Legal Commentary

Funny things happen when it's time to hit the "send" button on an article or other piece of scholarship.  It's not exactly Kubler-Ross but I have noticed that in the last day or two of reviewing, certain stages happen pretty predictability.  Bracketed footnotes that I always said I'd get back to suddenly become less important to the integrity of the piece -- out they go.  As I proof the text for (I promise myself) the last time, my argument suddenly starts to appear absolutely compelling and tightly organized.  Then, on the next read, I cut out a paragraph because it just doesn't work.  And finally, exhaustion and, in true On Death and Dying  spirit, acceptance, where I decide that it is what it is and I'm not going to hold it any more.

I don't think I'm particularly obsessive, but I have to say I really dislike this process.  Did Cass Sunstein ever go through this before he started running the bureaucracy?  Do others?  Tonight is a double witching-hour for me, as I'm turning in an exam, as well as the symposium piece that's the subject of most of the aforementioned angst.  The last day of holding an exam is no picnic, either.  My only consolation is that I won't have to go through this again, at least not until the August submission season.

Seriously, though: Do others have this last-second angst, either before submitting scholarship or exams?  Anyone care to share some coping strategies?