I love academia. I…

I love academia. I really do. There's nothing like the rush you get from a really in-depth intellectual discussion, especially one where you know you've read all the major work written on the subject, and so you're arguing from a thoroughly grounded perspective. You know what you're talking about. So do the people you're talking to. And you're still disagreeing...ah. If this kind of thing doesn't thrill you to your toes, you probably don't want a career in academia.

However.

Even if it does thrill you, even if you can't imagine anything more exciting than introducing freshmen to Shakespeare, or finding an obscure literary figure and becoming the world expert, or coming up with a new theory that shakes and shapes your field, or publishing a few books in your chosen area (detailed, substantive, solid) -- even if that's your dream, you still may not want a career in academia. Or at least in English, since I'm not sure that the experience of a math or physics Ph.D. is anything like the pitiful stories outlined here. Poor munchkins.

I'm not giving up the idea of getting a Ph.D., or possibly ending up a tenured professor somewhere. But boy, I'm glad I do other things too.

Speaking of those other things, it's definite now. I'm going to be consulting editor on the next Herotica anthology. I cannot tell you how psyched I am. The money is not so much -- they're a small press. But it's an anthology that sells very well, and it'll be very good for me to have my name on it. Not to mention that it'll be a blast to work on. Marcy Sheiner is the primary editor -- you may remember her from the radio interview we did together some months back for Herotica 6. I'll be helping write the call for subs, helping to propagate, serving as a second pair of eyes on the manuscripts, and possibly writing a short essay for the book. So much fun. :-)

There's a lot of other stuff in the works still; a possible audiobook, the water anthology, the partnership with Jane, the proposal I need to write for a Clean Sheets anthology... my emotional life has been kind of up and down recently; I've been feeling very stressed and moody and difficult. But at least work is progressing well.

The next few days will be nuts with preparing for WisCon, and then I'll be back for only two weeks before I go off to Salt Lake (and then two weeks later is Roshani's wedding in Chicago), so I expect this coming month to be exceedingly hectic. I still haven't found someone to sublet my room for the summer -- not a necessity, but would be very nice financially. Hopefully everything will get done in time. Yesterday I made up fliers and bookmarks for Clean Sheets to take to WisCon; today I did up the Clean Sheets newsletter for last week, and added the WisCon details to my site. I have a massive list of things to do tonight, but maybe I'll manage to squeeze in time for dinner with David. But right now, I really ought to get back to work...lunch is almost over.

Breathe, Mary Anne, breathe...

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