I’m researching something and needed to be online again. Noah is sitting with me reading a book about The Fantastic Four.
This is good. I’m getting a lot done. I finished the chapter outline today after spending yesterday wrestling with the format. It helps knowing that none of this is set in stone so then I’m not as afraid of putting it all out there. Because I’m not an expert in the field I’m writing about I also needed to get the names of people who I can interview to shore up some of the more technical parts of the book. I’m going to treat each chapter as shorter consumer articles with sidebars and textboxes both because people have shorter attention spans and like their information and chunks and because I have a short attention span and like to write this kind of information in chunks.
My mother-in-law asked me yesterday if I really WANT to write about infertility (she’s of the “it’s so negative” school of thought). I had to think about that. I don’t really want to write about infertility so much as I want to write about women who have gone through and are going through infertility. The parts about thawing blastocysts and IVF protocols aren’t going to be my favorite but the other parts about dealing with your annoying sister-in-law’s pregnancy announcement over the holidays or responding to criticism about the size of your family DOES interest me. That I can do.
Man, I’m tired. Ok, back to EBSCO.
I have two kids and a delightfully odd husband, Brett. My children are Noah (born to us in 1997) and Madison (born to her first mom, Pennie, in 2004 and brought to our family through a domestic, open adoption). They are my inspiration and also the reason I don't get more done around here.
I'm a writer and sometimes I get published, which is a nice thing. I write for joy, I write for money and when I'm very lucky, both things happen at the same time. My work appears in national publications including Yoga Journal, Disney's Family.com, Utne, Wondertime, Brain Child and Salon. Currently I am working on a book about my daughter's adoption and seeking representation for the proposal. I also own Smart Cookie Communications with my husband.
Linda
February 19th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Good luck with it! I think your plan to deal with information in manageable chunks is a good one — for the reader and the writer.
And, having gone through IVF and thawing blastocysts myself, I know it can be enough to make one’s head spin.
shannon
February 20th, 2006 at 12:23 am
Glad you want to write it, because I want to read it!