Tag: My Writer’s Journey

My Writing Journey: No More News on Examiner

I’ve made a big decision this past week . I will no longer be covering the news of “Religion and Politics” for Examiner.com. I will however continue to post strategic essays as they relate to religion and politics for Examiner but on a far less frequent basis. 

My concentration this year has been on completing my MFA and finishing my novel, Living in Harmony, so that it can (hopefully) be sold for publication. Getting the novel and my thesis 100% complete by July is a huge task. Knowing that beyond July my goals will be to work on getting LIH published and in working on another fiction novel project means that my interests in covering religion and political news has waned. 

My first article with Examiner appeared just over a year ago in March 2010. Since that time, I have posted over 100 articles with Examiner. The popularity of my local articles led to my national column which led to some of my articles being posted on Associated Content and appearing on various other online news sites. 

This year, my articles have come out much slower due to my time restrictions and increasing interests in other works (fiction).  So moving forward, I will only be posting essay-style commentaries with Examiner.com as “evergreen content” (content that is not news focused but content driven) and only plan on maybe 10-12 articles a year with them at this current time. These essays will primarily be focused on religion and not so much on politics. 

The good thing about Examiner.com is that the over 100 articles I have written will remain in their archives and available for the foreseeable future. So you will continue to have access to my past year’s work with Examiner.com as well as any new content I post there. Click here for my Examiner.com archives.

I have enjoyed writing  newsworthy articles and have enjoyed the exposure it gave me (including my radio appearance). I especially enjoyed pushing buttons and debating issues with those who opposed my view-point in the comment sections of several articles. That was probably the best part of it.

Thanks to all of you who have read loyally and hopefully you will continue to enjoy the essays as they come out on Examiner.com. Look for more information on Living in Harmony later this summer and fall. 

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Quote: “You have to find something you love…”

“You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be  placed in front of you. If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you’re doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle.” George Lucas

It’s been one of those weeks…I mean months. You ever feel like no matter which way you turn something is standing there ready to clobber you “Fight Club” style? It’s been one of those months for me.

It’s been two months since I posted an article for my local Examiner column and a month since my last national article. What’s the reason? I’ve been working on my edits for my novel-in-progress and finishing up work on my MFA but more than that I’ve felt like I have been out of juice when it comes to the religion & politics column. I haven’t had enough love to throw myself over the hurdles or crumble the brick walls. It’s a temporary thing and my goal is to be back at it before April rolls around. I’m putting ideas and plans together for the articles I will write when the mood strikes. My category manager wants me to focus on doing more “evergreen” content (content that is always fresh for those searching that topic) and I think that will be a good place to pick it back up. I have a bunch of ideas but until I feel the need, I’m happily letting time pass. Whether that is good or bad for the column, we’ll find out.

In the meantime, it’s been fun focusing more on pop culture stuff here on the blog. While I don’t get paid to post here, I have enjoyed watching the blog readership grow tremendously over the past months. The growth rate has been 218% since November. I’ve loved the posts I written and evidentially many of you have been drawn to them as well. It’s nice to know that when you are doing something you love that others find it amusing too. Thanks for reading.

Please feel free to post your suggestions, comments, or ideas here for what you’d like to see more of. I’d love to hear from.


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Youth & Religion in America Part 1; Who are the Millennials?

Part 1 of my series of articles – “Youth & Religion” posted today. Part 2 which begins an in-depth interview with an Agnostic Atheist and Catholic seminary student who is studying to be a priest will begin tomorrow. Part 3 which concludes the interview with the two will post on Friday. I’ve been working on this interview for about a month and I’m glad it’s finally coming out. I think the insight both of the interviews give is enlightening about just how unified we actually are. That’s all I will hint at.  It’s something I hope people find both informative and engaging.

Click here to read \”Youth & Religion Part 1: Who are the Millennials?

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My Column Goes National!

Examiner.com has selected my column to go national. I will be the new National Religion & Politics Examiner for the website. It’s a huge honor for me to cover the national scene with regards to religion and politics. It will also mean an increase in readership for my column since it will be on a national level and not just on the local portal. I will have more details when my first national column is posted (probably next week). I will still be covering some local issues for the Inland Empire but I’m excited for this new national column to get me greater exposure. Thanks to all of you who have faithfully been reading the column. I really appreciate the support.

Click here for a link to my current column

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