There was rain. I'm almost done with 19 and 20 and I'm finally entering what I consider the middle part of the story.

Barb, sj, thanks for the encouragement.

I write about disability from a social perspective, essentially. I've mostly written vaguely funny and observational stuff, e.g. for the BBC's disability website, in the past. Now I'm trying to make a shift to serious writing. My dissertation is about a particular section of the National Health Service and what their training on disability involves. I hope to turn parts of that into an academic paper soon.

The book, though, has been my dream for years, and I'm actually moving towards writing it now, which is exciting. There has been very little written (or considered) on disability and the Christian Church in this country - or, indeed, in any other, but the UK will be my focus. As a liberal Christian involved in the inclusion movement in churches, this has been frustrating for me. I want to collect disabled church-goers' experiences of disability, faith and the responses of their church communities. There's a small tradition of sociological research informing popular-ish writing on new ideas that affect Christians, so there might be something of a market for my book. Especially given how little is written on the subject at the moment, and how many disabled Christians aren't having their stories told.

I work from an emancipatory research approach, with the aim that the stories and experiences of the participants are allowed to be much more than just academic fodder. I'll probably need to write an academic paper on the subject too, but I hope to be working towards the book from the beginning. So as soon as I've gathered together some participants - the task I'm currently working on - and got a sense of where they'd like this project to go, I'll try approaching publishers. I don't know whether I'll need sample chapters or just a proposal. I'll have to see how far I've got by that point, I think.

It's scary! I'm doing something that most people don't attempt without a Ph.D. But, given that it's my dream, and I have the time right now (for various complex reasons), I'm going to try it.

Only if it rhymes or if you are creating a non-fiction musical.

Don't give me ideas. (I might actually try, and entirely fail to hand in the dissertation, and The Girl would suspend my TV privileges for ever.)

I work from an emancipatory research approach, with the aim that the stories and experiences of the participants are allowed to be much more than just academic fodder.

Mind you, I don't know a thing about non-fiction writing and certainly not how it flies in the UK, but I suspect that what makes non-fiction most approachable to the "common man" as it were, is this very type of anecdotal approach. It's what makes books like Eat, Pray, Love and Marley & Me so affecting-- it touches something common in everyone who reads it.

As far as what you'd need for a proposal, again, I don't know about the UK, but in this country, a non-fiction proposal consists of a full table of contents, a few sample chapters, and perhaps most importantly, having a platform from which to promote the book, which, of course, you have in spades.

This sounds super exciting, Seska, and I'm jazzed to see how it develops.

I suspect that what makes non-fiction most approachable to the "common man" as it were, is this very type of anecdotal approach.

Definitely. My father's book (which was published earlier this year) about his life as a deaf person with a hearing dog is selling fairly well for just that reason. People are interested in other people's stories. I want to make sure that some of those stories get told. I think that could work out quite well!

Thanks for the advice on the proposal. I think you're right, that submitting sample chapters as part of it is a good idea. I need to talk to my friends who are about to complete a book for a similar market, regarding what they sent to their publishers and what seemed to catch the publisher's interest.

Seska, I think it sounds like a very exciting project and would be happy to read stuff for you.

I'm plowing ahead. I'm currently in chapter 21 which is about a third of the way through the rough draft. That's not bad for hitting my word count goal. Chapter 21 and 22 should cover chapter 9 of the rough draft and the small remains of chapter 10. I'm looking forward to getting to chapters 11-18 in the rough draft and I've cut most of chapter 10 so very close.

Drabble theme in honor of people who have today off: holiday.

Unrelated to drabbles... how long do you keep beginnings that you haven't used, partially written drafts, and things like that? How long is too long to think "Hey, I might use this."

Still in 21, I was hoping the heist that happens could simply be tweaked from the rough draft, but I don't think that will work. It turns out there is a problematic aspect that will have to be changed.

I'm back into a low confidence swing. I'm hoping that the second revision can make a big improvement. The first revision is worlds better than the rough draft so far, maybe the next revision can make a similar leap.

Got a bit more of 21 done, but I spent most of my time banging out the critique on my plate. I'm not really into the story I'm critiquing, but I don't think it's bad, just not my thing. I've decided to not criticize the sheer number of POV characters, I think that's just her style, even if it frustrates me. Or maybe I should mention it, if more than one reader mentions it, then maybe it's not just me. I'm not sure, I don't want to be critical about things that are just personal preference.

I thought 21 would be a walk in the park--not literally, it takes place mostly underground--but not the case. I realized on the way to work I need to go back and fix a couple of things in what I've already done. I forgot to have Aimee ask who this Rainier guy is and Holly is supposed to be all hyped up in the first part. Two steps forward, one step back.