Fall 2015, the Sabbaticalization: Days Thirty through Thirty-Eight

There hasn't been much to report in the way of writing, as I've been reading again.

1) Reading: Two loooong novels, some articles, and finishing up Jon Mee's monograph.  One of the difficulties in any research project is that no matter how much you've read going in, you discover during the writing phase that...you've missed something.  Inconveniently enough, it tends to be something large.  In this case, I know a fair amount about the topic ("politeness" and conversation in the British Enlightenment), but I haven't had to actually pursue any research about it since working on Book One.  Over a decade ago.  Ergo, I'm now catching up with the scholarship.  (Scholarship! Stand still, would you?!)

2) Writing: Started fiddling around with one of the earlier chapters, mostly marking spaces where more needs to be done.

3) Miscellaneous: Worked on Conference Paper Proposal #3.  However, as Conference Paper Proposal #1 was accepted, I'm not doing any more with  #3 until I hear about Conference Paper Proposal #2.  My funding is the opposite of unlimited, after all; while Conference #1 is actually paying for everything except about half my airplane ticket (yay!), it's still the case that between registration, planes, hotels, cabs/shuttles, and eating something other than McD's for every meal, most conferences will wind up costing around $1K.  Conference #2 is taking place during the fiscal year, which is important, as I can request some additional grant money to fund the trip.  (The "life of the mind," far from taking place in pure ivory towers, has a habit of coming equipped with dollar signs, pragmatic considerations, and trade-offs.)  

Meanwhile, I have to come up with my course descriptions for next semester's classes.