more Composition of Philosophy

Total elapsed writing time: 78 hours, 16 minutes.

All right, I finally have the difficult Section 4D in good enough condition for the translator. That means that everything in the book is now ready for translation, with the exception of:

*Ten diagrams. Given my ineptitude with graphics, this could eat up a couple of hours even though the diagrams are simple.

*Chapter 10, which I didn’t want to start writing until I knew how much space would be available for it. The answer is now known: approximately 2,845 words. That means it will be a punchy sort of quick summary (for the French readers) and also an alluring lead-in to the second half of the book (for the English readers). The discrepancy has to do with the fact that we decided not to bother applying for a matching grant to double the length of the French version. There have been enough paperwork delays even without applying for a second grant, and we all want this book out in summer 2010 if possible. So, the French version of the book will be only half the length of the English version. So it goes. The whole book was designed with that possibility in mind, right from the start.

I’m feeling happy that this project is starting to wind down. There are already too many others on my plate.

It is also quite possible that I’m headed for a change in policy on my work habits. In recent years, my rule has been say yes to pretty much everything”: every invitation for an article or lecture. There have been only a small number of exceptions due to schedule conflicts or other compelling factors.

After summer 2010, I’m possibly going to downshift the pace a bit, and focus on slower and higher-yield projects. That’s partly to avoid burnout, and partly because there are some really intriguing university tasks coming my way that I want to be able to perform in an excellent rather than half-hearted manner. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’ve been given, to help shape research policy for an emerging regional powerhouse. Only once in awhile do universities go into heavy growth mode like this one (it’s already a different place from a year ago), and in few other cases will geography and history also combine to make a university’s mission this important.