We're now one week away from the end of this session of TLQ. For me, it felt like life started accelerating in October and just kept speeding up from there. With only a few weeks left of semester for some of us, and into the last month of the year for all of us, now seems like a good time to think about what to do with the limited time left. What goals need revising? What goals are worth pushing on? How do we compress what needs doing into the remaining time? And are there things that we need to let go?
Below I've listed last week's goals first, and then the session goals.
And if anyone wants to volunteer to host the next session, maybe comments are a good place to start that discussion.
Academic Amstr
1) write 5x
2) nightly check-ins
3) exercise 5x, bunny hutch 2x
4) write down what I eat
1) health: continue exercise habit, continue to develop good eating habits
2) creativity: write at least 2x per week
3) career: get letters of rec in my file from advisors
4) household: declutter garage, office, and master bedroom; order and put up shades
5) community: once or twice a month, get together with a neighbor or fellow school parent
aw
1. Do final check of CR data, then send to senior manager for comment
2. Finalise other draft this week and send around to co-authors
3. Submit other draft
4. roughly draft proposal submission for new funding
5. Email collaborator SN about long overdue paper and when we might do it
6. Email request to 4 archives
My goals for this session are ambitious, but necessary for reasons I
can't go into here. The first is around physical health, and the second
is work-related: to be productive, in a way that increases my potential
opportunities.
So,I plan to answer the question for each and every
week of this session, have I put my personal health and wellbeing ahead
of work?
My second goal is to submit three papers. It is ambitious,
but knowing what I do now about national science organisations, I think
this will make a real difference to a number of things. and, I have a
number of papers more than half written, so I think it should be
possible, and I will feel greater wellbeing once I have a sense of work
being finished.
aw
Contingent Cassandra
1) follow-up on a new professional project (at least the most urgent
bits) and conference follow-up as possible (the latter is postponable)
2) continue to try to get regular sleep
3) complete urgent cooking chores (mostly processing fresh food/last garden produce before it goes bad)
4) complete most urgent household chores (especially laundry)
5) deal w/ most urgent financial tasks, and plan when to tackle more TLQ-ish ones
1) continue progress on household/financial projects [I actually got one
big chunk of one of the financial projects done during our
intersession, so I've got some momentum on this]
2) continue
self-care, especially regular exercise (walking and weight-lifting) and
sleep and eating regularly (healthily, if possible, but some days just
regularly would be an improvement).
3) do something to get back
in touch with writing and research. This might include building on
conference presentations (one just completed, one scheduled) on DH class
to write a pedagogical article; starting a DH project to accomplish a
planned (very early planning stages) book; and/or finishing up another
article that has been in progress at least as long as this group has
been meeting (so it's about time). The first two options are the most
likely to fit into my schedule, and I'll be happy if I do a bit on even
one of them.
Daisy
Survive end of classes, get all the things done before going away for lab work.
1) Finish data work for three collaborative papers (CP)
2) Draft two of my own new papers for a new field area (NP)
3) Major grant application
4) Exercise
5) Reading project
6) Deal with Old papers as needed
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
I have an online writing class that I have neglected, and I plan to catch up on the first week’s lessons.
Polish and publish 2 blog posts.
Final edits on DH’s paper.
Call all the doctors listed on Monday’s schedule for questions and plans.
Re-establish the habit of writing 5 out of 7 days. Those of you who have
been in earlier iterations of this group know that I suffer from what
my bereavement counselor calls grief exhaustion. Virtually all of my
abilities dried up and went away.
Rebuild my organizational skills. I’ve been assured that my brain fog will go away, I hope sooner rather than later.
Add
some movement and mindful eating to my day. I had gall bladder surgery
at the beginning of September, and need to improve my eating and
exercise habits, or lack thereof.
Concentrate on my PMM article. I
need to update my literature review for this article, which will lead to
some edits in the article proper.
Earnest English
1. Take ridiculously good care of self with lots of relaxation because of Big Service Event taking place this week and next.
2. Grade regularly.
3. Continue sneaking in some reading.
4. Smile. Move like water. It's almost over now.
I've got a very difficult quarter coming up with a ridiculous number of
preps and overfull classes, a number of big service commitments, some
research work I really want to get done in a very slow and plodding way,
and some health issues that I really must take seriously so exercise
and stress reduction are crucial. Before all that starts, I have a
small chapter to write and at least one major home project: making the
home office/library more livable by buying bookshelves and unpacking
boxes. Meanwhile I also want to keep up with our family projects --
somehow! Really just thinking about all I have to get done by the end
of the calendar year makes me want to crawl back into bed. So I have to
just keep my head down and keep working, but without stressing myself
out because of the health concerns!
GEW
1) Complete Christmas list and shopping (ambitious!)
2) Get new debit card
3) Make hair appointment
4) Make at least one doctor/dentist appointment.
5) Submit book order forms which are way past due.
6) Read important secondary source book, along with an additional article or chapter or two.
7) Make cookies for 4-H event and remember to attend said event.
1) 2nd draft of Chapter 2
2) 2nd draft of Chapter 3
3) submit article based on Chapter 1
4) Draft introduction
5) Take regular five-minute breaks to exercise, and also take long walks, swim, and do yoga (a combo of at least 5 per week)
6) Go on a 3-4 day writing retreat
humming42
Do something research/writing related every day and keep track of it
Finish the book review
Work on abstract due mid-month
1. Make significant progress on manuscript revision
2. Continue weekly meditation
3.
Finish remaining outstanding projects (2 book reviews, conference
presentation, miscellaneous service things) and make deadlines (for what
is not already past due!)
JaneB
1) Survive week with teaching and grading done on time
2) Wrap some Christmas presents
3) Make up mind about whether to pull out of the upcoming conference.
a) tie up all the summer writing projects that made it off my desk
(that's write and give two conference talks, do minor revisions for two
articles and a revise and resubmit for a third, contribute as needed to a
multi-author paper and complete the writing and submission of a
smallish research grant. Oh, and a Research Service project in my
field). I'd like to also make some progress with the things that didn't
quite ever get off my desk, which are several articles and grant ideas
in various stages of incompleteness, but these will probably have to
wait until January.
b) look after myself - keep up and improve my
exercise habit, eat well, go to bed before midnight, declutter, all the
usual stuff
karen
1. Set up pre-break meetings with all postgrads with a focus on having a clear sense of their direction for the next month.
2. Wrap up remaining writing commitment.
3. Set up meeting for next year's online unit planning.
4. Self care by focusing on filling up on nutritionally-dense food and 3x online yoga class/self-directed practice.
1. Complete P1 events and have a first draft of a paper relating to it
2. Improve self care in sleep, exercise, and eating
3. A smooth run into Christmas
kjhaxton
1. final push - gemstone paper will be submitted
2. christmas crafts - I have a lot of stocking shapes to cut out!
3. acronym report - need a plan!
1. Submit a paper (Gemstone or acronym)
2. Conduct scary research once ethical approval is received (hopefully for the planned start).
3. Make 100 hand-crafted items (including squares for my latest knitted blanket and Christmas cards)
4.
Get into the habit of regular time periods to focus on my research
projects and papers. At least 4 hours (a half day) per week.
Matilda
1) Finish the draft of the paper.
2) Do three minute-exercise three times a day.
1) Revise Chapter 2 of my book and finish the first draft.
2) Write an article related to Chapter 1 of my book.
3) Do three minutes exercise at least 5 times a day.
4) Write at least for 15 minutes every day.
Maude
This is my year before I go up for tenure, so I'm feeling the pressure
of getting things done. My mentor and dear friend has sent me a timeline
of what he wants from to help me get my stuff written (since I need
external accountability), and he wants a full length article by October
15th. Uh, so the research for the article is nowhere near done. I've
read like 2 things. So I guess the next two weeks I'll pound out some
research and then turn what I have from the conference paper into a full
length article to send to him.
It's all imperative that I eat right, sleep, and workout during all of this, otherwise, I won't make it.
Mercy
1. finish complete draft of HA paper so it can be sent off (either to friendly readers or into the world, depending)
2. keep up w/teaching, prep, and grading without overdoing it (i.e., no prettying up PPPs)
3. make time each week for each kid, partner, and self (lunch walks, play w/kids, museum visit)
metheist
1) Grade assignments that are way post due
2) Spend an hour a day on my own work
3) Rearrange living room/office area to eliminate chaos
1) Finish editing Behemoth
2) Write 1500 word review essay
3) Write 1000 book review
Susan
1. Keep making progress on references
2. Work on big deal thing - draft letter
I was on leave last year, finishing a book manuscript. I'm in to the
"almost final revision" phase, based on comments from an editor. By the
end of the session, I want to have submitted my manuscript to a
publisher. That means one more round of revisions, and also fixing
footnotes. In the midst of all that, while serving on a boat-load of
committees, I am giving three different papers (four, if you count one
in early January). Three of the four are based on the book and not too
difficult, but still, they will be interruptions. I'm also trying to
get back into the exercise routine.
-Also, I need to knock out the lit analyses on Thursday when they come in so they are out of the way, and get totally caught up on grading for the grad class. And I really want to enjoy Halloween this year. Last year the kid had the flu, tonsillitis, strep, and a double ear infection all at once on Halloween, so we didn't do a thing but sleep. Hopefully, knock wood, this year will be better for her.