I've just come back from writing camp, and it was fabulous. I didn't go very far afield, but I spent three days on the shore of a nearby lake, alternating writing blitzes with quiet time for reading and thinking and social time with other faculty. I ate good food that other people cooked, and I washed zero dishes. There were leaping fish and all kinds of birds (ruby-throated hummingbird, owl, red-bellied woodpecker, heron, goldfinch, fluffy goslings!), and pleasant evening bonfires.
On my list of "papers I would like to write someday" I have had a tentative idea for a while now. I've been hoping to write a paper based on a lecture I've given a bunch of times, even though it's outside my primary area. Because it's different from my previous work it has felt a little speculative, a little uncertain. But when I applied for a spot at camp I told them I was going to draft this paper if I was selected. And I did: I took all of my ideas and wrote them down. Because I've been thinking about it for so long it just streamed right out of me, in reasonable first-draft form. In 72 hours I wrote a little more than 7500 words. It was so much fun.
I am not sure what its destiny will be. It reminds me a bit of the Heartbreak Paper: I believe my discipline needs this paper, but I'm not sure it knows that it needs this paper. The Heartbreak Paper required an AWFUL LOT of perseverance and then it bore a lot of good fruit. So I don't know exactly when this new manuscript will see the light of day, but I'm okay with that. Now that I have a completed first draft I'm going to let it marinate for a bit while I figure out my next steps.
I wasn't sure if I would be able to go to writing camp because of jury duty, but it worked out swimmingly. I spent a couple of hours waiting around the courthouse on Monday morning, and then I was dismissed for the week. I am feeling happy and grateful, and also a bit like someone wrung out my brain, soggy sponge style.
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