My retirement project (two efforts towards chapters have been published) is historical/political/legal. It is, of course, too big. In some ways each chapter has different conversations. Any advice there? PS....when I don't enjoy it, I'll stop. But, I would like to finish some version of it. My general strategy, to the degree I have one, is read on a treaty, break it into policy areas/eras. Then connect it to my loose theme on how treaties shape both domestic and international cultures. Then do a conference paper, maybe spend time converting it for an edited book. But I just far enough along to see multiple conversations. I'm sort of stuck on how far to go on those conversations. They actually need to "converse" among themselves in my proto-book. Not sure I'm clear here, but any advice would be welcome.
Hi Mary! I love all the complexity that you point out here in your work. There's a lot of moving pieces, and I could see how it's hard to know when to stop. I think it's especially hard when you're doing interdisciplinary work because that inevitably extends the amount of content you need to cover! Something you might try is to reverse-outline each of the pieces of writing you already have. I discuss this strategy here. https://www.publishnotperish.net/p/editing-tools-i-love You can then see the major points and ideas laid out in a different way. This could help you explicitly connect ideas or themes across different sections or chapters, highlighting points of intersection or divergence. Another strategy might be to put each of the major ideas from each piece of writing in bubbles with sub-bubbles on a whiteboard. You can then group and move things around to play with them and think about connections that maybe you've not made yet. I hope some of this helps!
I have done reverse outlines (and have now instantly adopted your term for it). I'm not too consistent with it, though. Sometimes I just list the topic sentences and that helps with reorganization. Citations, yow. My U library offers the option of getting the full cite in a number of formats. Never thought of having the computer read my text (ew, ugh...but good idea). I might try the "bubbles" idea--a good way for me to see chunks and relationships. Interesting use of AI--haven't experimented with it. Your use of it looks helpful and honest. Thanks so much!
My retirement project (two efforts towards chapters have been published) is historical/political/legal. It is, of course, too big. In some ways each chapter has different conversations. Any advice there? PS....when I don't enjoy it, I'll stop. But, I would like to finish some version of it. My general strategy, to the degree I have one, is read on a treaty, break it into policy areas/eras. Then connect it to my loose theme on how treaties shape both domestic and international cultures. Then do a conference paper, maybe spend time converting it for an edited book. But I just far enough along to see multiple conversations. I'm sort of stuck on how far to go on those conversations. They actually need to "converse" among themselves in my proto-book. Not sure I'm clear here, but any advice would be welcome.
Hi Mary! I love all the complexity that you point out here in your work. There's a lot of moving pieces, and I could see how it's hard to know when to stop. I think it's especially hard when you're doing interdisciplinary work because that inevitably extends the amount of content you need to cover! Something you might try is to reverse-outline each of the pieces of writing you already have. I discuss this strategy here. https://www.publishnotperish.net/p/editing-tools-i-love You can then see the major points and ideas laid out in a different way. This could help you explicitly connect ideas or themes across different sections or chapters, highlighting points of intersection or divergence. Another strategy might be to put each of the major ideas from each piece of writing in bubbles with sub-bubbles on a whiteboard. You can then group and move things around to play with them and think about connections that maybe you've not made yet. I hope some of this helps!
I have done reverse outlines (and have now instantly adopted your term for it). I'm not too consistent with it, though. Sometimes I just list the topic sentences and that helps with reorganization. Citations, yow. My U library offers the option of getting the full cite in a number of formats. Never thought of having the computer read my text (ew, ugh...but good idea). I might try the "bubbles" idea--a good way for me to see chunks and relationships. Interesting use of AI--haven't experimented with it. Your use of it looks helpful and honest. Thanks so much!
Good luck!