I've written a thesis (i.e. an almost book-length manuscript) for my Masters of Fine Arts. I've done a few more interviews, turning up more interesting info, and have hand written/first drafted some changes to several chapters. However, sitting down to type and to write in depth - well, that's where I'm failing.

One example of what I've come up with: I recently received translations of letters sent home to New Ipswich from Soviet Karelia, north of Leningrad. During the Great Depression, a local family joined the little known movement to settle there and create a "worker's paradise." The letters describe how all that turned sour.