And I think most folks who would check in here know that November means National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I've been anxious to write part two of a (somewhat) planned trilogy since last November, so I won't be around this blog much for the next month or so. Just fair warning. "But what about the last week and a half?" you ask. Well, that's a good point. I don't know if it's a good answer, but here is the answer all the same. I've put quite a bit of pressure on myself. Other than a few exceptions, I have felt especially good and proud of what I've been cranking out lately. I want to keep improving and keep up on this level, which is tough. Allie Brosh talked about this sort of thing over at Hyperbole and a Half.* It's the same idea here, I've just dealt with it a little differently. Rather than get roaringly drunk posting something to lower expectations, I've tried to get more ambitious to the point where I've probably bitten off more than I can chew. Miss Brosh's approach is likely both more fun and realistic, but what are you going to do? *She's just released her much anticipated book, by the way. I haven't gotten my copy yet, but you should certainly order yours. My idea was to write this big long take on the mess at Grambling State. If done to my satisfaction, it would likely have much more in common with the five page papers we wrote practically weekly for history than a usual blog post, both in structure and length. I might still get that thing written, but timing was bad, with all this happening at the end of October. The idea was to really get into the deeper story here and why the university as a whole seems to be failing, speculating (and hopefully shining some light) on how a well-known university becomes so woefully underfunded, why are alumni donations almost non-existent, and what exactly is the role of "Historically Black Colleges and Universities" in today's society anyway? The topic still really interests me, but I'm not a student any more. Not that I can't do the research or synthesize the information any more, but my time and motivations have much different demands than they once did. If I were a professional journalist, I'd probably already have this thing written and published. As it is, research has barely gotten off the ground, and we're still quite a ways from even really thinking about putting words to the idea. So, yeah, that's the hold up. There's an idea I want to pursue, but I don't know how best to do it at this point. I don't usually have to do much, if any, research writing here. I've got a good knowledge base to go off of at the top of my head. I've got no expertise about HBCUs, Louisiana university funding, or their GSU alumni relations. I don't know if anybody has ever put all of it together. But I'm not afraid to try. Just not when I'm also trying to write a novel. Comments are closed.
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