Grumble on Academic Publishing and Citation

Now I don't expect anyone to remember, because it was eons ago, truly, but there was this article I was really excited about that I wrote and was accepted. I turned in everything on time. I was given revisions, I revised, and again I turned in everything on time. A year and a half ago. I turned in the revision a year and a half ago. Before AT was born. The article hasn't come out yet.

Now I realize that is pretty normal (though I was originally told it would come out in 2009). Things happen. Plans change. But because MLA in its infinite wisdom has changed the citation rules, I now need to submit a new Works Cited. Blech. I am, by the way, no great fan of the changes in MLA citation rules. "Print," my butt. So I was starting this unlovely task when I decided I better check to make sure that some of the quotes I had from web sources were still accurate. And, of course, because things do actually change over the course of years, the quotation that I had from a website is long gone. (The website has been beautifully updated actually.) So because I don't think it's professional to have a source that is totally out-of-date, I have to go back into the article and revise it. Not that the article wouldn't benefit from a pretty fresh eye at this point, but, you know, this article's promise of publication helped get me my job and so doesn't count for tenure. And I have a deadline for another article I'm writing (granted, on spec).

And of course they need it now. Like yesterday. It's this big hurry-up-and-wait process.

Sigh. Grumble grumble. Dare I mention that Absurdist Family had tentative plans to go outside and enjoy the snow today? Grumble grumble.