The manuscript of Parole Femine: Words and Lives of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, has been edited. I mean, it’s been EDITED.

This work has taken me and my summer assistant, Miranda, all of June and July. Here is the MS in all its glory– some 2000 pages (the pages you see are printed double-sided).

In all, comprising:

• a 33-page introductory essay
• 50 section and author introductions
• 2 complete novellas
• Over 200 poems
• 21 short stories
• 3 plays
• Excerpts from 7 novels
• 26 pieces of newspaper journalism and nonfiction
• 21 illustrations
• Hundreds of annotations identifying people, places, historical events, and literary allusions
• Bibliography with over 1000 discrete publications listed from over 50 authors

Each of those little post-its you see above indicates a different work, grouped by color according to author and section. It’s all very exciting!

This has been a lot of work, but it really pales in comparison to all the work that’s been put in by students over the past two years. Students selected the texts, transcribed them, checked the transcriptions, annotated them, and researched and wrote the headnotes. To the students: YOU DID A WONDERFUL JOB.

What next?

Once I check everything one more time, it goes to the designer at Loyola’s Apprentice House Press, Kevin Atticks, who will pour all the Word files into InDesign pages. As a teaser, here’s the cover design, in case you forgot.

Then I will get a few days to check the proofs. And soon after that, you’ll be able to order your very own copy on Amazon.com. We should have books in our hot little hands by the end of September– just in time for Bmore Historic, the annual Baltimore history conference held at the Museum of Industry the last Friday of September.

Students who have worked on the project will get complimentary copies–if you want one and I don’t have your address, please send! And if you are in the area and want to be part of the book launch at Bmore Historic, let me know that also. We could stage another salon!

Congrats, team! The book is finally becoming a reality!