OK. Now it can be said. My publisher is Oxford University Press. I finally signed the contract after a lot of going back and forth with my editor and consultation with two lawyers and a lot of friends. There is a book which I finally got out of the library about Legal aspects that authors need to know. That is not the exact title but I am writing while on vacation and the book is home. Yes retirees go on vacation, especially this one who is now working for Oxford Press on this book.
But having said that, I took the book with me. I have a deadline which is now December 2010. You might think that is a lot of time, but remember that I am a new writer so it will take time for me to write and then edit what I write and then have personal editors edit what I write and etc etc etc.
I have found out that I fall in love with the lives of these women so I write a lot. In my book contract I have word limit and a page limit so I really need to edit to get it down to the bare facts for the book. But having said that, my editor and I agree there will be a longer web version so I can say all I want to say about these women. As much as I would like to, nothing will be posted on the web until Oxford obtains the copy write
OK. Yes Oxford will hold my copy write which is why I say I am working for them. That's OK it seems that Google (the host for this blog) is going out and posting books without permission, I believe and there was a settlement. Oxford feels they are in a better position to defend my copy write than I would be. That's OK with me as I am a new writer and I am being published by this prestigious publisher so I am happy.
More later. It is late at night and I need to get up early as I am leaving San Diego, where I am now for Arizona tomorrow.
Jeannette Brown
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Research - What I learned
When I started my research I just looked at the source, made a copy of it and took the information. I did not make a copy of the source of the material so I had to go back and find that again. I learn subsequent always to do that. For new material I will need permission if I do substantial quotes. I will have to site everything including my own work. Yes I have written published work, more about that later.
I just picked up a thesis that I received by inter library loan. That should not be remarkable but for this one it was. For most dissertations you can find them registered by Pro Quest at UMI Dissertation. A librarian tried that and could not find it and gave up. Meanwhile I was looking for that thesis because it proved that the woman who wrote it was a researcher as well as an educator. So after about two months I asked her about it and she said it was lost. So I went directly to the library that held the thesis to check on it and found out that it was available for inter-library loan and was not registered at Pro Quest. I spoke to the inter library loan librarian about this and gave all this information to my public library librarian. About 4 weeks later the thesis arrived along with a processing fee of $10.00 which I gladly paid.
I have retrieved other thesis of these women. Some in person. I walked in 90 degree heat from the bus stop to the library at the University of Chicago to retrieve two thesis of two of my women. I wondered as I walked if other historians wanted to visit the actual places where their subjects went to college or grad school. While at the University of Chicago I visited the chemistry department. No one was there, as it was summer except an African American woman who was working as a volunteer. I told her what I was doing and she was happy to know that the University of Chicago is where two of the women received their PhD's along with African American men. There is a story here that needs to be told.
That's all for now.
I just picked up a thesis that I received by inter library loan. That should not be remarkable but for this one it was. For most dissertations you can find them registered by Pro Quest at UMI Dissertation. A librarian tried that and could not find it and gave up. Meanwhile I was looking for that thesis because it proved that the woman who wrote it was a researcher as well as an educator. So after about two months I asked her about it and she said it was lost. So I went directly to the library that held the thesis to check on it and found out that it was available for inter-library loan and was not registered at Pro Quest. I spoke to the inter library loan librarian about this and gave all this information to my public library librarian. About 4 weeks later the thesis arrived along with a processing fee of $10.00 which I gladly paid.
I have retrieved other thesis of these women. Some in person. I walked in 90 degree heat from the bus stop to the library at the University of Chicago to retrieve two thesis of two of my women. I wondered as I walked if other historians wanted to visit the actual places where their subjects went to college or grad school. While at the University of Chicago I visited the chemistry department. No one was there, as it was summer except an African American woman who was working as a volunteer. I told her what I was doing and she was happy to know that the University of Chicago is where two of the women received their PhD's along with African American men. There is a story here that needs to be told.
That's all for now.
Friday, September 4, 2009
I become an author! ????
Well in order to go through this process, I guess I am going to need help. Also writers have to write, just as singers have to sing every day and other musicians have to practice every day so I decided to start this blog in addition to the two others I should be writing every day.
This blog will be just for the trials and tribulations of writing a book for a novice.
The first trial is looking at the contract. Until I sign the contract I will not reveal my publisher in case there is a last minute hitch, but some of you reading this will know as I told everyone. I just don't want to tell the rest of the world yet.
I have never seen a book contract before. It is 16 pages! It gives every detail of what the publisher wants me to do and what they will do. I am in the process of reading every line and I have two lawyers looking at it for me. I found out that I can revise some of it. I have a very supportive editor! In fact I really think he wants to publish this book which is good for me.
So this is the first post of this blog. I will take you through the gruesome details of book writing.
I am a researcher, a chemical researcher, but researching these women is very much the same. You look for them, find out about their lives and then ask questions and look deeper. I started this research about 40 years ago but I did not go as deeply into their lives as I am doing now. I just wanted to know why I was the only African American woman chemists that I knew. Then I met Dr. Marie Daly the first African American women to get a PhD in chemistry. Then I wanted to know where the other women were and why she was the first in 1947!
It has been fun going through this research and I am still researching, but at some time you have to stop and write it up. That is where I am now the stop and write it up part. This as I said before is the reason for this blog. I have to write.
You will see this is a stream of consciences but hopefully I will make some points and get better at it as I write.
That's all for now.
Jeannette
This blog will be just for the trials and tribulations of writing a book for a novice.
The first trial is looking at the contract. Until I sign the contract I will not reveal my publisher in case there is a last minute hitch, but some of you reading this will know as I told everyone. I just don't want to tell the rest of the world yet.
I have never seen a book contract before. It is 16 pages! It gives every detail of what the publisher wants me to do and what they will do. I am in the process of reading every line and I have two lawyers looking at it for me. I found out that I can revise some of it. I have a very supportive editor! In fact I really think he wants to publish this book which is good for me.
So this is the first post of this blog. I will take you through the gruesome details of book writing.
I am a researcher, a chemical researcher, but researching these women is very much the same. You look for them, find out about their lives and then ask questions and look deeper. I started this research about 40 years ago but I did not go as deeply into their lives as I am doing now. I just wanted to know why I was the only African American woman chemists that I knew. Then I met Dr. Marie Daly the first African American women to get a PhD in chemistry. Then I wanted to know where the other women were and why she was the first in 1947!
It has been fun going through this research and I am still researching, but at some time you have to stop and write it up. That is where I am now the stop and write it up part. This as I said before is the reason for this blog. I have to write.
You will see this is a stream of consciences but hopefully I will make some points and get better at it as I write.
That's all for now.
Jeannette
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