What "done" means
Also, my first-ever Appalachian Studies Conference, where I met the squirrel in the cover photo and also all kinds of human folks
First of all, I apologize to paid subscribers for not getting nearly as many book updates as I thought I’d write when I turned on that option. It turns out there are only so many hours in a week, and most of mine are spoken for before the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. on Monday. Any time I had to write ended up being poured into the book or the free version of the Substack. Then there was the broken foot, then the sudden death of a dear friend, then the holidays followed by 8 million weeks of winter, then, then, then… The current “then” is minor but still uncomfortable hand surgery.
To be fair, there is actually not a lot to say about what it takes to complete a book. I mean there is…but it’s mostly butt-in-chair time, to quote Anne Lamott. That, and lots of paper. Also index cards, scissors, highlighters, and colored pens, because revising and editing often required literal re-visioning of both individual essays and the entire book.
