My Current Writing and other Professional Plans (Plus a Thank You to All My Followers) (updated for March 2022)
Hi! I wanted everyone to know what my plans are writing/professionally so that they don’t think that I’ll always be droning on about my PhD Dissertation.
I’m effectively done condensing and otherwise writing about my Dissertation. I may mention or comment about it in the future but I don’t see myself adapting any more new works based on it. (To tell the truth, after 5 years of working on it and then explaining it I’m tired of it myself. Besides, it has done its job — it’s proved that I can write scientific-caliber, Doctoral level research and earned me the first Doctorate in my family, in addition to (finally!) banishing my life-long (and entirely self-imposed) insecurity that I wasn’t good enough to be the child of an honorably discharged United States Marine.)
What I do plan on doing is catching up on all the personal writing projects that I postponed while working on my (successful!) PhD effort (as well as looking for work with my PhD, MA, MABC credentials).
Chief among these is a Subject-Matter-Expert-type series of articles called “A Media Psychologist looks at …” (likely posted on a regular basis) with a title underneath a drawing of a Freudian-looking analyst furiously scribbling notes as he listens to an anthropomorphic (and obviously distressed) flat-screen TV telling the analyst his woes. Ideally, it would be in a similar style to that of the venerable MAD magazine artist Paul Coker and I can see the darn thing in my head, but Dammit Jim! I’m a (media) Doctor, not an illustrator!!!!!!
(Please let me know if any of you know a good illustrator that I could pay to craft such a logo!)
Admittedly, I probably will repost the 1219 word Dissertation Summary as the second article, per a great suggestion I got from transmedia expert Jeff Gomez. The first article will be some type of introduction to who I am, what a media psychologist is (and what media psychology is). It will also have a helpful explanation about the logo, which is a literal play on “media psychologist” (as you can tell by the inscription). It will also give an idea of what to expect from the series, which, as the title suggests will concentrate on topics from the media psychology perspective, such as misinformation/disinformation, finding old friends and/or acquaintances on Social Media — and Maybe Why You Shouldn’t, and A Media Psychologist’s Guide How to ignore Internet trolls and get back on with your life. Stay Tuned!
I also plan on writing articles on several different topics (as the Muse dictates) including more personal tales such as about how “I Was a Groom-Zilla”, Why Employers should hire a person with a Doctorate (especially if they have written a Dissertation), the value of a scientific S.T.E.A.M. education, and Why I am an optimist (as opposed to a pessimist).
Last, but Certainly NOT Least, I want to thank all of my Followers, on Medium, LinkedIn, and otherwise!
Fun Fact (okay, technically THIS is last here. But it is also certainly Not the least) — The cats in the photo are my wife and I’s cats (foreground) Babycat (aka Kit Kit, Chalupa) and Puffy (aka Chimney, Puffarotti). The photo was taken in 2017 when I noticed that Babycat was annoyed that Puffy had taken his preferred place in that cat tree and he looks so much like a cartoon kitty that I have held on to it. (Plus, at the time of this writing I don’t have any current photos of myself that I feel are good enough to share. That, and I wanted to emphasize that I’m not just some stuffy PhD academic by demonstrating that I have a sense of humor! :o) ).
