Books I'd Write If I Had Any Talent

And also, if I weren't so lazy.

This is a running list to be added to as time passes.

(1)  A book capturing everything my Dad knows about artists and explorers who painted/sketched/etc in Nebraska before the western migration.  My dad's knowledge in this area is extraordinary and I'm not sure anyone else knows what he does.  Or why it's important.

(2)  A passionate defense of distinct missions among higher ed institutions--the importance of institutional diversity (liberal arts vs. universities, single-sex, tribal college, you name it.)

(3)  A torrid romance that would use ridiculous euphemisms for sex and its associated anatomy.  My girlfriends and I used to howl over these in college.

(4) A children's mystery involving an art museum.  This one has been bouncing around in my head for some years.  No, that doesn't mean I'll ever write the thing.

(5) A coming-of-age novel featuring a midwestern girl who is a fish out of water at an east coast school.  Write what you know, they say

(6) A book about a heretofore-lazy academic who decides, rather late in her career, to become a scholar of Willa Cather's work.  My alter ego.