Best-laid plans, and all that.

I haven’t made too many blog posts recently. I used to post a lot more. About the writing process and about what I read in my spare time and about all the things that get in the way of [...]

Why can’t I remember this?

And the edits continue… I wrote, “In a fierce, epically bloody battle, the Korean soldiers surrounded and decimated the Chinese troops.” My editor writes, “Decimated, as [...]

My favorite editorial notation so far

I’m trying to get the History of the Medieval World into final shape by the end of February; my editor at Norton has been sending MS back to me in chunks with his notes, and I’m going [...]

New phase, new schedule, tired writer

I’ve finally faced up the reality of my History of the Medieval World deadline, May 1. Which means I’ve now admitted that there’s very little chance I’m going to have a [...]

Got a title suggestion?

The contract from Princeton University Press has been negotiated, issued, signed, and returned. So now I have a question for you: what should the book be called? Important details: The book [...]

The Art of the Public Grovel

News on the book front! The editorial board of Anonymous Prestigious University Press has approved publication of my academic study of public confession. Which means that I am now going to unmask [...]

Delays, delays…and academic publishing

On various fronts, it has been a bothering sort of week. Those of you who are VERY alert may notice that the publication date on the History of the Ancient World has changed, on the various [...]

It’s baa-aaack.

Here it is. The edited manuscript, waiting for me to go through every page. By February 4. That’s my table of contents, pinned on the board to the left, for my reference. And taped up in [...]