Before Departing

All that momentum from Monday's frantic writing sprint settled a little. I had a long teaching day Tuesday--good but long--and insisted on making it to the gym this morning for a racquetball date. I had worked straight through most of my waking hours thus far this week, so the little break to exercise seemed important.

When I got home this afternoon, the thought of plowing through to the end of a draft and then revising seemed unlikely. So I spent some more thoughtful time with some edits that Willow had made, and whittled this version down to the best draft I think it can be this week. And I made a good handout (Thanks for that reminder, Dr. C!).

I will say: I'm not sure if it's that I'm a good drafter or a bad reviser, but typically (not always, but...) my final draft looks an awful lot like the first one on the paragraph/argument level. Sometimes, I'll get a really good strong critical reading, and I'll rip back into it, but most often, revision for me is more like editing than re-seeing. Even when I take time to set it aside, my revisions tend not to be huge. So it was today.

The problem is, I want to get this full argument done before it goes stale on me, and so I'm going to try to work on a full draft after the conference and over spring break. Hopefully, April will find this draft ready to send around to some friends for a last pass before sending it out. Taxes and an article by mid April? perhaps.

In the meantime, I've got a few more midterms to grade before tomorrow and the new season of Top Chef to watch in two minutes. Tomorrow, I teach and and I fly out in the evening. If I get a chance to check in from the Upper West Side, I'll do that.

Wish me luck!