March was a really weird month. I had a plan for what I wanted to get done and then everything was tossed out the window when I heard from the State of Alaska Library, Archives and Museum. I worked with them last year to develop the new aviation exhibit and early last month they contacted me with the outline and request for labels. As the labels are very specific, and very specific word counts, and the whole thing had to be done by the end of the month, it ate up a lot of my time. I’m thrilled to be co-curating this project so I was happy to do whatever was necessary (and the paycheck is nice too). But it pushed everything else I was planning right off the table.

1. I did submit reviews for Nova Ren Suma’s The Walls Around Us and Edward Hogan’s The Messengers to Locus. Look for those in a couple of months.

2. I had several pieces run in AK Dispatch News – most notably an article on the dangerous history of commercial use of aircraft for spotting in the herring fishing industry.

3. One review turned into Booklist and two books read (though I didn’t get to the reviews on those until this month).

4. I spent several days exchanging emails with an online longform journalism site discussing a pitch I submitted about Alaska. It went back and forth, the editor was very cool, but eventually it was clear that it was impossible for me to accomplish what they wanted. (Especially the suggestion of travel to the bush which is crazy expensive.) The time and energy this ate up made me reevaluate what I should be pitching and where, which is an ongoing process. I think I’ve finally got it figured out….here’s hoping.

And that was it. Not much accomplished on the genealogy front which is frustrating. I did send a couple of emails to family members asking them questions but I need to sit down and figure out a few things so I can get some letters in the mail. I also need to find a map of New York City for the late 1800s/early 1900s as I have some addresses but don’t have context for where those neighborhoods were.

A lot more has happened in April, but more on that in a few weeks!