Writing

Novels

When I quit the Baylor College of Medicine MD / PhD program, I dreamed of becoming a writer. I worked in Iraq for two years and saved money so that, upon return, I could live on the savings and learn to write. During that time, I wrote two novels. The first, an attempt at a parody of my time in Iraq, was a terrible, terrible piece of writing. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was to admit that I’d failed at that, put it aside, and start something new. During that time, I did, however, begin to learn to write.

The second novel, a comedy dystopian science fiction novel, I finished around 2012, just before I shifted to working at the University of Texas. This book has been enjoyed by the people who read it, and I am happy with how it turned out. I self-published it on Amazon under the title Mind Your Meter.

Set in a future world where humans live in underground bunkers and hide from a surface world wracked by constant storms, the lead character, Daphne Wainwright, works for the Department of Individual Contentment. Every person on the planet has a meter embedded in their wrist that tells them exactly how happy they are at any given moment. When a person’s meter falls below 700 out of 1000, an investigation is opened. Daphne’s job is to investigate people whose meter has fallen and help them become happy.

Articles

In 2017, I wrote a letter to Bill Moyers (at billmoyers.com) that was published on his website. In fact, for about a week, it was put as the front page story. You can find it here: Letter to the Editor: Trump, the NFL and the Price of Freedom. The letter is a defense of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem at the beginning of a football game during. This was during the first Trump administration and the height of the Black Lives Matters movement.

Technical Writing

I also wrote numerous technical articles while working through Toptal for Okta, Zendesk, Auth0, and Split. Some of these were also posted on Dev.to. For Okta’s developer blog I wrote appoximately 40 articles from when I first started working for them in 2018 until I finished in 2023. You can see the full list of blogs on Okta’s website. Each blog post required a mix of technical, creative, and compositional skills.

Translation

As is mentioned more completely in the translation section, I have also worked on a few translation projects. Drojee Gyaltsen Gurung and I translated two letters of advice from Thang Dong Gyalpo. We also translated the Sutra of the Twelve Eyes for the 84,000 project (publication pending). I am currently translating a White Tara Sadhana based upon oral commentary from a Geshe from Drebung Loseling.