A published author!
Well, sort of! If you go
http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/search and put in "Schuette" as a search term and set it to look for "Author," you'll see what I mean! The thesis has been "published"! People can buy a copy if they want! They did say that if the royalties amount to more than $10 (or was it more than $100?), they will send me a check! The exciting thing for me is that it should show up on people's searches now, and more people will see it. I got the print copies in the mail yesterday, and hopefully one of them will be in the library at UALR before too long! It is actually also available at the Butler Center for Arkansas studies at the Central Arkansas Library!
I did some transcribing on the German emigrant letters this week - actually on the introductory essay that came with them. I am able to set Word to German so that it quits telling me that all the words are misspelled, and set the keyboard to German so that I can do umlauts and other German stuff - it is good to be working on it.
Regarding David's health, we saw the oncologist yesterday and have begun to take specific steps to fight this thing, and that gives both of us a lighter feeling! We know there will be a lot of hard times ahead, but actually doing something is so helpful! Today I made a chart to keep up with his medicines, what he has to take and why and when. We will have one for each day - that will make it easier for him to keep up if I'm not here, and it will make it easier for others who might be here with him sometimes. Right now his friend Brad is visiting. I left them to talk on the front porch so I could come in and do stuff here - and I catch up a little on my "alone" time, something I need and won't be getting as much of as I am used to.
It has been a really pleasant day, cool enough that we have kept the house open and spent most of the day on the front porch - very nice!
Setting a Goal
It's already nearly 11:00 on Saturday morning. We've been out to Sonic for breakfast, ran a couple of errands (bought Guiness for a friend's birthday for one thing!) and took a drive to look at some of the locations talked about in The Boys on the Tracks. We are going to Brad and Jenny's in the afternoon- evening (He's the one with the birthday).
There is a lot that needs to be done, but I don't have a lot of push to get to work! However, I really feel the need to make forward progress on my emigrant letter project this weekend. The first step is to transcribe them into a Word document - Hopefully this weekend I can get the introductory essay and part of the first letter done - that's my goal, to get him as far as arriving in America, which is several pages into the letter. He wrote it as he went along during the ocean voyage and mailed it from New Orleans.
I also need to get some insurance paperwork sent off, so that is another goal. It's a strange time - kind of unfocused at the Encyclopedia office as everyone is trying to recover from the pressure of getting ready for launch (that worked to my advantage in being given some time off I needed without having to account for it). And that unfocused feeling is spilling over into the rest of my life.
Yesterday I got a rejection letter from one of the jobs I had applied for, one I had expected to at least get an interview for since I had worked for the organization before, even though I knew there were lots of people in the area who are more qualified for the job than I am. But I still have one application out - and I was told this week about a job that will open soon at the History Commission. The thing is that David being sick complicates the situation - not a particularly good time for me to be changing jobs. Well, we'll just have to see how it goes.
Now I'd better get to work on that goal!
It's okay to relax!
I tell myself that today - I am at work, it is the day after the official launch of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas (www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net), and these days are officially goof off days for the staff. I have about 25 pages left to read in The Boys on the Tracks, but I left it at home. I have some things to read for the Coleman Creek Greenway Committee I am on at UALR, and I will do that. Trying to find the balance between play and work here! Funny, because I sort of got my tail in a crack here a few times because of wandering on the Internet! But I don't have a specific project I am responsible for right now, so I don't have research to do, now that I have permission to do it!
David has had several tests, a set of them yesterday. We should get a call about them today and a referral to the oncologist to begin planning treatment. We have heard great things about Dr. Mendelsohn from several friends who have personal experience with him. We are getting great support from family and friends, and we are very grateful for that!
I have found connections to several people who are "historical research consultants," and I am investigating what their credentials are, what kind of work they do (or say they do), and what their websites are like. I am considering calling myself that, but I want to be sure first that I can do the things that people would ask me to do!
