Brief pause in posting to allow for research

I need to take a little time for research on two primary topics.

The first is the geology of New England. I need to complete some research and writing here to fill a gap in my history of New England. However, I also want to use the research to provide background for some further pieces on New England's environmental wars.

I don't know about you, but I find that while I have a good general understanding of the geography and geology of New England, I also get frustrated at the way that some of the discussion ignores or at least occurs in isolation of the geography. Why, for example, is Liverpool Plains groundwater important?

Peter Firminger (@PeterFirminger) has been doing a very good job on Twitter in just recording some of the media reporting on issues connected with the environmental wars with a special focus on coal seam gas. I think that reporting would be enhanced if I provided factual material and background analysis.

The second thing I need to do further research on is higher education in New England. This will allow me to continue the series I began with The story of higher education in New England 1 - introduction. It will also fill in another gap in my history.

I am now coming under pressure to move my history forward. For personal reasons, I must get the book to the point that I can seriously seek a publisher. I know who I want to publish the book, but I can't approach them until I have more to show. 

I do not expect the break in posting to be a long one. During the break, I will continue to bring my Armidale Express columns on-line, and will respond to comments. I will also be making some posts to my New England history blog that I will reference here.

Postscript

I did a brief summary of my current historical research, Report on Belshaw historical research and writing, that I think will provide a bit more background to this post.