i hope you're resting quietly

if you haven't noticed from the last couple posts, i sometimes have a tendency to write a lot, here and elsewhere. though i much prefer brevity when possible (student papers for example), i also think that writing as much as possible, whenever possible, is the best way to improve writing. add to that list reading (and reading good writing), getting and giving feedback on writing, and a near-obsessive tendency to always be thinking. basically i have to play sports to keep from thinking sometimes, and sometimes music helps... and sometimes it distracts in an unfortunate way (i think music and sound harmonies/textures a lot, so that can be just as distracting).

i'm not the kind of person who has always wanted to be a writer, and has spent the last twenty years trying to make it happen. in fact, i'm not the kind of person who has wanted to be any certain kind of person, or do any certain job, for my entire life. i have a hard enough time sticking with something for a few years, and only since i found teaching have i been happy because i'm doing so many different things--i have new students, new classes, new books, new assignments, new everything every semester. i do enjoy some continuity of students (a major reason i prefer teaching at saint olaf to umn). even this semester when i am not teaching a course, i have a couple independent study projects where i'm working with students to develop and think through interesting new books. add to that the wetland work and the dissertation work, and even this "down semester" (teaching-wise) promises to be quite busy.

after a disappointing day yesterday, writing wise, i rebounded today and wrote quite a bit (close to 2,000 words). i finished the new draft of an introduction, and while i'm not terribly happy with it, it's better than the others i had written. even if it changes in content and form, the approach and framework will likely remain from now until it is published. it also gives me a short, and i think engaging, way to introduce my dissertation to people. in other words, i could see myself giving a presentation on the topic, and people would enjoy it pretty well.

surprisingly enough, i've likely mentioned, at least in passing, the various book projects i'd like to complete at some point in the next couple years (with the exception of #1, the most recent idea). i list them below, along with a short description. but obviously with all the other things i want to do, it's not going to go as fast as i might like, not to mention the necessity of revising any of these projects which takes more time than even the writing process. but here they are, and if you have any feedback on what ones to work on first and why (with the exception of #4, which will likely be the first one since it should emerge from my dissertation).

1. muddying the waters (brainstormed in early 2008): i've toyed with a bunch of different titles and ideas revolving around my family's relationship to our homeland, especially the two rivers area. and i think i've finally kind of settled on it. the good thing is that kathleen dean moore's the pine island paradox helped me figure out the metaphor or narrative for this book, but i also need to take some time to really think it through so that i'm not writing the same kind of stories/essays that someone else has already written, only better. i'd still have a local audience (friends, family, acquaintances), but i'd like it to extend beyond that. the other remaining question here is the extent to which my brother or father would write parts, or even most, of this book. i'd be fine with that--they're smart, but it would definitely make for a different book project than some others (maybe it could be a great point of interest). but i guess rephrasing this last question or concern, i don't want to write a book about this if they already have something planned. definitely not. so we'll see.

2. subpopculture (brainstormed in late 2004): this book is probably the furthest from completion as of now. my hope was to describe and offer clever insight into the people pop trends (what's cool) among the group of people i considered myself a part (my subculture), in much the same way that chuck klosterman did with his cultural buddies in fargo rock city. the other play on words was the subpop record label out of seattle, and their role in cohering a group of people who liked much of the same art, music, tv, movies, and books.

3. the great sodiak nation (brainstormed and started in summer 2007): this is probably the furthest along in development, since i have written a couple chapters and have a few others briefed out. basically it's the creative, narrative story of my life right now--living with the people i've lived with the last few years, doing the things i do, trying to find my way through the world with my various jobs, interests, activities, friends, and travels. the only thing that held this up (aside from being busy, but that's easy to overcome) is that when you're writing about what's currently happening, there's no real sense how any characters are going to change, what the penultimate experience is going to be, or the overall reason why someone would want to read the book (it's kind of the problem illustrated in will ferrell's stranger than fiction movie). so i've been toying with making up a fictional ending, or acting like something bigger and more unifying actually happens. on the other hand, it could be one of those books where nothing big really happens to unify and give closure to the plot. but for some reason, both these options seem somewhat cliche and cheap. instead i'd much prefer that something big did happen in my life. but i certainly can't force it.

4. the practical environmentalist (likely to emerge from dissertation, brainstormed in 2007): so this is likely the book that i'm working on in full force, and it's going to get done decently soon. i plan to have a draft by late july if not by late may. the remaining questions i have for this project revolve around who my audience will be, and whether to use this title (which i really like) for a book that will be quite scholarly. if the dissertation to book revision process makes it more engaging and interesting to everyday readers, then i'll be fine with this. otherwise, i may be calling it volume i (the scholarly approach), and will have to follow it with one or two more volumes that could appeal to a wider audience.

5. don't sweat on my stuff... and it's all my stuff (first brainstormed as a satire in 2002, secondary approach of cultural criticism started in spring 2007): i have included some of the second approach here (last spring/summer i think) along with an explanation of the title: how it came to me in a dream where i was on a book tour. this idea may reemerge next year if i teach a cultural studies and consumerism class. but otherwise, it's probably the second lowest on my list to complete right now.

so there's my list as they currently stand. whenever you publish something like this (even on a blog that nobody reads), it does make you a little cautious (or paranoid? take your pick) because you really want to write these books before someone else does, or before someone else writes something with the same title or something like that. it makes me want to copyright the title, or to do the next best thing in today's internet age, register the domain name. but i haven't yet. and maybe i should. what are your thoughts? are there particular books of these that you'd like to read, or some that you definitely wouldn't? any feedback is appreciated as always, as is your continued readership. i will try to remain committed to writing here for a while, but i just never know when i'm going to become incredibly busy next these days, so nothing's guaranteed. you can always set up an rss feed of the blog so that you don't have to check here unless i write something new. that might work...

this song is a good song, one that i've been playing on guitar and with my housemate some recently. i have listened to it regularly for the last six years, and enjoyed it for years before that even. and as i said in title of this post, i hope you're resting quietly. and i hope that you're okay. take care...

goodnight elisabeth by counting crows

i was wasted in the afternoon
waiting on a train
i woke up in pieces and elisabeth had disappeared again
well i wish you were inside of me
i hope that you're okay
i hope you're resting quietly
i just wanted to say

good, goodnight elisabeth,
goodnight elisabeth
goodnight elisabeth
goodnight

we couldn't all be cowboys
some of us are clowns
and some of us are dancers on the midway
we roam from town to town
i hope that everybody can find a little flame
me, i say my prayers
then i just light myself on fire
and i walk out on the wire once again
and i say

good, goodnight elisabeth,
goodnight elisabeth
goodnight elisabeth
goodnight

i will wait for you in baton rouge
i'll miss you down in new orleans
i'll wait for you while she slips in something comfortable
and i'll miss you when i'm slipping in between
if you wrap yourself in daffodils
i will wrap myself in pain
and if you're the queen of california
baby i am the king of the rain
and i say

good, goodnight elisabeth,
goodnight elisabeth
goodnight elisabeth
goodnight

the moon's a satellite yeah
now won't you fall down on me now
won't you fall down on me
come fall down on me now
wont you fall down on me
'till i'm all alone
you ain't coming home
you just settle down down down into bones
i said i'm all alone
you ain't coming home
you just settle down down down into bones