Call for Applicants: 'Get it Done,' A Second Book Writers' Workshop

The Southern Historical Association is excited to announce our second annual Second Book Writers’ Workshop, entitled “Get it done: A Second Book Writers’ Workshop”. If you’re working on a second book project and could use some motivation and support to “Get it done,” please consider applying for our program, to be held over zoom in the weeks prior to the Baltimore annual meeting in November. Previous participants are welcome to apply in subsequent years. The workshop will also host a wrap-up conversation over lunch in Baltimore on Friday, November 11.

Inspired by our friends at SHEAR and SCWH, who have created successful models for this initiative, the workshop aims to support historians who are confronting the unique challenges of mid-career status. The publication of a second book is often necessary for professional advancement, but many mid-career scholars find themselves with less time and less guidance than they had when completing their dissertations and first books. Increasing service obligations, and for some, new family and child-rearing pressures, can slow down progress in researching and writing. Additional questions about one’s research trajectory—about where and how to move forward intellectually—sometimes compound these challenges. This workshop is therefore designed to provide a supportive environment for mid-career scholars to commit to a deadline for sharing their work, read and discuss the work of others, and ultimately, to avoid getting “stuck.”

Each participant will pre-circulate a piece of writing related to the second book that will provide the basis for the workshop discussion. It could be a chapter draft, an application for a fellowship, or a book proposal—as long as it represents some stage of the second-book writing process.

Participants will meet in small groups led by a senior scholar from the SHA. Each group will meet once or twice over zoom (depending on the size and needs of each group) to discuss the pre-circulated work of the group’s members in the weeks leading up to the November annual meeting. All participants who attend the Baltimore annual meeting will meet for a general discussion of second- book writing challenges and strategies for continued success.

To apply: Participants should submit a CV as well as a one-page summary that describes the book project and the specific material to be pre-circulated for the workshop. These materials should be compiled into one pdf file and emailed to Bob Elder ([email protected]). Applications are due by June 30, 2022. Participants will be notified of acceptance by July 15; workshop materials will  be pre-circulated by September 1.

Questions? Contact the organizers, Bob Elder ([email protected]) or Kelly Kennington ([email protected]).