[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]
I wrote at
great length in this May
2017 post—part of a weeklong series on my work for and with the Scholars Strategy
Network (SSN)—on the vital role that SSN, and especially its then-Media
Director (later Executive Director) Avi Green, played
in the single most crucial turning point in my online public scholarly writing
career. I hope you’ll check out that post, but I do want to quickly follow up
on one specific phrase: “after ruthlessly and crucially forcing me to cut it
down and make it more engaging.” I’d like to think that the evolution of my
style and voice, from their very academic
starting point (I hope that dissertation/first book of mine did feature
readable academic prose, but still, very academic indeed) to where they are
now, took place gradually and consistently and with plenty of my own input as
well as that of many other folks. But having to revise a specific piece very
quickly, based on very direct and blunt (in the best ways) feedback from Avi,
was a trial by fire—and the results, as I detail in that post, were so striking
as to leave no doubt that the work was worth it. I’ve never looked back.
Next
anniversary tribute tomorrow,
Ben
PS. Please
feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!
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