tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4998334814224356647.post6736453976663661294..comments2023-05-07T09:07:54.776-04:00Comments on Meshalim/Amthal/Exiemplos: Notes from the Life of a Medievalist: Rejection and Scholarly IdentityS.J. Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768230178276229294noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4998334814224356647.post-73084841747586379392013-01-17T16:23:11.300-05:002013-01-17T16:23:11.300-05:00I'm not sure. My original Plan B had been to d...I'm not sure. My original Plan B had been to do just that (I even had the second-choice journal all picked out) but given that I don't disagree with the criticisms, it's not just a question of submitting something that I think is good to a journal that's more likely to accept it. I sent it in knowing that maybe readers would think that it was just good enough, but certainly no more than that. So it's more a question of whether I'd be embarrassed to have it in print given that I'd imagine that the reaction of readership would be not dissimilar to the reaction of the reviewers (or, in the worst case scenario that's presenting itself to my mind, that the reviewers would somehow end up being outside reviewers for my tenure case, see that article there, and trash the rest of the body of my work on that basis).S.J. Pearcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768230178276229294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4998334814224356647.post-34297056057384405512013-01-16T23:32:11.731-05:002013-01-16T23:32:11.731-05:00Does it really need all that revision? Could you ...Does it really need all that revision? Could you send it as-is to a lower-tier journal?Dame Eleanor Hullhttp://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4998334814224356647.post-88910823625774017272013-01-16T23:11:27.678-05:002013-01-16T23:11:27.678-05:00Sorry to hear about your rejection, C!
And thanks...Sorry to hear about your rejection, C!<br /><br />And thanks, too, for the kind words of encouragement. Unfortunately, revisions for this won't be easy and aren't the kind of thing I can do just as a break from more intensive work — really what it needs is a serious amount of Latin paleography. It's funny — Hebrew and Arabic MSS at this point I could probably look at as a break or a reward, but Latin ones still require a different kind of focus and mentally gearing up. The emotional baggage, too, is actually more complicated than I let on here and isn't unconnected to to the identity questions I raised. So, yeah. These are revisions that I fear are just not going to happen.<br /><br />One possibility I'm looking into is actually paring the thing down so that it's just an idea, the broad strokes of an argument and directions for future study, and then sending it to a journal that accepts "short note" type pieces. That might be one way to go.<br /><br />In the end, though, you're right. We're allowed to do what we want such a huge percentage of the time that even with disappointments here and there, there's absolutely nothing to complain about!S.J. Pearcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768230178276229294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4998334814224356647.post-67470346465764133222013-01-16T01:41:03.302-05:002013-01-16T01:41:03.302-05:00I got a rejection today too!
I had a similar ex...I got a rejection today too! <br /><br />I had a similar experience last year. I didn't want to be bothered with revising an article that started out as a grad school paper; it felt like an enormous undertaking for something that was only tangentially related to my main project and the scholarly identity wanted to build. I followed the momentum of my other project, but when I needed a break, I looked at the article again and knew what to do (I have a friend who calls this Seeing the Matrix). The revisions came easily and the article was accepted. This paper also had a lot of emotional baggage; its publication was cathartic.<br /><br />One's scholarly identity is a continual work in progress. You don't have to give up one thing to be another. You can be both. Maybe at the same time, maybe not. On rejection days I have to remind myself to enjoy the freedoms this career gives us, especially when we give up so much.<br /><br />Best of luck,<br />C.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com