Sarah Donovan

I’ve been spinning my wheels on this chapter for a month and a half. The worst part is that this whole time I’ve felt like I’m on the edge of a breakthrough. And yet, tragically, I remain very much stuck. Any advice?

Going back through the earlier sections of my current draft and found this gem. If this doesn’t sum up my whole experience with this chapter idk what does

I’m specifically interested in how the phrase “boys” is used to describe military units

I’m looking for some books/articles that explore masculinity and the military in the 18th century (in the vein of Gregory Knouff’s The Soider’s Revolution). Anyone have any good recs?
#MilitaryHistory
#GenderHistory

At one point I literally wrote “colonial governments needed to get their acts together” and moved on. My only goal right now is to GET. WORDS. ON. THE. PAGE.

Struggling through this chapter is reminding me that, especially in early drafts, getting words on the page is WAY more important than liking those words. I can always go back and make it sound better, but I need to get the ideas on the page before I can do that

I’ve been slogging through writing a section on imperial priorities during the 7YW and I am reminded of how much of a whiny baby Jeffrey Amherst was. I feel like this guy was always complaining about something

The @batw.bsky.social Virtual Writing Group is meeting this Thursday (Jan 15) at 12pm EST/5pm GMT! Please send me a DM if you’re interested in joining us!

Writing my dissertation alone isn’t necessarily hard. (It’s definitely challenging, but in a good, rewarding kind of way) It’s writing my dissertation while also keeping myself healthy and dealing with the stress of the job market that’s a doozy.

Our next @batw.bsky.social writing group meeting is this Thursday, Dec 18th at 12pm EST/5pm GMT! If you’d like to join please DM me for the link. Happy writing!

Me at the end of yesterday: I’m totally turned around in this chapter. The organization doesn’t make any sense

Me this morning: wow this is organized pretty logically. I’m doing much better than I thought

If that doesn’t sum up the writing process I don’t know what does 😂

Writing little blurbs like “on this day so and so wrote someone saying <insert block quote> and this is important because of XYZ” and putting them in a vey very rough outline while still in the archive was an absolute GAME CHANGER. I’m writing this chapter so fast!

Hello everyone! I am once again hosting the @batw.bsky.social writing group this Thursday (Nov 20th) at 12pm EST/5pm GMT. Send me a DM if you’re interested in joining us!

Why is historiography so hard to write?!? I’m in the trenches today folks!

Does anyone else feel wildly repetitive when writing their diss or book projects? I know signposting is SO important, but I kinda feel like I’m running out of ways to say that these boys used a common language of violence to express specific grievances 😅

Is anyone else having trouble loading @evernote.bsky.social web or is it just me? Thankfully I can pull up my desktop app, but this is day two of not being able to pull up the web version.

He arrives at Fort Pitt in April 1764 and by October Gage and Bouquet are still trying to decide what to do with him. But he’s definitely not executed because he appears later in the Hazard’s PA Archives as an interpreter during the Stump Affair

I have this really awesome story of an alleged spy for the Delaware/Shawnee at Fort Pitt and I have no idea where to put it into the dissertation. It could fit into like three different chapters depending on how I spin it. #DissertationProbs

I literally laughed out loud at this one: “A Letter of yours fell into my hands a few days since to be forwarded, directed to the Commanding Officer of Fort Loudoun; but as there are several Forts of that name, am at a loss to know which it is intended for” -Fauquier to Gage, Sept 2, 1765

Just submitted my first academic job application. Kind of surreal to think I’m finally at the point where I am imagining a future beyond the degree!

THANK YOU Henry Bouquet for writing Thomas Gage to say that “a connection Seems probable among that Sort of People” when comparing the Black Boys with the frontier inhabitants of Augusta County VA. I agree. A connection DOES seem probable!!! (It’s a good day in the archive 😊)

Just had a fantastic virtual writing session with some @batw.bsky.social folks. The #BATW community really is the best! Let me know if you’d like to join us for our need writing group meeting on October 16th!

There’s nothing quite like ending the day in the archive by finding a fantastic letter talking about “the Paxton & other Rioters” destroying goods at Fort Loudon, PA.

Our next #BATW2025 writing group session is this Thursday Sept 18th at 12pm ET (5pm BST)! Send me a DM if you’d like the link to join!

What are your favorite monographs (or articles) that either use or push against the fringe-metropole understanding of empire in British North America? For some reason, all I can think of is Shannon Lee Dawdy’s concept of rogue colonialism in French New Orleans

I just now realized that public history would have been the perfect fourth comps field for me. I passed comps 4 years ago.

(holy smokes I can’t believe it’s been that long)

I wrote 500 words today! At least 100 of them are crappy half sentences, but like a solid 400 are actually pretty good!

Thomas Gage complaining that “the pensilvanians have played their old tricks” in this April 1, 1764 letter to William Johnson is such a good line. It’s screaming to be a chapter title about provincial politics

Just a quick reminder that the #BATW2025 writing group is next week August 21st at 12pm ET (5pm BST)! Send me a DM if you’re interested in joining us!

I am so excited to be starting my research at the William L. Clements Library! This trip has been a long time coming and I’m so happy to finally be here!