Books, Publicity, and My Next Project

Last spring I published two books, and I haven’t posted to this blog since they came out. (Since long before then, if I’m totally honest).

But last Monday was Memorial Day, and this weekend is the annual Children’s Literature Association conference, something I used to look forward to every year. So I’ve been thinking about my career so far, and some personal events from the past year. I felt motivated to put those thoughts in public.

The Books

When I started those books, writing them was part of my job. After finishing my PhD, I was luckier than most: I not only landed a tenure-track professorship, but a very good one, at a small school (Fisk University), in a big city (Nashville), with super-smart students. Working on those books helped me get that job, and then to earn tenure.

British Children’s Literature of the 19th Century: A Companion is a reference work for students, teachers, and scholars. It’s part of the McFarland’s Companions to 19th Century Literature series and follows the series’ format: an introduction followed by alphabetized entries about authors, texts, and concepts. When I first agreed to write the book, I thought the format would lend itself to posting entries-in-progress on this blog. 

That turned out not to be the case. In 2020 I gave up tenure and moved to Virginia to work for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). My workday became very different, and publishing wasn’t part of my job. But I kept writing, when I could, and an internal NEH award gave me time to finish the Companion. I’m happy with the result, and the book was named one of the American Library Association’s “10 Outstanding Reference Sources” for 2026. But it’s pitched to a fairly small circle of readers, and by the time I finished it, I was on the periphery of that circle.

My other book, Animating the Victorians: Disney’s Literary History, is a monograph from a university press. The concept started as a course, and I thought about making it a book only after an NEH seminar exposed me to some new scholarly questions. Then a visit to the Walt Disney Company Archives provided an unexpected glimpse into internal processes and production histories. The manuscript was mostly finished before I left Fisk, and already under contract with the publisher (the contract was part of my tenure file, and the delay getting to print was partly due to a lengthy permissions process).

The Last Year 

Because it’s about Disney, Animating the Victorians also interests readers outside the scholarly world. I tried to keep that audience in mind when writing. Hopefully the prose is accessible, and I moved the “research review” section to an appendix, rather than the introduction (the usual convention for a monograph). The press set up an audiobook from Tantor Media, and I’ve been doing some publicity that I didn’t do for my first book (or for the McFarland Companion), like a podcast interview, a meet-and-greet at a bookstore in Bethany Beach, and a virtual lecture for Smithsonian Associates.

The two books came out within a week of each other, in February 2025. Shortly after that, my career (and life) took some unexpected turns. 

In June, NEH cut its staff by about 70%, as part of the government-wide reduction in force. I was out of a job.

In August, my father died. 

In September, my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. 

In November, I learned that my dad’s military records (obtained in pursuit of a VA survivor’s pension) include no record of his service in Vietnam, contrary both to stories he told during his life and to a box of medals, ration cards, and other memorabilia. 

My Next Project

When I mention my books, people usually ask me either “will you write another book?” or “what’s your next project?” The answer to the first question is: probably, eventually. After two decades writing, it’s hard to stop. Last fall I was privileged to join the University of Maryland’s Professional Writing Program, so while my own writing isn’t technically required for the job, it’s encouraged.

But I’m less sure about the second question. What is my next project? I always thought I’d write a book similar to the ones I’ve written before. I started them by reading stuff and taking notes. I have notes about 19th-century bedtime reading and about the English actor Edgar Norton, who played the March Hare in the 1886 stage production of Alice in Wonderland and then had a long career as a character actor in Hollywood. 

But I haven’t been reading about those topics, or at least not nearly as much as I would be if I were fully committed to writing about them. Instead I’ve been reading about non-linear career paths, about dealing with loss, and about dementia. 

So what is my next project? Do I continue to research Rudyard Kipling’s bedtime stories, or to marvel at the fact that Edgar Norton worked with both Lewis Carroll and Boris Karloff? 

Do I stick to a teaching career, which feels safe and familiar? Or do I take this opportunity to try something new, which might mean writing something different, or leave no time for writing at all?

Do I write about being part of the “sandwich generation,” caring for aging parents while also raising young kids?

Do I research my dad’s service record, and reconcile the Silver Star in my hands with an incomplete DD214? 

Some of that, or all of it. That’s my next project.