And So It Really Begins

It's finally time---the month that I will give over to revising and proofing the manuscript. I'm terribly nervous about it; I've done this before and I know that by the end of it I will be saying, quite loudly, "I WILL NEVER WRITE ANYTHING AGAIN, EVER!"

I won't mean it, of course, but it will make me feel better to say it.

But before I begin regaling anyone with the technical details, allow me to state where this project came from. I've always been fascinated by tourism in Florida. I enjoy being a tourist myself. The tackier the attraction, the better! I think tourism is a neglected topic, in that there are many articles on it, and it always merits coverage in works on state history, but as far as I can find it has never had the full historical treatment. No one has told the story from beginning to end. I'm starting with Ponce de Leon and working through to the 2009 recession. I won't talk about everything, obviously, but I hope to demonstrate the way that tourism has changed, and its incredible impact not only on the economy of Florida, but on the image of Florida and the cultural identity of Floridians.

This project grew in part out of my dissertation (on Wakulla Springs, a tourist attraction) and my interest in Florida tourism during World War II, which resulted in a chapter in a small book called Florida at War. In 2008, I applied for a 2009 Summer research grant to fund travel and archival work. Once I got started, I realized that I already possessed a great deal of material. And, quite frankly, I was terribly lonesome---I find that when I'm away from Wofford and from my friends, the only way to stay sane is to stay productive. So I wrote, all the time, and by the end of August I had 99.9% of a manuscript ready to go. I took a deep breath and sent it to the University Press of Florida, where a friendly editor had been asking me when I was going to send her something. The week of Thanksgiving, I received notice that the press wanted the book and they wanted it revised, etc. by mid-February. After recovering from the seizure that news caused, I started re-aligning my life to try to get this done.

This blog---which has also been created as my part of the Independent Research in the Humanities Class---is designed as a window. You are welcome to look into my life and see how I'm doing, and perhaps even fuss at me to do more.