Frustrations of Research

[stoutfellow]

Since sending off my New Year's paper, I've noticed that the ideas in it tie neatly to a couple of other lines of investigation I was fiddling with a few years ago. As a result, I've realized that the paper could have been a bit better; one brief section could have been expanded in an interesting way, and a couple of propositions later could (partly as a consequence) have been sharpened considerably.

I may still be able to make those changes. If the journal accepts it provisionally - i.e., if the referee makes any suggestions - that will open the door. If the journal rejects it, then I can make the changes before resubmitting it somewhere else.

It's frustrating. If I can't insert the changes here, I can still incorporate them into a later paper, but the new versions of the two propositions are so much nicer...