I promised myself that I’d use this blog to chart my progress on the book project…and then promptly forgot! Not that I haven’t made some efforts in the right direction.

I finished reading William Germano’s excellent (and recommended) From Dissertation to Book  (University of Chicago Press, 2005). It has given me some reassurance that the ‘proto-book’ form in which I wrote my thesis means that the process of conversion should be fairly straight forward. I’ve carved up the script into book chapters and farmed out a couple of the most polished to a friend to check for clarity, structure, etc.

I’ve started to draw up a list of images that I would like to use, permissions/fees permitting. Unfortunately this has turned out to be a much bigger task than I had envisioned and I’ve missed the deadline for the AAH funding I had my eye on…but I can reapply in September, so all is not lost.

I still haven’t found my file of consent forms – must locate that ASAP, nor gathered together my post-thesis-submission notes, though I’ve bought a new lever-arch file to put them in (new stationery is one of the best things about projects!). I’ve started to draw up a list of reading I must to do in order to update the manuscript – mostly texts published since I finished my PhD. Thanks to the anonymous reviewer of my book proposal (I think I’ve narrowed their identity down to two individuals!), I’ve tracked down an exhibition of Mao badges that I previously had no knowledge of. My line manager (and internal PhD examiner) has also been giving me much appreciated pep talks. I CAN DO THIS, DAMMIT!!

So, apart finishing, finding, getting on with all the above, my next tasks include i) sending out more chapters for review; ii) starting the frightening process of revision. The latter is proofing to be quite a hurdle to surmount. Perhaps I’ll bite the bullet tomorrow?