Into the Great Wide Open

I took a partial break from Geraldine today to edit a manuscript I intend to submit for publication. The original version was a term paper a year ago. The professor for the seminar told me to publish it, so I am taking her advice and feel like I'm about to jump out of a plane.

About a year ago at this time, my professor announced in front of the whole seminar that Kelly and I had both written great literature reviews. Although I like praise, it's always embarasing to receive it when a professor singles me out in front of the class. Geraldine started as a beautiful paper. When Dumbeldore announced "and Kelsie wrote a beautiful paper" (but the rest of your rough drafts really stink), Kelly and "Ron" never let me live it down. They took full advantage of teasing me about my beautiful paper with every opportunity they could find. Luckily, they didn't expect me to replace e-mails to them with notes on fancy stationary. I thought it was a fluke that my work turned out to be that praiseworthy, but it seems that I'm able to write a good paper. But can I write a publishable paper?

I wrote the first version of my manuscript while recovering from surgery. I couldn't walk anywhere, didn't have internet and had nothing to do but read and write. I had a similar situation when I started the prototype for Geraldine 4 years ago (only that time there was no surgery, rather there was lots of snow and I was house sitting). I placed publishing my seminar paper on the bottom of my to-do list until last week. My professor keeps encouraging me to submit it for publication, and I have finally given in to the peer pressure.

There are a few caveats to my decision to sumit this paper for publication. The journal I'm submiting it to is a little quirky. First, its title is redundant. It uses 'language' twice in its 5 word title. Next, it requires that all of the abstracts are translated into another language. English is the main language for linguistic publications, so it seems weird that I have to translate my abstract into something else. And by something else, the journal doesn't specify which language it should be in. It can be any language. Third, the journal translates all of the abstracts for papers that it publishes into Esperanto. Esperanto! (for those of you reading this that don't know what that is, it's a made up language. You can compare it to Elvish from Lord of the Rings or Klingon from Star Trek. It's a "geek language" for linguists and world peace activists).Wow. Nevertheless, my professor insists that this is a good journal and I can't afford to be too picky right now. Publish, or never get tenure (or a tenure track job)!

The other part about submitting this paper for publication that makes me nervous is the thought that doing so will result in having future visa applications for a certain country rejected. My paper is a literature review and I simply add questions to the dialogue that doesn't exist, so I think I'm over reacting. The people I reference in my paper still get visas, why wouldn't I? Well, it seems that commenting on a nation's language planning policies could be viewed negatively by that nation. But, if that's the case, I'll deal with that if and when it happens. As it takes around 6 months to have a journal accept or reject submissions and then can easily take another year and a half to actually publish the article, I figure I have two years to go to the desert, ride some camels, buy hats and tight rope walk before anyone knows who I am. Perhaps the Esperanto part will work to my advantage afterall!

In short, I just sent off copies of my manuscript to my professor for feedback. Once we are both happy with it, I'll translate my abstract and send it to an editor in Canada. At this point, I'm looking forward to clicking 'send' and having my work go into the great wide open of publication land. Wish me luck!