Monday, April 19, 2010

Work update, week 1

So a lot has happened this week that has nothing to do with my writing: Willow had a birthday, defended her MFA thesis, and is at this moment interviewing for a job (while I watch the kids, who are playing happily in the background, so imagine the deafening burble of twins kindergartners and a baby who adores them). Also, I collected proposals from my grad students, who have really pulled it together this semester, and a batch of papers from the survey section.

BUT! in the last week I did do an intermediate revision on the Narrative paper, so at least i can say I left it good shape as I move back to the book. I sent a copy of that off to my advisor, who is most interested in this particular aspect of my work.

As for the remaining revisions to chapter 1.1, not so much. But the document is up on the desktop, and whenever I turn to writing (and reading, which includes both Butler and Foucault for this stage), this is the project. I'm hoping to finish a draft by Friday.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Onward and Upward

So I'm back from the Narrative Conference, which I find consistently stimulating, and where after five visits, I've finally settled into a groove with enough contacts and enough sense of my place in that particular field that I don't feel like a total conference loner. Of course, This one has given me another book idea, but that seems sufficiently separate from my regular research that it feels like the sort of thing that I can work on for the next several years by pecking out conference papers just for that conference, and slowly expanding and revising them into fuller chapters.

Meanwhile, back to the book at hand. My goal is to have a complete manuscript in the press' hands by the end of the summer. I am teaching a summer grad course (daily in the afternoons), but it is structured such that I can continue to get some writing done as I go. So here's what I have written already, and my target dates for revised chapters.

Intro: drafted and polished (check)
1.1: Drafted and under final revisions (by April 30)
1.2: About 20 pages of drafted material, another 15-20 of new material (by May 31)
1.3: About 12 pages drafted, another 15 (to 30, depending on using another text) (by June 30)
2.1: Drafted and polished (check)
2.2: About 20 pages drafted, with another 15-20 to draft or seriously revise (by July 15)
2.3: 15-20 pages drafted, in bad shape; another 10-15 to write (by August 7)
Epilogue: One drafted but it barely fits the project anymore. We'll see. (by September 1)

That's as much as 85 new pages through the summer, but the research on this and the background reading is all largely done. The issue really is just putting the butt in the chair and writing. Keep your fingers crossed!