Rye Writes: Choosing the Life You Want, Not the Louche One at Hand

The portrait of heady Wall Street life that Douglas Brunt paints in his debut novel, “Ghosts of Manhattan”, is unvarnished, and accomplished with masterful brushstrokes.

By Robin Jovanovich

The portrait of heady Wall Street life that Douglas Brunt paints in his debut novel, “Ghosts of Manhattan”, is unvarnished, and accomplished with masterful brushstrokes.

 

On paper, bond trader Nick Farmer’s life appears enviable. Right out of college he’s hired by Bear Stearns and now, at age 35, he’s wildly successful. But his world (the novel begins in November 2005) is spinning out of control. The firm is taking far too many risks and the after-work boozing and strip club visits are taking a toll on his marriage and his self-worth.

 

While Brunt never lived the life of his protagonist, he has many friends and classmates who did. “So many guys — and Wall Street is still dominated by guys — are living a college lifestyle but with a lot more money. It’s a young man’s game. I wanted to write about a guy who gets sucked in and breaks out of it, which takes courage, ” Brunt said.

 

After getting an undergraduate degree from Duke University, Brunt was hired by a small money market firm that had an office in San Francisco. He left after two years to earn an M.B.A. from Georgetown University. After grad school, he did consulting work for Booz Allen, and then a short stint with a venture capital firm.

 

 

It was when he was CEO of Authentium, an Internet security company based in Florida, that he started writing.

 

“I was commuting from New York and spending a lot of time on airplanes. I wrote to relax. It was a great escape.”

 

When he thought he had enough of a story to share, he showed a draft to his wife, TV Anchor Megyn Kelly. Her immediate reaction was: “This is good! Get an agent.”

 

Once he had one, he got to work selling the company he’d grown, managed, and headed for a decade.

 

“It all somehow worked out,” said the new author.

 

“The writing comes easily; it’s the editing that’s hard!”

 

According to Brunt, there are a lot of similarities between entrepreneurship and writing. “You’re accountable in both. I had 75 people working for me at Authentium, people who were trying to pay their mortgages and put their kids through school. If you want to be a published author, you have to keep writing new chapters.”

 

This chapter of Brunt’s life is going pretty well, by the way. After he drops his son at preschool, he spends a solid three hours writing — longhand. His afternoons are spent editing.

 

“I’m a modern guy. I took both kids to swim lessons today,” he said brightly.

 

Meet Doug Brunt at the Rye Free Reading Room October 5 at 7 p.m. He’ll talk about “Ghosts of Manhattan” and the choices we make.