread between my projects is that almost every project I’m working on has the following components:
- Written expression of the academic theory and supporting research
- A class to share this theory and understanding with others
- A book of some sort
- A creative, fictional response or expression of the concept
- The potential for a community and connection with others interested in the topic
With this through-line, and these components in mind, let me walk you through my current works-in-progress, and how they are taking shape!
Burnout
I’m starting with the Burnout Book project because it’s probably the farthest along. The burnout book is an application of knowledge and theory from my Ph.D. with the intention to help people. It was also a book I needed to write for myself, as I came out of full-time work. In some ways, this was my proof-of-concept book, and practice for submitting nonfiction book proposals.
The components include:
- The book itself is the written expression of academic theory. I’m currently in the final stages of polishing and completing this manuscript.
- I’m setting up a few classes and an online community that is separate from my website. This is hopefully going to be out by Memorial Day.
- I’m taking a playwriting class, and the script is a creative response to the theory
This project will eventually also have its own dedicated website. (I need a publisher and a finalized title before I go there, though.) I’ve also created a separate email group for burnout-specific emails and newsletters. If you sign up for my emails, you should be able to select this option.
Ideally, I’ll have all of this work completed and out of the way by mid-May to make room for my other projects.
Storytelling
The dissertation that I completed last fall is also a rough draft of a book project, and one that I feel is important. This is a direct application of my Ph.D., and it is intended to help society at large. (Lofty! I know!)
- Like the burnout book, the book itself will be the written expression of the academic theory and supporting research. This builds on the research and theory of my dissertation, but the text itself is separate from my dissertation.
- Class and community-wise, I’m working on sharing this with the NM storytelling community, as well as with conferences and mythology groups.
- In terms of creative, fictional responses, I feel like almost all the fiction I write is tied to this.
My goal is to have 3 chapters done, and book proposals out by mid-July, and to have the full draft done by Labor Day. This timeline is extremely aggressive. This will be a huge focus of mine for the summer.
Unicorns
The unicorn-related stuff is mostly for fun. Yes, I do think it has the potential to help others, and there are practical applications of my Ph.D. within it. It’s sort of a miniature version of retelling and reworking myth for the purposes of healing.
- I have two chapters already written about this, as well as a paper I’ve posted to academia.edu, and at least one other paper. (These chapters are coming soon. As soon as I know when the books are coming out, I’ll announce them in more detail.)
- I’m currently teaching a class on the topic.
- I’d love to create an edited anthology of essays on this topic and have sent out this proposal.
- I’ve written one story about a unicorn already. Perhaps there are more in the future?
In terms of community, the class is already full of people I want to be friends with. And, if I edited a collection of chapters, I’d have colleagues who would be writing on the topic! Timeline-wise, the current work on these topics will be wrapped by mid-May, unless/until a publisher gets back to me about that edited volume.
Fairy Tale & Myth Retelling
The fairy tale and myth retelling work that I do is directly tied to my belief that we have to see these stories as malleable, and we have to work with them for our own psychological healing, as well as the healing of others. This is intrinsically tied to the work from my dissertation, but it’s also full of its own valuable theories. On this topic, I’ve got…
- A chapter I’m submitting with a full analysis of the academic theory and supporting research (due 4/30)
- A “how-to” class starting June 26th is already on the books to share this theory and understanding with others. I have a second class that I’m putting together on this topic as well, but it has not yet been scheduled.
- A collection of my own creative, fictional responses to this concept has been submitted to a small press. If they don’t move forward with it, I might self-publish this one.
- I’d like to use some of my creative work in live storytelling (if I can figure out how)
Like the burnout and unicorn work, I’d like to wrap this up quickly to clear the path for the big projects that are happening. Because I’m kind of always generating new fairy tale retelling ideas and drafts, I don’t feel like this particular work is ever going to go away.
Ritual Theory
Like the burnout book, another application of the knowledge from my Ph.D. to help others is to guide folks through the purpose and value of rituals (regardless of spirituality), and how to create them. I did a few YouTube videos with examples of this. This is a nascent idea, but every time I try to put it on the back burner, it starts to bubble again.
- I have a book idea that includes a written expression of the academic theory and supporting research for this topic, as well as everyday practical ritual designs
- I’m working on a class for this topic, but it hasn’t been scheduled yet.
I’ll know when this topic is fully fleshed out and alive when it grows the other components, especially a creative expression of the work. This is low-priority compared to everything else, but I need to keep it on my radar. Definitely not setting a timeline yet.
Genre Fiction in General
While I was writing my dissertation, I had a complete novel draft edited professionally. That novel is a retelling of myths, which is a creative expression of and an application of the knowledge and research gained in my dissertation and the Ph.D. program. This is the novel that I had researched up to the point of entering grad school. It’s still waiting to be rewritten.
I’ve also got about 50 stories floating around that I’m submitting to relevant anthologies, publications, and so on. I write stories pretty frequently. I almost always have one in the draft stages, and a short story typically takes me about 2 weeks to complete. Are my science fiction, fantasy, and romance stories and novellas a part of this mix? Sure they are. They don’t have classes or email newsletters attached to them. But I believe they are a creative expression of the ideas and materials I’m working with in other areas. And they are fun.
Does it Have to Make Sense?
Of course, the most obvious through-line that threads between all of these projects is me. My work is driven by my interests, curiosity, and values. It doesn’t really matter if that thread isn’t clear to someone at first glance.
At least, not yet.
Maybe it will later on though. The marketer in me is concerned about that.
At this point, I spend a little bit of time each day on various projects, and that’s fulfilling, interesting, and promising enough. There are five books defined in this post, in various stages of pushing toward publication. As I keep working toward establishing an income in this brave new world away from corporate America, the classes are an important part of supporting myself.
Overall, I’m not wildly worried about making sense. But seeing the through-line does help me understand my priorities. It helps me to define timelines and goals. That’s the important part, right now.