Paper number one was both well-received and well-attended. I ran out of handouts twice over. Given the fact that my work tends to be classified as gender studies, it�s kind of strange that this was my first gender studies panel. I don�t much care what kind of panel I�m on, but the way the papers are group changes the kinds of questions that get asked afterwards. The questions are quite different from a film studies or an orchestra studies or urban history panel. The other participants set the bar high. There was a paper about a female pianist who was the daughter of Scott Joplin�s principal publisher, one about female minstrel troupes and one about Nadia Boulanger, a French pianist, composer and conductor who is best known as the teacher of many famous American composers. I hope I rose to the occasion with my work. I got a lot of questions. I ad libbed a lot, mostly to good affect, but sometimes a little clumsily. At one point, I stepped out of the paper to give credit to an author whose comparison of two photos I borrowed because it was �brilliant and inspired� � those were the words that came out of my mouth, I think. After the paper, the author I�d cited came up to say hello � I guess it never hurts to make a good impression. I�d forgotten that she might be there. �It�s so nice to know that someone read my book,� she said. �I mean, you write these things and you never know if it gets out there.� I said that she should see my copy � the pages are dog-eared and all the pages were hanging out. Waiting behind her was another woman whose work I�d cited. It was so great to meet these people, the only two I know who�ve published recent work on my subject. That�s what�s fun about these conferences. So far I�ve met so little pettiness, of which there is a great deal in academia. People can get very territorial about their work. But the few people I�ve run into whose work abuts my own have been excited to find others interested in their favorite subject. And I feel exactly the same way.

As a scholar, you spend so much time focusing on minutia of things that you are or become passionate about but which pretty much no one else cares about at all. I love these �kindred spirit� moments at conferences.

I also met with the publisher who�d contacted me from Big Southern University, who seemed extremely excited about my project and he promised to hassle me to make sure I�m finishing. He also told me a lot about how the publishing business works and what I need to have prepared for a book proposal and gave me an idea of how long the proposal to book process generally takes. I still haven�t been able to bring myself to ask any money questions about books. That�s because I�m fairly sure there isn�t much there � that�s kind of not supposed to be the point with academic publishing. Maybe I�ll pump my British Press friend about it at some later date.

And now, I must run through tomorrow�s paper and then I hope to hit the gym � the conference is on hiatus this afternoon so all the business and committee meetings, of which I am not yet a part, can take place. This evening I�m attending a couple of book parties, which should ensure some free food and champagne, ah a musicologist�s work is never done.

[Second entry today. I am thinking here that this conference stuff is of little interest to anyone besides myself. But then, it�s my diary. If you want to read more, click back. And thanks for all who�ve sent me good wishes!]

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