I am used to being the one conducting interviews, so I was anxious to see how my Author Q&A with Library Journal went. Check it out here.

Since we’re (somewhat) on the topic of writing, I read a great essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education. It discusses the process that results in published work, a process that, from the outside, may not appear as arduous and productive as it really is:

“What does it look like to do intellectual work? What does it look like to have an insight? To formulate a theory? To solve a philosophical problem? What does it take to get to the point at which you’re ready to sit down and write something, ready to present something to the world?

Experience tells me that sometimes it looks like playing Spider Solitaire. Or twirling one’s hair, talking to oneself, or sitting stock still and staring into space…

…We go through the motions that have led us, in the past, to cerebral success. We can no more force ourselves to make an intellectual breakthrough than we can will ourselves to sleep. All we can do is prepare the environment and perform the rituals associated with thinking.”

For anyone logging long hours doing work that isn’t always visible in conventional ways, be sure to read it. Or pass it on to the next person who asks you, “So what do you do all day?”

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So I’m a day late posting, but here’s hoping the expanded edition of the May Pain-Blog Carnival will give you some good weekend reading. The best posts of the month are featured, and new bloggers are always welcome to participate.