I have been tied up completing my paper for delivery to the Armidale Historical Society on an exploration of New England's Aboriginal languages. I recorded my initial reactions on the visit in Return to country.
Upon my return I completed a full review of progress on my major project, the completion of a full history of New England. It left me quite depressed. I have made progress in the sense that I know major themes and patterns. I remain convinced of the value of the work, more so after the Armidale trip. Yet the sheer size of the writing task is quite daunting.
I keep a writer's log. I also write a lot via column and blog posts. One thing I became very conscious of as I reviewed past material is the extent to which I end up needing to repeat reading because I don't properly footnote my general writing or because I move away from a book onto a new topic of interest before recording everything I should from the book. This doesn't matter in a general sense. It does matter when it is material I should use in the history.
As I so often do, I re-organised material and attempted to set some new targets for myself. A key aim is simply to get better value from my writing time. We shall see.
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