Maggie's Thoughts for Scholarly-Leaning History Writers Waiting for a Publisher

Taking time for friends.

I know who you are because I am you. We are too cheap, lazy, or old to get a Ph.D. yet we have a Master's in History from way back when. Now we are creeping up in age trying to write our tome perhaps from a privileged perch or maybe we are a desperate mother trying to write in her spare chunks of time.

We are passionate and nerdy about our project and it is a lonely road.

We do not care for social media but know we have to try it. It does not come naturally to us because we are embarrassed by it.

We are neither arm-chair historians nor history professors either with those extra credentials and experience earned through the grueling process of writing a dissertation--a 50,000+ word paper uncovering new information about a fresh topic new to academia.

Writing my first scholarly article in 2018 (and companion presentation) on Faith Trumbull Huntington. Faith was loveable, artistic, and intelligent. She did so much in her short lifetime. The Revolutionary War was just too much though.... She has to be remembered for her LIFE not death.

We love Jstor yet we don't know how to use it efficiently.

The possibilities are endless if you know how to use the search engine on Jstor. I love New England Quarterly and of course, Connecticut History Review

We struggle with thesis, note-taking, organization and putting together a narrative that reads like a novel yet is backed up by endnotes and original interpretation of those sources to make a big picture of a merchant family from eastern Connecticut.

We are not experts in CMOS but we sort of know it.

We do not have a publisher and are frustrated.

We have back and shoulder problems from being on the computer too much.....

Our wheels can spin. The rabbit holes suck up time.

Maybe I should read Alice in Wonderland...or not...

We self-edit along the way.....instead of finishing the goddamn first draft.

We just might have a touch of ADD or an information addiction

We want every bit of information out there on our subject(s).

Norwich, CT Deeds......at the Beverly Farms Public Library. They have access to LDS online records!

We are a sucker for all sorts of writing and publishing experts that ply the internet trying to get us to take their helpful classes.

We go to scholarly lectures, book signings, and museum events all the time.

Recently listened to a great presentation by Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill with great slides and pictures of her pile: Blenheim Palace and all the characters who lived there. Bought her grandbook too.....

And we support our like-minded friends who have already crossed the bridge to publication.

My author friends from top left to Bottom right: Claire Cabot, Rob Fitzgibbon, Donna Seger and Brad Austin (Salem State Professors), Sarah Burrows Winch, Kim Collins Jermain, and Donna Seger.

We live in an age of AI yet we feel it is a fly buzzing around our computer screens; we do not want AI; AI is NOT scholarly is it scary. We didn't ask for it!

We know it is about the journey not the destination, however, the whole experience of writing a book of history is all encompassing.