The quick and the deadline
Well, I did get may paper for Museums and the Web 2007 in on time - right on the deadline 30th January, though I had calculated that since it was being submitted to somewhere in Toronto I would theoretically have until 5am on the 31st… and at times it seemed like I might need the extra five hours. I’m not sure what it is about deadlines, but I often seem to need the threat of their imminence not only to get going, but actually to work well. This is a worrying character trait, but hey, at least I’m good under pressure. Just as well as I also had a grant application to be written up and in on the 31st (for a new post - fingers crossed).
The strange thing about writing this paper was that when I first sat down to work on it, not having done anything like this for - well, let’s just say a long time - I wondered how on Earth I could write 5,000 words. After all most of the writing I’ve done since university has been about keeping things short - the 150 word exhibition panel, the thirty word (if that) object label, or the short article for a magazine (even the professional ones don’t want too many words).
That however was several weeks ago. When I went back to my research and actually began writing I’d forgotten what the word limit was, and didn’t check back on the mw2007 site. I just sat and wrote. It was actually pretty easy because I knew what I was talking about and what I wanted to say. By the time I got round to doing a word count I was at 7,500 words, and I hadn’t finished. Oooops. So the last couple of days were a severe pruning job - a lot of stuff about other countries disappeared at this point, and I had to tighten up what remained. I think (though who am I to judge?) that this actually improved the paper a lot. We shall see. Now I have to work on my presentation.
I wonder if my jokes will travel?