Today I had a new signal about my project to write a biography of Isaac Bonewits.
From a post I made on Facebook:
I was cleaning out old stuff from a bookshelf, and I found a pile of Isaac Bonewits’ papers that I never got around to sending to the University of Santa Barbara. In an extra dose of irony, these papers were located right next to Deborah Lipp’s autobiography.
Could this be a reminder that it’s time to get my rear in gear and resume the biography project?
The Gods answer, “YES!”
It’s time to wrap up the research phase entirely. I have all the information I’m likely to get. In particular, I’m going to stop seeking out interviews.
There are three periods of Isaac’s life I wish I knew more about: His interaction with the Creole woman who first introduced him to magic; his time at Grayhaven in the early 70s; the founding of ADF. At this point, I have what I have and I don’t think I’ll learn anything more.
Any future suggestions of the form “You should interview X” will receive a smile and nod from me, but that’s it. If you’re able to get X to contact me, that’s great, but I’m not going to chase after them.
If you are X, that is, you want to say “You should interview me,” then I’m willing provided we can both rapidly work out a schedule for the interview.
As always, I can be reached at bonewits.research at gmail.com.
Part of the reason I’ve procrastinated is that the next step is listening to the interviews and selecting sections for transcription. I’ve already got computer-made transcriptions; now I have to edit them into human form. I’ve got over 70 hours of interviews and it will probably take twice as long to review the recordings. It will be a tedious task.
Oh, well. The journey of a thousand steps begins with the first mile.