Hello, everyone! It’s been months since I’ve posted on this blog, though I’ve been active on social media—admittedly more with my personal accounts than with the blog’s Twitter and Facebook—to announce excellent news about the book: One month ago, I signed a contract with Clemson University Press for them to publish my book based on this blog. The book is another step toward becoming real!
Of course, there are still plenty of steps between here and the published book. For example, we haven’t completely settled on the title. The contract refers to the book as Riotous Rites and Other Lies about Classical Music—for now. I also have about twenty-five chapters of content to write, as well as a conclusion.
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I’ve also had unavoidable delays: chemo side effects, my son being home all day during summer break, etc.
Whisper (the cat) has been an outstanding writing assistant, aside from behaving like I'm his assistant
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My Writing Process: Last week I worked on the introduction and the first chapter, writing and revising the intro to the point I felt secure enough to show it to friends for feedback. Now that I have their suggestions, I’m revising the intro again before I send it to my managing editor for her comments.
I’ve found I work best when I receive feedback early in my writing process because it helps me adjust my tone before drafting the rest of the book. I'll continue asking for comments and suggestions as I go, this time focusing on scholars who are experts (or have at least shown an interest) in the topic at hand. Once I complete writing the whole book, chapter by chapter, I’ll return to the introduction and revise it according to what the book really does instead of what I thought I wanted it to do.
For this early round of feedback, I purposely asked more non-music scholar friends than fellow musicologists because I consider Riotous Rites a trade book as well as a scholarly one. I don’t know whether you, reader, consider yourself a music scholar or not; in any case, I’m grateful you've come to my blog and read this far into my rambling personal post. Thank you.
I invite all of you to buy the book—or request it from a library—in spring/summer 2021.
Too Long, Didn’t Read: I signed a contract with a Clemson University Press for a book based on this blog. Writing has gone well so far, so I am aiming for a deadline that would put it on the shelves mid-2021.
Like what you’ve read?
Nice!! It would be a pleasure if you checked out my blog and helped me with some great and helpful tips.
ReplyDeleteAnu Malik