3 hours writing, 0.5 hours emailing, page count = 240
Got most of the way through the fifth episode out of six in the Antioquia chapter, and made some changes to the Preface. On the fifth episode, it's been more structure work, as well as introducing additional analysis of data that I already had on hand. The goose is fattening up nicely.
I also have been corresponding with my advisors about the timing for getting them a revised full draft, and when they'll be able to review it given summer travel/vacation schedules. Currently, it looks like I'll have something ready to distribute by the end of next week, but it'll be a few weeks before I can get feedback from my advisors, given travel schedules. So I'm reaching out to a few other folks about potentially getting feedback from them in the meantime. Anyway, it's feeling good to be close to a revised full draft.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Doscientos (ahora si de verdad)
2 hours writing, 3 hours processing data, page count = 237
The big 2-0-0! Very exciting. This is my two-hundredth post on this blog. I'm glad to be nearing the end, but I have to say, the journey has been quite something.
Today I finished revising the fourth of six episodes on the Antioquia chapter. I also laid some good groundwork for the fifth episode, which I'll take up tomorrow. I talked yesterday about jumping around a lot and that being productive, but today I seemed to want to focus on just the one thing, and move that forward. Onward tomorrow!
The big 2-0-0! Very exciting. This is my two-hundredth post on this blog. I'm glad to be nearing the end, but I have to say, the journey has been quite something.
Today I finished revising the fourth of six episodes on the Antioquia chapter. I also laid some good groundwork for the fifth episode, which I'll take up tomorrow. I talked yesterday about jumping around a lot and that being productive, but today I seemed to want to focus on just the one thing, and move that forward. Onward tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Doscientos (menos uno)
1.5 hours writing, 4.5 hours researching, page count = 235
[Edited 6/11: Whoops! I originally thought this was my two-hundredth post, but that was one off. Have to hold off that celebration for tomorrow!]
The past couple of days I've been focused on Chapter 5 and the Conclusion. A lot of that work has been about structure. William Goldman, the guy who wrote Butch Cassidy and Marathon Man, has a couple of books on screenwriting. In the second one, he talks about dialogue: it's practically the least important part of the screenwriter's job. The most important part is structure: what happens when and why. I feel like a screenwriter lately, taking a bunch of disparate set-pieces and finding a structure that works for them and tells a coherent story. Yesterday, I think I found one for the Conclusion, and today, I took a decent stab at finding one for Chapter 5. In both structures, there are pieces that need fleshing out, but I see the directions in which I need to go.
My writing space was closed again today, so I went to the library and consulted Mexico sources for Chapter 5. It's such a rich comparison to Colombia given the similarly centrifugal political geography and Liberal-Conservative politics of the 19th century. My aim was to flesh out the vignette I already had in place, and I got some good material for that.
Tomorrow I'll work more on structure, more on Mexico, and go back to Chapter 4 and pick up on the fourth of six Antioquia episodes. I'm finding it productive to be working on several fronts at once. It feels like tying a pair of sneakers, where you have to pull on pairs of overlapping laces at different points along the instep to get the whole thing nice and tight.
[Edited 6/11: Whoops! I originally thought this was my two-hundredth post, but that was one off. Have to hold off that celebration for tomorrow!]
The past couple of days I've been focused on Chapter 5 and the Conclusion. A lot of that work has been about structure. William Goldman, the guy who wrote Butch Cassidy and Marathon Man, has a couple of books on screenwriting. In the second one, he talks about dialogue: it's practically the least important part of the screenwriter's job. The most important part is structure: what happens when and why. I feel like a screenwriter lately, taking a bunch of disparate set-pieces and finding a structure that works for them and tells a coherent story. Yesterday, I think I found one for the Conclusion, and today, I took a decent stab at finding one for Chapter 5. In both structures, there are pieces that need fleshing out, but I see the directions in which I need to go.
My writing space was closed again today, so I went to the library and consulted Mexico sources for Chapter 5. It's such a rich comparison to Colombia given the similarly centrifugal political geography and Liberal-Conservative politics of the 19th century. My aim was to flesh out the vignette I already had in place, and I got some good material for that.
Tomorrow I'll work more on structure, more on Mexico, and go back to Chapter 4 and pick up on the fourth of six Antioquia episodes. I'm finding it productive to be working on several fronts at once. It feels like tying a pair of sneakers, where you have to pull on pairs of overlapping laces at different points along the instep to get the whole thing nice and tight.
Monday, June 9, 2008
End-to-end effort is rewarded
2.5 hours writing, 3.5 hours researching, page count = 233
I'm almost finished now with the U.S. comparison. I have the outline of the whole section, now I just need to go back in, tighten it up, and fill out some additional material. My writing space is closed again tomorrow, so I'll go to the library and check out some additional sources for the Mexico section in the comparative-perspective chapter.
Cathy's new job started off well. Her commute is a lot less, so we don't have to get up quite so early in the morning. That's clearly going to make a big difference in quality of life.
The Euro 2008 soccer championship started this past weekend, and although it's not as exciting as the World Cup or the South American championship, I'll still follow along. You won't see a cooler goal than this all year. The clip doesn't capture the whole play, which started when a Dutch defender saved the ball on his own goal line, ran two-thirds the length of the field flat-out, picked up a pass on the fast break, and lined up a perfect cross. The more I think about it, this may be one of my top-5 favorite goals of all time - definitely in the team-effort category. As one of the Dutch banners read, Hup Nederlands!
I'm almost finished now with the U.S. comparison. I have the outline of the whole section, now I just need to go back in, tighten it up, and fill out some additional material. My writing space is closed again tomorrow, so I'll go to the library and check out some additional sources for the Mexico section in the comparative-perspective chapter.
Cathy's new job started off well. Her commute is a lot less, so we don't have to get up quite so early in the morning. That's clearly going to make a big difference in quality of life.
The Euro 2008 soccer championship started this past weekend, and although it's not as exciting as the World Cup or the South American championship, I'll still follow along. You won't see a cooler goal than this all year. The clip doesn't capture the whole play, which started when a Dutch defender saved the ball on his own goal line, ran two-thirds the length of the field flat-out, picked up a pass on the fast break, and lined up a perfect cross. The more I think about it, this may be one of my top-5 favorite goals of all time - definitely in the team-effort category. As one of the Dutch banners read, Hup Nederlands!
Friday, June 6, 2008
A whole new level of Zen
It's been a little more than a year since I started this blog. At the same time as I began posting, I started a daily ritual of spending 30 seconds at the end of each day standing at the landing in front of our building and looking out over the park and the river. Just emptying my mind of the day and appreciating the beautiful environment in which I live.
Over the weeks and months, I observed how the little patch of land directly before me would change incrementally with the seasons: foliage blooming, falling, laying dormant for months and then suddenly, rapidly reviving at the end of March; the migratory patterns
of geese and ducks who liked to congregate on the park lawn, even as it was covered over for the winter; the changing flows of foot, bicycle, and boat traffic; the many breeds of apartment dogs popular in our neighborhood.
It's been a wonderful experience, and I'm glad I did it, but lately, I've grown restless. Everything is in bloom, and the park is always full, but it all feels the same, or too much.
So the other day, I decided to ascend to a whole new level of Zen. I started going up to the roof deck for my nightly ritual. It's a 40-story building. I should have enough in my visual field to keep me occupied for quite some time! But I go up there knowing what I know about my one patch of land, right out the front door of our building.
Cathy and I are upstate for a couple of days before she starts her new job on Monday. The event for my giving circle on Wednesday went really well, thanks to a great team effort, and I had a good job interview earlier that same day. Next week holds many things, as I make a big final push on the diss, Cathy starts a new job, and I hear back about two job prospects.
See you next week!
Over the weeks and months, I observed how the little patch of land directly before me would change incrementally with the seasons: foliage blooming, falling, laying dormant for months and then suddenly, rapidly reviving at the end of March; the migratory patterns
of geese and ducks who liked to congregate on the park lawn, even as it was covered over for the winter; the changing flows of foot, bicycle, and boat traffic; the many breeds of apartment dogs popular in our neighborhood.
It's been a wonderful experience, and I'm glad I did it, but lately, I've grown restless. Everything is in bloom, and the park is always full, but it all feels the same, or too much.
So the other day, I decided to ascend to a whole new level of Zen. I started going up to the roof deck for my nightly ritual. It's a 40-story building. I should have enough in my visual field to keep me occupied for quite some time! But I go up there knowing what I know about my one patch of land, right out the front door of our building.
Cathy and I are upstate for a couple of days before she starts her new job on Monday. The event for my giving circle on Wednesday went really well, thanks to a great team effort, and I had a good job interview earlier that same day. Next week holds many things, as I make a big final push on the diss, Cathy starts a new job, and I hear back about two job prospects.
See you next week!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Alternation
1.5 hours writing, 4 hours researching, page count = 230
Toggled today between reading secondary sources for the U.S. comparison in the conclusion, on which I made more writing progress, and fleshing out the third of six Antioquia episode in Chapter 4. I think I have a decent draft in place of that third episode, and can move on to the fourth one, even as I continue working on the U.S. comparison.
Toggled today between reading secondary sources for the U.S. comparison in the conclusion, on which I made more writing progress, and fleshing out the third of six Antioquia episode in Chapter 4. I think I have a decent draft in place of that third episode, and can move on to the fourth one, even as I continue working on the U.S. comparison.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Mataron a Gaitan
1 hour writing, 4 hours processing data, page count = 227
Worked on the third of the six episodes in the Antioquia chapter today. This is the one about the aftermath of the April 9, 1948 assassination of populist Liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Antioquia was generally pretty quiet compared to other states, so I've needed to bring in episodes from those to flesh out the Antioquia story, but there are actually a couple of interesting stories that go on in Antioquia itself. I find myself returning to the rich sources that I mined at the state archives in Medellin last fall. It seems so long ago now, but the detail I was able to gather is the gift that keeps on giving.
Tomorrow I'll finish up episode 3 and go back to the library to work on the U.S. and Mexico comparisons.
Worked on the third of the six episodes in the Antioquia chapter today. This is the one about the aftermath of the April 9, 1948 assassination of populist Liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Antioquia was generally pretty quiet compared to other states, so I've needed to bring in episodes from those to flesh out the Antioquia story, but there are actually a couple of interesting stories that go on in Antioquia itself. I find myself returning to the rich sources that I mined at the state archives in Medellin last fall. It seems so long ago now, but the detail I was able to gather is the gift that keeps on giving.
Tomorrow I'll finish up episode 3 and go back to the library to work on the U.S. and Mexico comparisons.
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