Taking the Good with the Bad

I'm completely out of sorts. I'm tired because I went to bed too late to get up as early as I did this morning. But I'm wired because I'm worried about Granny and I still (somehow) feel the urge to finish this chapter. How messed up is that.

My Granny is having surgery this afternoon--time unknown. She broke a bone in her thigh--the same side on which she had a hip replacement years ago and never regained full use of. It's good that she still has her strong side entact, but its rough knowing she's going into surgery at age 80 on a leg that is already vulnerable.

In the face of all this, I needed some good news from CoChair #1--we had a productive phone meeting and she took me through all four of the drafts. Almost all her comments were just typos--she praised the cleanliness of the drafts and without knowing it, she paid me the highest compliment that she could have--she told me they read together as a story. That's always my number one goal--to make scholarship readable over just being "scholarly." Call me crazy but I'd rather 50% of the population be able to read and learn from my work, over the 0.02% of scholars who might actually read me and cite me. I understand the game, and I will make sure my work is publishable in the "right" places--but that's a means to a greater end for me. So I'm glad she enjoyed just reading my work--especially since it's so long already. CoChair #1 of course is the "nicer" of my two chairs--both are nice people but CoChair #2 has the meaner red pen so to speak. Generally CoChair #2 gives me that strong eye for the field and how my work fits (and doesn't fit) into our discipline. But CoChair #1 gave me some great insights today on what I should be doing in my overall conclusion--she offered some of the themes she saw and gave me great direction. She indicated that a lot of the ideas she has about the project now were shaped by reading all the drafts together. So I feel encouraged knowing that the pieces are working together--but I look forward to getting the whole thing drafted so I can see for myself.

I'll take whatever good news I can get today