If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. - Ursula K. LeGuin

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mark This One As Done

I just sent off the revision to this chapter. As I mentioned in that post, writing this chapter was a bit of a stretch for me. It was a combination of a scholarly argument in my research area and a memoir. If published it will appear in a book commemorating the anniversary of a groundbreaking book in a field related to my field that was written by one of my favorite college professors.

I was told the chapter needed "major revisions if it is going to work in the collection." The editor's comments and suggestions were right on the mark and it was actually a lot of fun re-thinking and re-writing the chapter. I teach my students that a revision is a re-vision of the original thought. And I know that I need time (and often another pair of eyes) before I can see that original thought in a different light. It can be painful to go back to a manuscript you have already marked as finished in your head but once you re-immerse yourself it is far more rewarding than the first go around.

Next on my To Do list is to finish the "minor revisions" on a more traditional (for me) paper that was accepted on the first round of reviews (a first for me!). I suspect this will be far more cut and dry (aka boring) but it does feel good to be told you got it right on your first attempt.

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