2,102 responses to “Open Thread – Tues 30 May 2023”

1. 

   Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare

   Jun 3, 2023 8:12 PM

   I’ve had research for a manuscript about Col. Warfe sitting around for years, waiting for me to magically get over a writer’s block type of issue.

   Muddy, I feel your pain. I have been sitting on research about the post-Roman writer Gildas, knowing that I have to say what I think about the misdating of his floruit and all that follows from that, but it is an incredibly complicated tale of datings, misdatings, and confusions over a document that is extremely confusing to start with in an historical situation that is fraught with differing opinions about what was going on.

   I decided a week ago that I was going to knock some shape into it, send it to Hairy’s barrister friend in England who knows this stuff and who wants to read it, and keep it to a length suitable for a publishable article, not a book chapter, which must come later. This makes me prune it to its essence. That’s a good discipline and I suggest you try to do that same. Keep it as though you are writing for the Cat audience and don’t get above them or talk down to them or become too simplistic for them. A tough call. Eight or quarto pages maximum, even less if your material can be readily condensed. You don’t have to get every little thing in, and beware over overwriting and also of repetition.

   Good luck and I hope you wish me the same.
2. 

   Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare

   Jun 3, 2023 8:15 PM

   Muddy, Hairy sometimes reads my stuff as an outside observer, the man on the Clapham Omnibus lol, and lets me know if it is not clear enough for him. Maybe Top Ender could do the same for you. It really helps.