"Bring to Life a Vision" - Adding to the Book

Last week, I mentioned that my thesis committee reviewed the first nine chapters of my book. Yesterday, I went through their edits and suggestions and thought about what I would keep in the final version.

A lot of the professors' points were really interesting. Because I am so close to the book, there are a lot of things I didn't consider. I plan to move on to chapter ten as soon as possible, but I might go back and address these questions once I finish the book:

1) What other artists, if any, had similarly risqué album covers during the 1980s?  Would it help to point to some of these to support how Prince's album covers were over-the-top even compared to peers/other rock stars?

2) Is it typical to have so many different bands work with a solo artist over the years?

3) As you discuss the release of different albums, and often refer to Prince's changes in different decades, would it be hard to tell us what is going on in the world for historical context?  

4) Was there more openness about men having feminine sides? Or can you point to the fact that Prince was ahead of his time here, and that it wouldn't be until later that the press and others would talk about these gender issues more openly?

I'm getting back in the habit of designating certain days of the week to work on my book. I'm looking forward to doing some more revising on Thursday.

"Teacher, Teacher, What You Say?" - Graduation!

I'm back! I forced myself to start blogging again, and I have good news: I'm graduating! I presented my nine chapters (approximately 300 pages) to my thesis committee at Ohio University back in February. I have been approved to receive my master's degree in journalism!

I should receive my diploma in the mail sometime this summer. I don't plan to walk in the ceremony; I live a few hours away and I'll just be happy to finally have my "piece of paper."

What's next? I have a lot more writing to do before I start sending query letters to agents and publishers. I've finished covering Prince's life from 1958 to 1988. I'd like to continue working until I reach 2004.

I would love to finish the book by December 2015, but deadlines are always changing (at least mine, anyway). Here are the tasks that I hope to complete during the next few weeks:

1) I'm going to organize the many drafts of the book, and determine which one I want to use going forward. I have made a lot of changes to meet the standards of my thesis committee. I probably won't keep all of those changes in the final version.

2) I'm going to revisit my "Interviews" spreadsheet. I need to identify the sources I'd like to pursue before I begin writing chapter ten.

3) I'm going to rewrite the end of chapter nine so that it is more of a transition to chapter ten rather than a conclusion for the book.

4) I'm going to (finally) start researching the Batman era.

My goal is to be back next week!