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So I just sent off my latest Parnassus piece to be typeset, after going over the editors' edits – maybe 200-250 of those little Word bubbles over 25 pages. And it's not like my prose is so bloody hopeless in the first place, it's just like that at a place where they really edit. Everyone ought to do some writing for real, dedicated editors sometime; it does wonders for your prose, your argumentation, the clarity of your thought. Most academic editors don't really edit: they just select, & then touch up around the corners after they've accepted something.

Busy week so far – a thesis defence yesterday, then going out for drinks with a departed & much-missed pair of colleagues; Thursday's Beckett seminar tackles Endgame & Adorno on Endgame – some fun! – & then there's a student club reading Friday at which I've been invited to read, & at which I might or might not be able to read. Plus lots of house-related busyness.

But Parnassus is out of the way, at least until the next deadline heaves into the 2-month visibility zone. So I can buckle down to my next essay project. I've decided to be very Mayhewian (Mayhevian?) about this from now on: strict word counts, at least 500 words per diem, crap or otherwise. I've been a very lazy wastrel all these years, & it's time to make something of myself.