{"id":3690,"date":"2010-12-31T02:06:13","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T09:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=3690"},"modified":"2010-12-31T02:06:13","modified_gmt":"2010-12-31T09:06:13","slug":"the-second-to-last-post-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/the-second-to-last-post-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The second to last post of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been figuring out what to say in my Obligatory New Year’s post–resolutions and all that.\u00a0 Before I do that, though, I wanted to give an update on recent goings-on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First, the writing: I’m making excellent headway in the latest draft of Mercenary Savior<\/em>, and should be finished by the end of next week.\u00a0 WAFH is coming along too, but at a much slower pace.\u00a0 It’s hard to juggle a good book that only needs a polish with a crappy book that needs a complete overhaul, because the one that needs the most work looks so much worse in comparison.\u00a0 Still, I’m making progress on both.<\/p>\n

I just recently noticed, though, that I’ve spent the last two years working almost exclusively on Mercenary Savior<\/em>.\u00a0 Whenever I took a break to work on something else, it was never more than a month or two before I jumped into another major revision of that project.\u00a0 I worry that that’s going to handicap me, especially as I reach the point of diminishing returns.\u00a0 Mercenary Savior<\/em> is an awesome novel, and I totally stand by it, but I worry…well, I worry too much.\u00a0 Let’s just leave it at that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Second: jobs!\u00a0 To my surprise, a number of places have been calling me in for interviews and such.\u00a0 My first pick would most likely be with the BYU Political Science Department, since I already know everyone there and would probably love it.\u00a0 However, a number of other opportunities have been opening up, which means (inshallah) that I’ll probably be employed by the end of next month.\u00a0 Woohoo!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the mid- to long-term, though, I’m thinking very seriously about teaching abroad.\u00a0 I interviewed today with a program that places people in South Korea, and that could be quite interesting.\u00a0 If I choose to go through with it, I’d probably be shipping out in September, hopefully after completing a TEFL certification program.\u00a0 After working there for a year or two, I could probably land a much more lucrative job in the Gulf, which could be an interesting experience.<\/p>\n

Then again, I could stay here in Utah, where I’m much more likely to find a wife…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But you know what?\u00a0 I’m starting to think that that’s a horrible reason to stay here in the bubble.\u00a0 I don’t need to live in Utah to find the right girl (or, as my dad says, for the right girl to find me). She could be anywhere.<\/i><\/p>\n

And as for all that stuff about the odds being better out here, I’m starting to think that’s a bunch of crap.\u00a0 Yeah, there are a ton of young, available LDS women here in Utah–but there are also a ton of guys<\/em>, and the competition has like a gazillion advantages on me.\u00a0 I mean, come on, I’m a writer–<\/em>what have I got on a Marriott School graduate?\u00a0 Even a pizza can feed a family of four…<\/p>\n

So maybe I should spend some serious time abroad, even if it does mean fewer dating opportunities.\u00a0 In the meantime, I need to renew my passport and get a job.\u00a0 And who knows what the future ultimately holds?\u00a0 Maybe I’ll stick around.\u00a0 Maybe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been figuring out what to say in my Obligatory New Year’s post–resolutions and all that.\u00a0 Before I do that, though, I wanted to give an update on recent goings-on. First, the writing: I’m making excellent headway in the latest draft of Mercenary Savior, and should be finished by the end of next week.\u00a0 WAFH… Continue reading The second to last post of the year<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[68,44],"tags":[335,437,89,42,33,46,30,495,599,189,312],"class_list":["post-3690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bsh","category-ds","tag-adventure","tag-byu","tag-career-decisions","tag-frustrations","tag-girls-and-dating","tag-goals-and-plans","tag-life-decisions","tag-teaching-english-abroad","tag-thoughts-reflections","tag-utah","tag-work","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-Xw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3690"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3739,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3690\/revisions\/3739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}