It's Too Early to Be Leavin' Here Somehow

The sunlight in Northeastern Colorado falls at an angle, making the shadows impossibly long and thin, even in the morning. The light itself is bright but metallic, almost thin. It's different from the rich, direct golden light of the sun in Thailand.

It's also so, so dry here. And desolate. When I drive the local highways and back roads, the landscape of fallow farmland unfolds flatly and with barren frankness. It's not ugly, though. Instead there is a stark, spare beauty about the golds, browns, and grays that dominate the currently quiet plains.

These are things I am becoming used to in my new home. Even though I was only gone to Thailand for eight months, it was a lifetime ago now.

I am not sure how long I will be here, either. It depends. Right now, my life is like the empty earth that surrounds me. Vast fields lying dormant; soon there will be seeds sown, green growing things, and in the future, a harvest or two.

So, for this issue of Wellspring, I'll be plainly looking to the future: my goals and plans for 2026 and beyond. It will be a short issue, just FYI.

It's Plowin' Time Again

For 2026, I have three main goals:

1. Finish a draft of my second novel, Dancing Underneath You. I've spent too long on the current draft and I need to just finish it so I have a completed manuscript to edit and rewrite. (You can learn more about the project by checking out this page on my website.)

2. Apply to MFA and PhD programs in creative writing. I've wanted to earn my PhD since forever, and I am finally ready and able to continue my academic journey. I'll also be applying to a few MFA (Master of Fine Arts) programs as a stepping stone to my PhD.

3. Continue querying my first novel, The Weight of the Impossible, in hopes of securing agent representation. (There's more info on the novel via this page on my website.)

All three of these goals are pretty big in the scheme of things, but entirely doable.

I'm also going to keep busy with my new job, teaching English part-time at the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado.

While I juggle all of the above, I'll be applying for full-time academic teaching positions with community colleges and universities as well. The end-goal for that is to secure a full-time teaching position for the fall of 2026.

So, I have a lot of seeds to sow for 2026. We'll see where it all leads me in the months and years ahead.

Where These Seeds Will Rise or When

This concludes issue 8 of Wellspring. (Told you it'd be short.) I'll see you all again in April of 2026.

Until then, you can find me on my website, BlueSky, and Facebook, and read past issues of Wellspring here in the archives.

Take care all!

PS. The title of the newsletter and the headers are from Neil Young's superlative song "Field of Opportunity", which you can listen to on TIDAL or on YouTube. I will no longer be linking Spotify in my newsletter or blog because I would rather support services which pay their artists, not exploit them.