Can I have some feedback?

[Rob Wick]

Dear fellow forum members,

For a while now, I've bored you all with my ramblings about writing about Carl Sandburg. I've talked about how hard it is to get material due to the cost of researchers, etc. It's getting to the point where I'm hitting a pretty serious roadblock in terms of some material that I will need even to get the first chapter written.

When I was in college, I took a philosophy course. The text was Will Durant's Story of Philosophy. I found out that Durant wrote the book in part to help fund his writing his massive Story of Civilization series. While I have no delusions that I am another Durant, I've been mulling over something in my mind for quite a while now.

If I've bored you with Sandburg, I imagine you find my Tarbell rantings excrutiating. However, it strikes me that there has only been two full-scale biographies of Tarbell written, and while both talk about her Lincoln studies, neither does so in much detail. I've found in her papers the basis for what I think would be an interesting, and needed, study of her work as a Lincoln scholar, in the same vein that I'm going with my Sandburg book.

OK, here's the bottom line. What would be your reaction, advice, etc., if I proposed to write such a book first, and then use whatever proceeds, etc., I may accumulate to work on Sandburg? I also have the idea that if I was to write such a book, likely for a university press, that it would give me enough credibility to approach bigger publishers for the Sandburg work (which might even result in an advance).

Understand, I am not abandoning my Sandburg idea. I have far too much invested in time, work, and interest to give it up at this point. One of my own criticisms of the idea is that it seems I can come up with good ideas, but I'm terrible in the execution. However, with the biography I had hoped to write on Everton J. Conger, a lack of primary material is what has stopped it. The opposite problem exists with Sandburg. There is far too much material that I need access to before I can do a good job.

The material on Tarbell, with very few exceptions, is readily available and I think the project is more than doable.

So, what do you all think? And please understand, I want you to be candid and open with your remarks. Short of badmouthing my dog, nothing you say will offend me.

Best
Rob