Literary Ethnography

Joyousness!  I just right now finished the second full draft of my book manuscript.  At 386 pages and 114,000 words, it is much longer than I had originally planned and almost double the size of the first draft that I did my line edits on back in May. 

There is still much work to be done, but I have an incredible feeling of accomplishment right now.  I am going out to buy myself a drink!

Perendination

There are only a few occasions when I feel justified in pulling out what Hemingway would refer to as a “ten-dollar” word.  But my mental state over the last few days is best described by the verb “perendinate:” to put off until the day after tomorrow.   This is procrastination senior. 

I took a few days off to see a bit of Amsterdam, but now I feel like I have lost stamina on both of my book projects.  I am also realizing how tedious and boring line edits can be.  I have 113 pages of line edits on my first book project, a project that I am now referring to as “Book X” (as opposed to “Book Y,” the second book project about communist women in Bulgaria).  I suppose it is normal take a break, but I fear that I will completely lose interest in a project if I let it sit unattended for too long.  This morning, I found myself just staring at the pile of paper with all of my red scribbles.  I had no inclination to work at all.  The International Institute of Social History is closed on weekends so I can’t go to the archives.  If I am going to work today, it has to be writing or editing.  But I don’t feel like it.

So the question is: should I force myself to work?  Should I just take another day off?  I think my inclination is to sit down and push through.  If I start, then even if I only end up doing ten pages, I am making some progress.  But the sun is shining, and there is an outdoor concert starting in Vondelpark in about ten minutes. 

To perendinate or not to perendinate?  That is the question….

Multigraphia

In addition to the book on communist era women’s organizations, I am also trying to move forward on the manuscript that I produced during my Totally Mad 26-Day writing project using the NaNoWriMo model back in December/January.   I produced a hell of a lot of words that are in need of a hell of a lot of editing.  The nice thing is that I have a tangible manuscript that is too thick to bind with standard 2 inch binder clips.

My goals for the summer are to work on the Writing Project book while also writing three chapters of the communist women book.  I know this is an ambitious, multigraphic goal and that I will probably fail, but I am going to try anyway.  Since one project is scholarly and the other project is more creative, I think they can complement each other in important ways.  When my brain tires of working in analytic mode (with all those end notes or in text citations) I can switch to a more emotional project that allows me to play with the tools of writing: dialogue, metaphor, foreshadowing and narrative tension. 

Editing is where the real writing gets done.

Now that the semester is over and I am almost out from under the pile of grading that besieges me this time of year, I finally have some time to go back and look at the manuscript that I produced back in December/January for my “Totally Mad Writing Project.”  Although I produced a ton of text in a very short period of time, as expected, not all of it is very good.  In fact, a lot of it is crap. 

So now the hard part begins: editing.  Frankly, I love the editing process even though I find it the most time consuming.  It is where I feel the most creative.  It is when I am editing that I feel the deep satisfaction that comes with having a craft, in this case the craft of writing.  I think of the initial writing process as the equivalent of going to the art supply store to buy your paints, your brushes, your canvas and other supplies.  Putting the words down is just getting the necessary tools for the real project.

Editing is not glamorous the way writing is.  A lot of people think that great books just emerge fully formed, but that is so untrue.  Most writers in all genres, but especially in ethnography, go through multiple drafts with a wide variety of outside people (known and unknown) commenting along the way.  Editing and rewriting are what make good books good.

Now that summer is here, I will be doing a variety of posts on the writing process as well as the ins and outs of academic publishing for any of you who are interested.

Stay tuned!

There are so many of these going around, but this one is clever.

(Source: jrament, via writersrelief)

The End of the Writing Project

Well, here it is.  After 26 days, I have a first draft of what will perhaps be a new book.  It is probably in need of much editing and revising, but it exists on paper. 

This is a good place to start.

Totally Mad Writing Project Day XXV

Day 25: Project I -  (1,174 words of new prose + 0 words of found prose) = 1,174)

Day 25: Project II - (0 words of new prose + 0 words of found prose) = 0

Project I cumulative total = 73,153

Project II cumulative total = 16,026

Notes: Daisy the Basset is bored with my prose, and I only have one day left (today) on my writing project.  I drove to Boston in a snow storm yesterday and never found the time to write the full 2000 words.  But since I am well over 70,000, I am still very pleased.

Tomorrow will be my last post on the writing project as my semester begins.  Then I promise to return to the question of what makes good ethnography and the review of current theoretical and methodological issues in cultural anthropology.