Panic and Ecstasy
... strange bedfellows, wouldn't you say?
And yet that is what I am currently feeling. I am ecstatic (Faithful blog readers, I trust you note this is an 'E' word) that Annick Press wants me to write another book for them. However, the topic has me in a bit of a panic.
Pre-Colonial Africa.
When I first discovered this was to be the subject, I drew a blank. Okay -- maybe not a total blank, but considering I'm a History major, there weren't enough bells ringing. I'm good at linguistics, so I had a pretty fair hunch 'pre-colonial' meant a time prior to the European invasion of the continent, so timewise we had to be looking at somewhere before the 19th century. That still leaves a pretty big window. And Africa? Well, that sort of speaks for itself. No small potatoes here either.
So I am at the pre-research stage. In other words, I am trying to find out in general terms -- what, where, when, and who Pre-Colonial Africa really represents. Then I might have an idea how the topic could best be narrowed, and then have the courage to write a book about it.
And since this is what I've agreed to do, I'm sure hoping it works out.