Self-Isolation: Week Twenty Six

This week I continued to work on a number of painted projects, which have really been coming together nicely, but spent most of the week working on a book of all my written pieces from my time in the real estate industry. I’ve been wanting to do something with all of these for a while now, and it felt great to finally have them all together in one place. It’s a big one too - almost 600 pages, and it’s currently at the printers, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing what comes back in a few weeks. My next book will collect all the artwork and written pieces from my time at Kingston University, which I’m having tremendous nostalgic fun assembling.

Inspired by my recent Greek & Roman Mythology course, I’ve also started playing Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, which has been pretty good so far. The set pieces with the maritime warfare are loads of fun in particular. The discovery pieces put together by prominent historians that take you through battle sites are a really nice touch.

Football’s back this week too, so I’m excited for a new season of trying not to throw the TV through the window.

The Abyss Also Gazes Into You (2020)

On Real Estate (2020)
From 2006 until 2019 I worked in various roles in America’s housing industry. First as the Director of Interactive Marketing (and later Product) at The Corcoran Group, New York’s largest residential brokerage. Then later as the Director of Real Estate Products at The New York Times. I ended my time in the industry as Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Inman News, real estate’s largest trade news organization.

During my time in housing, I wrote. A lot. And also traveled the world speaking and sharing my thoughts with tens of thousands of real estate professionals. It was a tremendous amount of fun, and the opportunity to meet some incredible people and visit some amazing places is one I’m very, very grateful for. My work was published in a number of online locations, and I spoke in places as diverse as Mexico City, Barcelona, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta.

My time in the industry came to an end in early 2019, when I joined NBC News and decided to hang up my industry writing and speaking opportunities. I still write, but just for me, and I’m enjoying documenting a lot of my stories for my daughter, Emma. This book collects everything I wrote, and transcripts of all of my speaking engagements over the years. It puts a full stop on that period in my life, but it also acknowledges that I will always be grateful for everything the real estate industry allowed me to experience.