Warning: Overwhelmed Historian at Work

Thanks for all the blogiversary wishes! The Scottish Emigration Blog and I appreciate them greatly.

It has been almost two years since I started thinking more about turning my dissertation on migration networks and identity (featuring Scotch Settlement) into a book, two months since I became tired of it not being done, and one month since I announced to the world that I was determined to finish it. In the past month my mind has been a tumult of activity trying to re-learn Microsoft Access, how to better analyze the networks, re-structuring my database, making my way through an enormous reading list, how to better connect the families to each other and to Scotland (e.g. genealogies), and how to re-write the thing so that people will actually buy it, read it, and enjoy it. No wonder, I'm feeling overwhelmed, mostly because I feel it all has to be done at once and I can't decide what to do first. Other than that, I'm having fun.

In the midst of this flurry of mental activity, it occurred to me many readers might be interested in a behind-the-scenes peak at the process simply because the subject is Scotch Settlement, others of you might be involved in your own research/writing projects and can commiserate, and yet others of you might share my academic interests in migration networks, identity, and Scotland during the long-eighteenth century.

The first planned installment in this behind-the-scenes series is set for Sunday the 24th. The subject? Writing.