#MLA2023 @UChicagoPress

1/12 Some ideas about revising a book, all of which I promise you know you know but will be happier if you face: 2/12 Your manuscript isn’t really done yet, but it’s filled with good things. Another round will make the shapes, the continuity, the colors in language all sharper, clearer.

How books begin and how they end. What’s research? When does the writing start? When is the writing done? A thread for writers, disentangled from Where Research Begins and On Revision. @UChicagoPress @tsmullaney 1/10 2. Research begins *before* you know your question--even before you realize that you’re "searching" for anything. Research questions emerge in dinnertime conversations (& disputes) w/ family, in bus ride daydreams, in the ache of reading headlines. 2/10

On revision: a thread about academic (and other kinds of) writing. “Writer’s block” may be a familiar problem. But once you’ve got something down, get to work on revising. “Reviser’s block” is just denial—you know it’s needed, so get started. But how? 1/8 @UChicagoPress Be sure you have an idea you can explain to others. Work to pare back whatever doesn’t help to make that idea clearer. Think of your idea as an almost living thing, needing to take your writing this way or that. Listen to its needs. Be open 2/8

1/10 Some notes on revising, especially for academics who write. @UChicagoPress

Revising is figuring out what you really think, or getting as close as you can. You may do it once or a dozen times. But you do it for the reader. Always for the reader. 2/10 Knowing that you need to revise is never a sign of failure. It’s what every writer does and knows. Good stuff gets cut b/c it’s not doing the work you want it to.