Day 209: Disrupting Myself!

Photo by hosein solimani on Unsplash

To tell the truth, I’d been avoiding the project.

Over a year ago, a journal asked me to write a review of several books, and I agreed. As I read and wrote, however, I struggled. I saw merit in each of the books, but each lacked something — something outside the field in which the authors were working.

Can you critique a dog for not purring, or a cat for not heeling? In the end, I tried a sort of Solomonic approach. I don’t know if the approach succeeded.

The journal (or their peer reviewer) delayed for months in getting back to me. Although the peer review sounded conflicted, the editors showed strong interest in the piece (perhaps edited for length).

I agreed to make edits— and then delayed. And delayed. Perhaps, with more time and perspective, I could find a solution to the methodological dilemma? I delayed some more.

Learning to Press ‘Publish’

In the meantime. I wrote this daily blog on my work as a law professor in a time of change and a Substack newsletter, How We Got Here, on the stories behind our immigration laws.

As I described months ago on this blog, I started this project (both projects, really) in part to get over my desire to ‘hide’ during the gestation of ideas. In the 20th century, that was how things were done. In the 21st century, it isn’t.

The journal article, however, languished while other urgent projects took precedence. In the meantime, I developed a new muscle — the one that hits ‘PUBLISH’ every day.

disrupting myself

Today, the editors of the journal emailed me about the piece, still interested. I agreed to polish up any final changes and send it along next week.

Will my essay/review succeed in its goals? Readers will judge — and I’m comfortable with that. I’m fine with hitting PUBLISH. I guess I can say that 365 Days of Disruption has worked to disrupt one of my old ways of doing business!