Well two weeks ago I went on a vacation, sort of. It was supposed to be a wonderful vacation in the Berkshires with music, dance, relaxation and only a little book writing. The Berkshires are in western Massachusetts and the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tangelwood. I used to go there all the time when my girl friend had her house up there. This time I invited to share my girl friends time share along with several others of her friends. We had tickets to a lot of concerts and there is going to be time for me to edit what I had written and send it off to my personal editors. At least that was the grand plan. It started off OK even though we had a two hour delay driving up due to traffic and construction in New Jersey. We got to Tangelwood in time for the preview concert, followed by a picnic dinner supplied by our overnight host and hostess. We were staying overnight, the first night at the home of one of my friends because we could not get into the time share until Saturday. Moving into the time share was ok as were the concerts at Tangelwood. Sunday night was a concert by Audra McDonald which was great.
Then came Monday. I went for a swim and came back for breakfast. My girlfriend took a walk in the woods and then decided to go for a swim in the outdoor pool, (I went in the indoor pool that opens at 8, and the outdoor pool opens at 10 AM. My friend was in a hurry because she had to leave for a meeting another part of Mass and I was going to meet with a chemist friend of mine who lives in the Berkshires. She was rushing to the pool and did not see the glass door, she thought it was open and ran into it. She fell and fractured her wrist which we found out after six hours in the ER. So that shot Monday.
The rest of the week was spent nursing her with the help of the other women that came.
But having said that, I did get some things done on the book. I took two afternoons when I sat in my "t office" on the balcony of the time share. I edited what I had written so now I have the second draft of some of writings about the women. I sent it off to a personal editor and she is looking at it. Editing is a great process, especially when you edit more than one segment of the book. You get to see the big picture and make connections between the women. It will help me write the overview chapter, but this blog is helping me do that. I did get to get away to visit with my friend in the Berkshires. I also got to take the car to see the Rockwell museum in Stockbridge Mass and wonder at the scenery.
It was about this time that my editor told me if I want a book launch in August 2011 he needs to see the book in early December not late December as I had planned. So when I came back home I started to speed up my writing. I set a new time table to finish writing in September do the back stuff in October and finally putting together and editing in November. Therefore I can't let life get in the way of my writing. That is easier said than done. I got two days of writing done last week. Hopefully next week will be better.
I take the book with me wherever I go as now I am on route to a ScienceMakers board meeting in Chicago by train. I brought the information about one woman with me to write about during the break times and on the train.
Here are some observations about the book:
- Research can now be done by Google as well as going to the library. With Googling you need to have patience because I found some good information after 25 pages. Maybe I did not ask the right questions. You can also find some of their research in Google Scholar.
- I am very much indebted to Dr. Winni Warren who wrote Black Women Scientists in America. Although I started my research long before she did, she was meticulous in her research and I check her references as well as the new ones I discover by googling. I have t told her this and she has encouraged me to write my book.
- Ebony magazine has portrayed the lives of many of the women in the book including a complete spread about a husband and wife couple who were scientists in Albuquerque New Mexico. I think Ebony was more interested in the fact that they were the Black middle class along with four others in the town at the time. The fact that they were scientists did not seem to interest them at the time.
- The University of Chicago was the university that many of the women went to for their Ph. D. research. It far out numbers the other institutions
- I will go through all of the women in the book and point out similar connections. Right now have three or more women born in 1926.
- I have also used genealogy in Ancestry .Com to find out more information about these women. I will tell that to Dr. Henry Lewis Gates Jr. who helped me get my publisher.
Well that's all for now.
Jeannette Brown
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