other types of writing

Every now and then I think about writing an essay (or series of essays when I'm feeling really ambitious) about growing up in rural South Dakota. And yet, for numerous reasons, I've never followed through with that. That may be in part because the genre--creative non-fiction--is a little foreign to me. I'm used to research writing, and its familiar cadences. Since I haven't practiced writing in that mode very much, I have a harder time sustaining the narrative. I will have bursts of great prose and then my thoughts fizzle out. I suppose practicing my craft would improve it over time.

The bigger issue that I have had this continual stream of academic projects: book #1, play indexing, various and sundry committee obligations, book #2, rare book school, digital humanities presentation, rare book school again. These are all good and appropriate things for me to put my time into, but it leaves me less mental energy for other types of writing (thus my absence from blogging for so long).

Book #2 should be published in mid-August, and our final review of the galleys is due next week. Next week is RBS #1 with the DH presentation following close on its heels. RBS #2 doesn't come around until the last week of July, right after my soon-to-be epic road trip to South Dakota. Oh, summer, why do you always slip by so quickly?

Maybe when all of the summer scholarship/professional development stuff dies down, not that something else won't quickly fill the void. I think I need to carve out time to write if I'm serious about it, which is unfortunately easier said than done. But like academic writing, creative non-fiction doesn't tend to happen in one fell swoop. It's one page, one paragraph, sometimes even one sentence at a time. I just need to start and then keep taking steps towards completion. Wish me luck!