Sunday, March 30, 2008

Stand Back!

Anonymous mentioned that I seemed a little blue last week, and the truth is that I was a little down. Maybe the slush on the sidewalk (there shouldn't be slush on the sidewalk), maybe the quiet of the house, maybe the stress of practice. Add to that the general aches and pains a person notices when they fall down skiing, or should we say, walking on skis in a flat city.

But then something wonderful happened. I think I told you, in a very long-winded fashion, that my paper had been accepted in a social science journal, one that I really respected. But that was over a year ago, and no word from the journal since. Supposedly it can take well over a year, sometimes two years from acceptance to publication.

In general I don't nag, but was thinking about giving the editor a call.

Asserting.

Nu? I would ask.

For those of you who don't know Yiddish, Nu means, So tell me? (You have to have a question mark after everything in Yiddish.)

I've published before, the dissertation, an article in a journalistic family therapy 'zine that appeared again in a book of best essays, letters to the editor. And have presented papers in conferences, a few of those. But I've never before published in one of those dry scientific journals that appeal to maybe 200 people in the world. Okay, maybe 300. It's not that the writing is so different, although it is. It's rigorous, is all, and the competition is fierce.

And then I got it! I got the email. The article is coming out in the next edition! Wow, so sudden. From nothing to something within a matter of moments. Pretty exciting. All you have to do is. . .reread, check for mistakes. Make corrections. And it's a CEU course, too. All very cool. They even showed me how the article looks in print. All set to go.

So for sure that picked me up (as good news will) until Friday I received this email. We would appreciate a picture, a jpeg, preferably. And would you please smile?

Sure.

This morning as we're getting ready for work I mention it to FD. "Let's do it right now!" he cries. He whips out his camera-phone. "No, wait, let's use YOUR phone so you can beam it over, you know, how you do all that stuff."

No dear. I need some make-up.

I get ready and he takes the shot. I groan. He says, "It's fine."

Try again, I say. But this time, stand back a couple of feet.

He takes the picture.

Much better.

therapydoc

13 comments:

Curiosity Killer said...

I hate it when people wave a camera at me and say, let's take a picture.

"But I look like crap and feel like crap, let's not remember this moment shall we?"

It's really something to do with the weather, I think. The blue, I mean.

therapydoc said...

For sure.

Anonymous said...

Glad you are feeling better .Thanks for the feedback cuz , I wasnt sure if my ESP worked through cyberspace ... but I should probably keep that to myself , huh!

So , 'good news' is the cure for the blues (sounds like a song
lyric ). That makes me contemplate manufacturing some for myself .
And the good news is ....?????. Have to think on that a while , I guess. I probably should put that off until the reality-shock of doing the April ' household
budget 'subsides .

Well, it is spring , it is warmer , the days are longer, sunnier . The birds are a singing . That should be enuff good news to defeat the blues , shouldnt it ? !
I guess thats my request for a future post , meaning, an answer to -And the good news is ?

Anonymous said...

Way to go, Doc!

Anonymous said...

i think you deserve it. Therapy Doc. You do so much for all the citizens of this site and all the real people of your practice. I sure their is some yiddish saying that God blesses those who do good works to others.

April_optimist said...

Congratulations. My ex is a college professor and I know how long it can take to get responses about academic papers. And as a writer I know how difficult the waiting can be! LOL about having to have a photo taken. Let's just say there's a reason the photo on my professional website only gets updated every ten years or so.....

Afreud of Myself said...

I'm one of the 300 people who reads those journals. One has to do something whilst waiting for death.

therapydoc said...

Oh, how it feels that way.

Just Me said...

Congratulations! I wrote an article based on my thesis research and without giving me a chance my advisor submitted it to a journal he was an editor for. It was selected for a special topic edition, so I never knew if it was selected based on the topic and merit, or if he had some power because he wanted his name in print (trying to get tenure and a very poor teacher; I never would have included him on the article had I had a choice).

It took nearly 2 years to come out, and it came out a full year after they initially told me it would be out. I had given up when suddenly I had a package with a bunch of copies of the journal and fancy envelopes to mail them to people, and a stack of reprints.

Because I live a non-academic life that is something that always stands out on my resume and I always get a few questions at interviews about it. It's always kind of weird because I did my research when I was absolutely naive and hadn't practiced in the real world, and the premises I based my ideas on are just not realistic in life. I know that now, and it sort of negates some of the research, even though in other ways my idealism back then was something I miss.

My mom is a PhD awaiting tenure this month and had a paper accepted by a big journal last summer. It has been so frustrating that even though that publication counts as a feather in her cap she wanted to have the first page in her binder, but it will be at least another year.

therapydoc said...

Academia's SO tough, and I keep it to a bare minimum. We have to be proud of the accomplishments, and stay cool with the ego-blows. There are more of the latter, unfortunately, I think, for most of us.

come running said...

Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

That's wonderful news! I hope you do something to celebrate.

therapydoc said...

Thanks. It was enough that I bragged on the Internet.

  Bring them home, the Homeland Concert There's not much to say. Wait, I take it back. There's SO much to say it is too much. There ...