This is a super quick post.....

Well, my long journal article, "To Provision Washington's Army: 1776 and the Norwich Huntington Group," finally hit the "newsstands." If only. But yay! A handful of people in Connecticut will read it and I would love to hear from you. Here is the link: https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/chr/issue/65/2

Why write for scholarly journals anymore? What does it accomplish in this crazy, fast-paced content world that we live in now? Publishers and authors of History books are churning out books fast and most of it is not fact-checked or even professionally copyedited. Those days seem to be long gone.

I remember important editors from my days at Houghton Mifflin Company on Beacon Street in Boston. Developmental editors, copyeditors, proofreaders--some huddled over proofs in their offices with their red Uniball pens, chain smoking and smelling up the proofs. They were creating the American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition and other reference books. It was nerds at their finest churning out a great dictionary. I was a lowly administrative assistant making like $21,000 a year.

But, I learned the importance of editing even as I lived in debt all the time working for HMCO for roughly three years I figure. Then the standards lowered somewhat drastically as the trade and textbook publishing industry became modernized and booksellers became walloped by Amazon. I got out of that side of publishing pretty quick. I'd rather create the content than edit it.

In my quest to get the Huntington book published I am in the midst of purchasing a lot of competitive titles from small publishers and I immediately notice the lack of proper developmental, copyediting, and proof-reading (even at an Ivy League university press).

And now the dreaded AI is omnipresent and evil for the content industry, culture, and the arts. It stinks! It had already been happening to creators. Why even write a blog which is supposedly is outdated? This Gen Xer cannot keep up! And, is AI stealing my work as we speak? I had to ask my social media/website consultant to look into it for me because I am too overwhelmed by the whole concept of it. I hate AI and the data centers. Ok this is a Debbie of a Downer blog post.

Was it Worth it, then, to Write a Scholarly Article?

Absolutely! Even though it takes me twice as long to write an article as it would a professor of History with a Ph.D, it is worth it. I learned SO MUCH by stopping the book project to focus on an undiscovered Rabbit Hole that I had stumbled upon at The American Antiquarian Society. It was a fabulously boring archive, really (Joshua Huntington Papers) of war-era receipts that proved what everyday people were doing in 1776, a pivotal year, at the behest of Washington, Trumbull, and the Huntingtons (my people). Having done the article, I have learned to be a better note-taker (sort of), and analizer. Who cares about war receipts? We all should....

Thus, stopping to make sense of these mundane receipts completely changed my knowledge and perspective of the Huntington's role in the American Revolution, and war. Now my book will be more informed about that chaotic time period. I am proud and thankful to Connecticut History Review, especially the editor, Thomas Balcerski, who was a great communicator. Thank you!

It also gave me a vehicle from which to do a few presentations which I do love although they take up time, money, and energy. But, hopefully people enjoyed them. This year I had my first "no-show" presentation at a museum where I am on the Board. My fellow Board members patiently listened to me but I was deflated....even though I expected a no-show to happen one of these days.

The Struggle Is Real

This week I had to have a few of my writing and editing friends talk me off a cliff. Thank you to them. I have finally confirmed that someone plagiarized from my other article on Faith Trumbull Huntington that I did in 2019 for Connecticut History Review and I am perplexed about it. Probably will just let it lie.....it's complicated.

Have no publisher for my book: The Huntingtons of Norwich, Connecticut: A New England Family Chronicle (working title). Still on the hunt for a traditional small press publisher, hybrid publisher, or self-published approach (maybe through Reedsy). I like Reedsy so far and recommend it--I had to pay them to make sure that my article for CHR was properly edited because they cannot afford to pay for that.

The title may be vanilla, however, I need to bring in readers from all of New England, not just Connecticut. I am getting burned out and think it is boring. But, that is what the Second Draft is for! Spicing it up while editing it down. It will cost me money for sure but I will do it because I DO NOT want an unedited, verbose book out there in the world. Mistakes distract the reader.

Trying to Stay Sane by Taking Breaks

Finally, I have been taking a lot of breaks this fall. Some I want to take; others are imposed on me. As a dogged writer (and self-editor) I need time off often because it tires me so much. Here are a few tips for you history writers:

1. Get up from the computer often so as not to strain your body

2. Walk and lift weights to reset your brain, and strengthen your upper body

3. Turn off the noise in your car sometimes and on your walks--no more content; your brain is already filled to the brim with it.

4. Before you take your break, highlight the area you want to go back to so that when you sit back down, you know exactly what you are going to do.

5. Try to type your words at eye level so your neck is not strained

6. Have no screen days and go into the woods for God's sake

7. Keep up with your most important friends, just do your best

8. But, say no to things as well because, after all, you are an introvert.

9. Double check other historians assertions in their best-selling books--just because they say it happened doesn't mean it did!

10. Train yourself to avoid alcohol, especially during the week. It dulls one's brain of ideas and strength

11. Do not use AI to write your book, or article, or paper, AND be very careful with secondary sources as to avoid inadvertent plagiarism.