Wow Laura so much good stuff here. "The uterus is the only organ that does not belong to the person it is in. It belongs to the state." Maybe I'm just fresher in the morning :) but this is really compelling. I like the idea of starting with something at the scale of an essay, rather than a book, and many a book has started as an essay anyway. I assume you have all of your footnotes with sources? It certainly still needs more organization, editing, adding and subtracting, etc. but any piece of writing goes through dozens of revisions before it's publication ready. The first step is always writing down everything you want to say. The rest is just organizing and polishing, and in that process you find out where you want to add more detail and where you might have something you don't need that you save for another project. When I have the time and energy I should try to make an outline from what you've written. There are a lot of messages here that deserve to be widely read. Idk how much is "original work" and how much is synthesizing the ideas of others, but both are worthy endeavors; you just have to make sure you give credit when it's the latter. I will definitely come back to this!
Thanks so much Zach. It's just been sitting in my Google docs for months. Been stuck on what to do with it. That's why I wanted to hire a cowriter or ghost writer or something.
Wow Zach. This is awesome. Looks like you put a lot of work into it. That's quite the complement. I really appreciate all your feedback. It's a lot to think about and I'll see what I can do with it. Might sign up for a writing workshop or something. I noticed that Andrea Watkins does them when I looked her up so maybe I'll ask her.
And you're right about the lack of the role of fatherhood in my writing. I was going to write about it in the final section with a focus on the role of brotherhood. This is in inspiration of my research on matrilineal cultures that value brotherhood and prioritize the relationship between the uncle and his nephews/nieces. Not sure if you want to read anymore but I have a chapter on a novel I was working on where the main character (who is Navajo) travels to China to visit a matrilineal indigenous culture called the Mosuo if you want to get an idea of what I wanted to write. It will be crucial to get this part right to make my case against patriarchy by offering a better alternative for men.
Wow, I really need to make a point to look at people's bios instead of just going by what I read in their comments. I had no idea Andra was a NYT bestselling author! ЁЯдж Probably a good thing actually or I might have been more intimidated in interacting. Idk we're all equals here I guess (but some animals are more equal than others? ЁЯд╖ :) Yes I just tried to kind of identify the pieces and then see how they seemed to fit together. I'm sure there are other ways they fit together too. When you figure out whatever that is then you have a map, and you just fill in the details. Fatherhood was something that only really occurred to me at the end, when I realized that men were absent (or at least optional) in the new paradigm. And in my opinion whenever males of any species aren't given something productive to do they are very dangerous. Showing what matrilineal cultures do would be a perfect antidote. It really isn't that hard to give men a purpose; they just need to be willing to do it and that means shelve the ego!
Can't tackle this tonight but maybe another time! :)
I might should have posted this one first since it's more on this topic. But yes maybe another time. Thanks again!
Wow Laura so much good stuff here. "The uterus is the only organ that does not belong to the person it is in. It belongs to the state." Maybe I'm just fresher in the morning :) but this is really compelling. I like the idea of starting with something at the scale of an essay, rather than a book, and many a book has started as an essay anyway. I assume you have all of your footnotes with sources? It certainly still needs more organization, editing, adding and subtracting, etc. but any piece of writing goes through dozens of revisions before it's publication ready. The first step is always writing down everything you want to say. The rest is just organizing and polishing, and in that process you find out where you want to add more detail and where you might have something you don't need that you save for another project. When I have the time and energy I should try to make an outline from what you've written. There are a lot of messages here that deserve to be widely read. Idk how much is "original work" and how much is synthesizing the ideas of others, but both are worthy endeavors; you just have to make sure you give credit when it's the latter. I will definitely come back to this!
Thanks so much Zach. It's just been sitting in my Google docs for months. Been stuck on what to do with it. That's why I wanted to hire a cowriter or ghost writer or something.
Laura I worked out some feedback for you. This is what I came up with and I hope it's helpful
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DmWAbWGKPpR4RFPhzNGFPC2XHz25fzCcMA0khR2RwZg/edit?usp=sharing
I haven't done a lot with google docs so hopefully it's formatted ok :)
Wow Zach. This is awesome. Looks like you put a lot of work into it. That's quite the complement. I really appreciate all your feedback. It's a lot to think about and I'll see what I can do with it. Might sign up for a writing workshop or something. I noticed that Andrea Watkins does them when I looked her up so maybe I'll ask her.
And you're right about the lack of the role of fatherhood in my writing. I was going to write about it in the final section with a focus on the role of brotherhood. This is in inspiration of my research on matrilineal cultures that value brotherhood and prioritize the relationship between the uncle and his nephews/nieces. Not sure if you want to read anymore but I have a chapter on a novel I was working on where the main character (who is Navajo) travels to China to visit a matrilineal indigenous culture called the Mosuo if you want to get an idea of what I wanted to write. It will be crucial to get this part right to make my case against patriarchy by offering a better alternative for men.
The Holy Grail
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fehJlwHNswKSJD9pGSr_XU5BIvFQodTiFrmwbzQ8eks/edit?usp=drivesdk
Laura,
If you havenтАЩt read The Patriarchs, by Angela Saini, I think you might really enjoy it. She dives into several matrifocal cultures.
https://www.amazon.com/Patriarchs-Origins-Inequality-Angela-Saini-ebook/dp/B0B2MHR56Z/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+patriarchs&qid=1693899414&sr=8-1
Yes I've heard of it and put it on my list. Thanks!
Wow, I really need to make a point to look at people's bios instead of just going by what I read in their comments. I had no idea Andra was a NYT bestselling author! ЁЯдж Probably a good thing actually or I might have been more intimidated in interacting. Idk we're all equals here I guess (but some animals are more equal than others? ЁЯд╖ :) Yes I just tried to kind of identify the pieces and then see how they seemed to fit together. I'm sure there are other ways they fit together too. When you figure out whatever that is then you have a map, and you just fill in the details. Fatherhood was something that only really occurred to me at the end, when I realized that men were absent (or at least optional) in the new paradigm. And in my opinion whenever males of any species aren't given something productive to do they are very dangerous. Showing what matrilineal cultures do would be a perfect antidote. It really isn't that hard to give men a purpose; they just need to be willing to do it and that means shelve the ego!