Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Had lunch today with a cool former professor whose energy I find innervating -- and I needed some innervating.

She had her first book (history) published this year, after being dragged along forEVER by the same Big Academic Press I'm trying to interest in my own book. She ultimately pitched it to Not So Big Academic Press, which published it.

Myself, I am torn. I think my manuscript, as it is, would make it past the gatekeeper, to the outside reviewer level, of another press. But the brand of Big Academic Press (BAP) is valuable, especially in my field.

On the third hand, if I do the extra research and reconfigure my manuscript, there's still a good chance that BAP will ultimately reject it. Sigh. Decisions, decisions.

Cool professor was also encouraging in my plans for October. I pitched a paper to a specialty history conference in a nearby state, and it was accepted! Major cool. Major cool addition to the c.v. -- and well, I just love doing this stuff, and there's always that. :-)

But here in the gap between the excitement of it being accepted and the angst that will accompany revisions and the panic that will pick up toward the conference date, I needed a pick-me-up.

My mood about all things neo-academic should sustain this fall. I have a book review coming out in the next issue of a journal, with an article likely to be in the issue after that.

Then, before you know it, it'll be 2007, Oklahoma's centennial year. You won't be able to sling a cat without hittin' something historical around here next year.

--ER