Learning to let go
It is one of those things I am not really good at, but I am seriously considering it today. I just received the reviews for my paper for Into the Blogosphere. I haven't even looked at them, but according to the editors the reviewers have been quite critical. I expected that, because I wrote a controversial article, one that does not sit well with the US tradition of academic writing, and also not with American understanding of culture. It is when I want to discuss subjects that I consider obvious that I realise how alien the United States culture really is, including the US academia (where we find most of the reviewers).

So, I have to rewrite the article. That's cool, I can do that. But they also ask me to expand it from 3000 to 6000 words, I have to do it in two weeks in the middle of the most stressful semester for years teachingwise (which of course is not the fault of the editors, just part of the usual screwed-up logic of the universe), and then, after I have actually written a whole new article, it may be accepted. So I will be going through the whole acceptance-or-not process over again. This time with an additional letter explaining how I address the comments of the reviewer, so I won't just be resubmitting the paper, I will also be submitting an application for publishing where I have to defend my choices for the rewrite.

I am really not sure it is worth it. Sure, I would like to participate. Sure, I like to publish. But I don't need to kill myself to do it. If I let this one go, I can use the topic somewhere else, revise at my leisure, and do a better job all around. That sounds very tempting. And it's a lesson in letting go which I need to learn. Lean back, watch the deadline flutter by, and look around for something else to do. We'll see what kind of learning experience this turns out to be.