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1. Update on Josh's health: blood work, X-Rays, and ultrasounds show no abnormalities, so the major horrific stuff like cancer seems off the table. He has a appt with an allergist on the 17th to explore the possibility of a food or other allergy. He started feeling really bad last night and is still feeling bad so he called and got them to refer him to a gastroenterologist (which is what I wanted him to do in the first place during his Friday follow-up), so hopefully he'll be able to get an appt soon. I have no idea what's going on, but I wonder if it's some form of IBS or colitis or even Crohn's. I also think it would the most bizarre coincidence ever but I want him to get tested for celiac as well. So hopefully we'll figure out what's going on soon and move from the debilitating and inexplicable pain portion to the treatment portion.
2. Don't forget to check out![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
journalsandplanners and possibly do some signal boosting if you are so inclined. Thanks to those who have so far. :)
3. I am almost done with Jane Eyre (which I've only read once before this and that was last year; someone revoke my Ph.D. in Victorian lit LOL) and with Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins. Reviews of both forthcoming. I will then start Wide Sargasso Sea which I've never read. I'm still on track with my Goodreads challenge.
4. I talked briefly about fandom with my senior class (without revealing that I participate or sharing any of that kind of information with them but, I fear, probably talked about it knowledgeably enough that they realize I'm at least fandom adjacent LOL), and one of them mentioned Wattpadd as one of their primary platforms. Anybody know about what that is? She seemed to think it was going to help her become a published author which pinged me as probably not likely, but IDK.
5. Tell me something! Ask me something! Gotham and Lucifer both are on hiatus (which is bullshit; hiatus is over Christmas and then the show starts back and continues until May; it is known), so I'm free this evening.
2. Don't forget to check out
journalsandplanners and possibly do some signal boosting if you are so inclined. Thanks to those who have so far. :)3. I am almost done with Jane Eyre (which I've only read once before this and that was last year; someone revoke my Ph.D. in Victorian lit LOL) and with Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins. Reviews of both forthcoming. I will then start Wide Sargasso Sea which I've never read. I'm still on track with my Goodreads challenge.
4. I talked briefly about fandom with my senior class (without revealing that I participate or sharing any of that kind of information with them but, I fear, probably talked about it knowledgeably enough that they realize I'm at least fandom adjacent LOL), and one of them mentioned Wattpadd as one of their primary platforms. Anybody know about what that is? She seemed to think it was going to help her become a published author which pinged me as probably not likely, but IDK.
5. Tell me something! Ask me something! Gotham and Lucifer both are on hiatus (which is bullshit; hiatus is over Christmas and then the show starts back and continues until May; it is known), so I'm free this evening.
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Also, some YA authors use the site to post side stories to their running series. I know Marissa Meyer has at least one.
From what I gather, the site is not organized in a way that makes sense to order fans-- Browsing by fandom is reportedly not possible, for example.
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I'm always astonished when I remember how much bigger fandom is than my little niche. I'd never even heard of that platform until now.
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They post transcripts, and that transcript is linked from the page above. The episode is an hour and six minutes, so the transcript may be easier in terms of finding the pertinent bits.
There's also a link there to the guest's writing on Wattpad.
One impression I've gotten about Wattpad from (limited) discussion with my niece is that there's a real lack of history there. It's a place where tweens and teens can think they're the first ones to, for example, think of writing a Star Wars fic in which Anakin doesn't fall.
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I am embarrassed when I go back and look at the first year of my journal and what little sense I had of that history. LOL
Thank you for the link!
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The modus operandi seems to be to post very little, but post it often: like writing fiction on Twitter. The site itself encourages this--the point is to gain followers and reviews (even more than in 'our' fandom--there, the site itself gears towards that and encourages it).
I think I heard that Margaret Atwood was involved at some point? I forget the details.
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It's free as far as I know, but there are ads. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "get more followers by paying just $X!" once you get bigger, but that's speculation.
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I'm going to ask this girl about Wattpad next class period and how she uses it. Will report back!
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He got a gastro appt too, also the 17th. So hopefully answers soon.
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Yeah, can't blame you. Get him checked out! The world is a crazy place -- beyond the US political hellscape, I mean.
Man, there is so little modern medicine knows. I'm not saying I want to live in earlier times; I'm thinking I'd rather live in LATER times when they have finally figured out all this crazy autoimmune shit in particular. (I read a NYT article about a guy who almost died, recovered a little, went on to study his own disease, and finally figured out some things because he himself kept pushing for it...and I thought about me falling so sick in 2012/13, with similar symptoms to that guy, and doctors never finding the culprit and just shrugging after discounting cancer, AIDS, and a number of other big infectious diseases.)
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I'm wish you. I'm ready for Star Trek medicine please.
In this whole journey of figuring out what's wrong with me, the worst part has been when I didn't know what was wrong and nobody could tell me, and I half thought I was just crazy and *nothing* was wrong with me. I'm so sorry they weren't able to figure out what was going on with you.
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But it does mean that kids have a hard time in school. There are GF summer camps in some places. My friend whose entire family has celiac keeps GF cupcakes in her freezer and pulls one out every time any of her kids are invited to a birthday party.
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There's a fascinating roundtable at comicCon a few years back with the Wattpad dude and Jenkins. I've heard people say he's a good guy, but I'm kneejerking at the dude making money off fangirls. throws up hands :)
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Does Wattpad cost money to use?
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So ironically, of course, I am super-well-read in Victorian, but am doing all my current work in writing studies, quantitative research, and science fiction, all of which make me feel like I know next to nothing . . . and I am recataloguing my criticism and theory books on Librarything as I gradually shift them over to my vast bookcases in my lovely new office, and feeling like I am intellectually completely scattershot . . .
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I hear you about being intellectually scattershot. For the first half of my job here, I was feverishly finishing my degree: passing two comps and writing the diss. And then for the last half, I didn't really do any new scholarship--because I was burnt out after writing the diss and because at that point, we weren't a university and didn't really have a mandate to publish. Of course, that has changed now that we've consolidated and become a university and if I ever want to get full professor, I'll have to publish. But then, it wasn't really necessary; I did lots of conference presentations and lots of service to the college and that was enough. I also was only teaching comp and world lit for like seven years. LOL I mean, how much research do you really need to do to teach those classes? So now that I'm teaching this senior level class, I'm doing all this research and I find something interesting here and go down this rabbit hole to read, and while I feel as if I am busier than I have been since defending my dissertation, I also feel more passionate and excited and interested in my job than I have in a long time. So yay!
What are you working on right now for science fiction?
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I don't have a book because all those years of adjuncting barely let me get articles out (though I managed), and since I'm now non-TT, I don't need one, but I'm hoping to find my way to a project in the next year or two just because I want to have that experience. My research partner and I came up with the term "self-exploitation" to explain why academics make more work for themselves than they need to.
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I was doubly lucky that in the 8 years I've been here, we've level changed twice, first to state college and then to university. I would never be hired even now by a four year research institution because I haven't published enough (even though the rest of my CV is kinda amazing in terms of service to the college, etc, and no jr faculty at a top-tier 4 year research institution could match what I was doing even in my first year because jr faculty at those kind of institutions don't get to be on faculty senate or chair college wide committees).
I can say that the hardest thing I've done is teaching 17-19 hours a semester, chairing several committees, serving on several others, and doing all the dissertation stuff at the same time. There's a reason you're supposed to do all that *before* you get a full time job. Fortunately now, I only have to teach 12 hours a semester, 15 if I get an overload, but that's always my choice.
I want to do a book, too, and my dissertation is the obvious choice to mine. It's even an author who really hasn't been written about much. I just don't know what to do to get the ball rolling. Starting has always been my problem. Once I figured out what I was writing about for my diss, the writing went quickly. But not knowing what to write about was paralyzing. Same thing with this. I don't know who to approach or how to get the process started. Once I get that figured out, I think I can manage.
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2. Imagine you are somebody else.
3. If you were reading the diss as a published book, what would you expect to find there?
4. Is that stuff there?
5. If not, what do you need to add?
6. Is the diss organized in a way that assists a reader who is a scholar or researcher but not, y'know, a Ph.D. committee?
7. If not, what has to be done about that?
8. Anything that got left out for lack of time or because it didn't quite fit under the existing structure?
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I'm not so much worried about that part of it. It's the who do I contact to see if they want it and how do I go about that part that's paralyzing to me.
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But yeah, I couldn't fact working at it anymore and ended up publishing the two chapters I liked best as articles.
I'd imagine the market is wide open for Ouida, though.
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I tried so hard to get a job in my home state; there just wasn't anything. I applied for jobs all over and ended up getting two offers in GA.
The market is wide open which is why I need to go ahead and stop procrastinating and using shit in my personal life to give me an excuse not to go forward.