the grid

the grid

Sunday 9 July 2017

Week Eight: In Medias Res

I can't believe it, but we are mid-way through our session. This freaks me out more than a little bit, but it's good for me to recognize this reality so that I can be intentional about the remaining weeks. I'm sorry I was a bit MIA in the comments this past week (getting new carpet took over my life), but I am appreciative of JaneB's attentiveness despite her busy week and development of a cold.

I did, however, read the posts, and I want to give a few "shout outs":

  • DEH, It's great that you prioritized research last week!
  • KJHaxton, I hope radiotherapy is going as smoothly as possible.
  • humming42, congrats on the research proposal!
  • Matilda, nice job taking control of your own work space even if it isn't everyone else's favorite arrangement (your action on this point inspirational for me).
  • JaneB, congrats on the great reception of your research, and I hope your cold is waning rather than waxing.
  • Notorious, I hope you had a great week of aunting.

Now, on to this week's business. Since we are at the mid-point, it seems worthwhile to follow our usual custom of revisiting session goals to see if we need to reconsider, revise, or reframe them. To that end, I've listed the session goals below, followed by the most recent weekly goals. I hope I didn't omit anyone! When you check in, you can address session goals first, and then you can evaluate your progress from last week and set goals for the next week.  I look forward to reading your posts/comments!


SESSION GOALS:

Contingent Cassandra
--Make consistent progress toward making at least one kind of movement (walking, swimming, weight-lifting, gardening) part of most days. 

Dame Eleanor Hull
*First six weeks: primary goal is packing up my house and doing necessary maintenance to sell it. I'm trying to put in 1-2 hours a day on research and teaching tasks.
*Five weeks in UK: in addition to teaching responsibilities, which involve field trips as well as classroom work and grading, visit two places of personal significance, and ramp up the research considerably, since I will be living a few minutes' walk from a major research library that calms and inspires me.
*Final three weeks: take a week off from all work, then prep for the fall semester, mop up whatever tasks need mopping. With any luck, unpack in new place.
*Product goals: sell house, move; review all sections of translation that I have yet to review; get two R&Rs out the door (probably a good UK task); read, take notes, and move my book project forward; finalize syllabus for UK teaching; plan for fall classes.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Session mantra: Move, contemplate, create
Plan and draft sabbatical request.
Walk at least half an hour every day.

GoodEnoughWoman (GEW)
1) Do all things necessary to get kids set up in their own rooms (rooms that will be good sanctuaries for them for the rest of their time at home). This will involve MUCH moving and purging (and building of a backyard "office/library/studio/witch hut"). 
2) Eat the rainbow and help my family do the same.
3) Move more and build family practices for kids to do the same. 
4) Read daily (and somewhat widely) within sci-fi and also academia (esp. c18 Brit lit and any scholars with good writing styles). Finish reading Dune.
5) Write at least five days per week, whether free-writing, formal academic writing, notes about texts I plan to teach, poetry, fiction, or journaling--all with the goal of exploring my interests/subjects areas while also improving my writing style (which was criticized [rather mildly, but still] by one my article reviewers). I think parentheses were probably part of my problem.
6) Since we aren't traveling as much, take advantage of local attractions and activities.
7) Spend more time on family to improve relationships, future memories, and bonds. (The relationships are good, but they definitely played second-fiddle to the PhD for the past year.)

heu mihi
The first three are non-negotiable: 
1) Revise Norway talk (by 6/18)
2) Draft tenure statement (by 6/1); revise it (by 7/1)
3) Write ACLA paper (by 6/18)

The other big goal is...finish Book 2! I don't need to have this done by the end of the summer, strictly speaking, but for various reasons I want to. This involves the following sub-goals:
4) Revise chapter 3
5) Revise chapter 5
6) Revise chapter 2
7) Full read-through and revision
8) Write a conclusion

humming42
1 As ever, write 5x/week
2 And also, read 5x/week
3 End of month Pop revision
4 Revise and resubmit book review
5 Meet deadlines for Talk project
6 Draft outline for workshop
7 Outline and lit review for Snow project
8 Pick and complete a project to submit for conference

JaneB
For the first six weeks, my goals are something like
1) domestic chaos reduction and self-care (semester recovery)
2) conquering all assessment paperwork efficiently and putting modules "to bed" as tidily as possible (i.e. with changes for next year either made or clearly identified, etc.)
3) having a good set of lists of preparation for late September, and having the main logistics for the early October fieldtrip in place
4) complete analysis for ProblemChild project, and have drafted our parts of the first two papers (for a meeting on 29th June when we hopefully get all the authors together and submit the darn things)
5) make good progress on PickyPaper
6) finish and submit that GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted!
7) go through and act on all the notes from the conference and workshop I just attended, the two I went to in March, and the things I've left aside in my email since January (or at least add them to a single list).

Karen
1. Put in promotion application
2. Have a documented map of full new degree structure informed by one feedback cycle
3. Make progress on KL project (application); Grass (conference paper, data gathering); and Farm (creative work)
4. Create more functional spaces at home with a focus on lounge room, bedroom, and built structures in the garden.
5. Nurture self with improved sleep, regular exercise.

KJHaxton
1. Recover from surgery (it was last week) and finish up the current rounds of treatment. Negotiate return to work.
2. Submit an abstract for, create a poster for (assuming abstract accepted) and attend conference at end of summer
3. Finish some knitting projects
4. Start and finish a printing project

Matilda
1) Finish the revision of the first drafts of Chapter 2~5.
2) Make a concrete plan of the structure of the book.
3) Establish good eating and exercising habits.

Notorious, PhD
• draft two book chapters (crappy draft okay) 
• Revise co-authored article MS (this one's a maybe; chapters are the priority)
• Go through all papers/files in home & office & e-mail inbox and throw away or properly file everything.
• Reboot my physical fitness

Susan
1. Desk clearing/deck clearing: I ran away for a bit over a week in the UK right after the end of our term (a talk and a paper), came back and almost immediately had to drive my mother 250 miles for an event at my niece/nephew's school. (Why this is a late check in). My desk/study is a TOTAL disaster. I need to clear off the stuff from this past year's teaching to make space for next year, and to be able to work.
2. Course preparation: I'm teaching a new graduate seminar, and an altered version of a course I've taught before. I want to get ahead on them so it's not all last minute.

3. Finish Old Conference paper and submit it for publication. (the proceedings were supposed to become a volume, but didn't, and I've been encouraged to submit this to a journal.) Probably needs a week or so of work, but nothing too extreme.

4. Make revisions to "Way Outside", a paper that took over the last session, when I get comments from the editors. (This paper is in another discipline (English) and another century (20th) from that I usually work in, which is why it has it's name.) My hunch is that it's close to done, but like Old Conference, it needs a week or so to polish it, deal with formatting questions, etc.

5. New Project 1: I have a plan for a short book that is largely synthetic. I want to start writing/outlining

6. New Project 2: I am thinking through my next BIG project (I'm assuming 8-10 years), and I'd like to spend some time reading/thinking about how I might approach a big broad subject.

7. Read. I have been trying to get back into reading novels/books.

8. Walk regularly. When I'm not teaching, I need to pay real attention to keep myself moving.

9. Relax. I just published a book, and I am trying not to make myself crazy with deadlines. 

Waffles
1. Submit trans paper
2. Resubmit aging paper
3. Resubmit relat paper
4. Submit gender paper
5. Submit discrepancy paper
6. Submit PTSD paper
7. Submit scoping review
8. Get a handle on longitudinal paper
9. Figure out story for IPV paper
10. Figure out story for suicide paper
11. Move?



LAST WEEK'S GOALS

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Walk forty minutes a day.
Keep track of hydration.
Finish sabbatical application.
Follow the new schedule for the book which began July 1.
Plan for end-of-the week trip to the big city for several doctor’s appointments.

Contingent Cassandra
1. Take a full day off July 4
2. Garden 2x; swim or lift weights 2x
3. Move toward earlier sleep/wake times
4. Begin making plans for vacation weeks

DEH
Self: organize a couple of short sight-seeing trips. Stretch every day.
Teaching: Organize a couple of tours for students.
Research: Review 1000 lines of translation. Make progress on MMP-3 revisions.
House: type packing list and e-mail it to husband.

GEW
1) Write 15 minutes, 2x.
2) Read a few chapters of a book on writing.
3) Walk dog 3x. Yoga or Swim 1x.
4) Move like water, float like mist during the house challenges and chaos.
5) Re-read Solitude conference paper to consider whether or not I'd want to re-visit it for an article.

humming42
1 write 5x
2 set writing and research schedule
3 set up project notekeeping
4 follow up with co-author
5 determine status of Abandoned Project
6 think about grant application

JaneB
1) restructure ProbChildp1p1 following meeting
2) clear desk at office at least
3) be nice to the cold and get enough sleep
4) write up notes from grant meeting and circulate to team
5) set resit work (this will be TRQ the week after next, so would like to get it done this week in a controlled manner) and do timetabling paperwork (due next week, same).

Karen
1. Yoga - 3 home practices (even if little) and 1 class
2. Garden - plan 2017/8 vegetable crops
3. Office - 2 x 25 minutes of clearing the encroaching chaos of floor clutter
4. Read - one article
5. Write - 1 hour on messy first draft of grass text

KJHaxton
1. Keep on knitting - 12 mm needles and multi-strands is so satisfying.
2. Submit conference abstract, small grant application, reply to important emails
3. work on the first tasks in the writing plan
4. draft ethics application and submit for signatures

Matilda
1) Write chapter 2: reading the most fundamental sources first.
2) 5-minute-exercises several times a say.
3) Find ‘my own 15 minutes’ as many as possible. 
4) Think positively, work practically. 

Notorious, PhD
• Writing: 1000 words on Sometimes an Adequate Notion chapter [start point: 700]
• 2 days yoga; 3 meditation
• finish reading 1 major source collection
• Toss or file the stuff from my home desk and bookshelf
(in addition to being a great auntie!)

Waffles
1. Get R&R close to done
2. Reduce scoping review (make a good pass at it)
3. Tables for SU paper
4. Put together lit for expectancies paper

30 comments:

  1. This session is flying by! I know that my mother warned me time would go faster when I got older, but really!! So, how have I done?

    Session mantra: Move, contemplate, create. A little lighter on the contemplation than I would like, but I have been moving more and creating more than I expected
    Plan and draft sabbatical request. Yes. In fact, I have drafted two requests. Plan A is finishing the Prudence book. Plan B is if I can project finishing the book before the sabbatical.
    Walk at least half an hour every day. Yes. I walk, or dance, or do tai chi at least 45 minutes a day.

    I’m going to change my session goals to
    Walk at least 45 minutes a day.
    Work on Prudence book for an hour five days a week.

    Last week’s goals:
    Walk forty minutes a day. Yes. Friday, I walked for 80 minutes.
    Keep track of hydration. Nope.
    Finish sabbatical application. Yes, two of them!
    Follow the new schedule for the book which began July 1. Yes,
    Plan for end-of-the week trip to the big city for several doctor’s appointments. Yes.

    Session analysis: I am very pleased with myself about my work this session. I feel pretty sure that I can keep up the habits that I’ve learned, because I feel good about getting them done. I am to the point where walking feels good. I’m on a new medication that may cause dizziness, so I need to be careful, but even so, I plan to keep moving.

    I finished my first sabbatical request, based on using the time to finish the Prudence book. I then realized that I find myself working on it all the time, so I should have a Plan B just in case I am on track to finish it before next summer. So I did a second one. I need to turn one of them October 1st, but I should have a good idea which one to submit by that time.

    Last week’s analysis:
    I need to figure out a way to track my hydration. I have a water bottle that I am taking to the office tomorrow that I hope will be a visible reminder, and its calibration will help me track consumption. As for the other goals, I am surpassing all of them. I walk at least 45 minutes a day, and I have followed the new schedule for the book--in fact, I am over a week ahead of schedule on it. I finished up both sabbatical applications, too.

    I feel bad that I haven’t commented, but I do thank everyone for the suggestions and support. I hope everyone is moving like water. Excelsior!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, EAM! You really are doing well with TLQ right now, and your spirits seem good, too. I am struck by how much things have changed from several months ago. Do you know what has made the difference? Better health? Better weather? The extra "space" that summer offers? Having a sabbatical on the horizon? All of the above?

      Regardless, very pleased for you that things are going so well.

      Delete
    2. Thank you, GEW! I think it is a combination of factors. I've finally decided to get out of my own way. I can do the research I want to without support from colleagues or even well-
      meaning but very needy family. I take the time to go to the study, and everyone has to fend for himself. I leave work early one day a week, too. Tenure helps, lol.

      Better health, weather, and the prospect of a sabbatical don't hurt, either.

      Delete
    3. I agree with GEW: This is terrific! It's great that you see these changes as sustainable beyond the summer, too. That's the dream, isn't it?

      Delete
    4. Thanks, heu mihi! Yes, that is the dream. I think I'll be able to sustain the changes because I've rediscovered my interest in the project, and I can read earlier sections I've written without cringing! The true test will be when I get to the footnotes, bibliography, and index.

      Delete
  2. Oops, forgot next week's goals!
    Next week’s goals:
    Walk forty-five minutes a day.
    Keep track of hydration.
    One hour five days a week on the Prudence book.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I ended up doing something closely resembling a mid-point checkin last week, so I won't repeat myself here, just note that the advantage and disadvantage of a single goal is that you really notice if you're not making progress toward it. I'm not going to alter it (I note that it was already pretty well hedged, between "progress" and "most days," though I did throw in a somewhat-stiffening "consistent"), just redouble efforts to make the aforementioned progress.

    Goals from last week:
    1. Take a full day off July 4
    2. Garden 2x; swim or lift weights 2x
    3. Move toward earlier sleep/wake times
    4. Begin making plans for vacation weeks

    Achieved:
    1. Yes (I read Tana French's _The Trespasser_, which I very highly recommend).
    2. Lifted weights 2x. Gardened 1x (2nd x got rained out). On the swimming front, got as far as locating equipment, realizing swimming goggles need replacement, and ordering replacement.
    3. Made about an hour of progress (and will be forced to make more this week by early-morning conferences)
    4. Looked at time I have available on calendar; reached out to family I might visit, but haven't heard back yet.

    So, not too bad. This coming week is the draft-conference week for the summer class, aka the most intense week of the summer term. So goals will be modest.

    1. Garden 1x, swim 1x (tomorrow, when I don't have conferences); lift weights 2x
    2. Continue contemplating how best to wring some rejuvenation out of the 17 days I have between commitments in August. Should I travel? Just stay home? There are arguments for both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't read any Tana French, the "The Likeness" is on my to-be-read list. I will check out "The Trespasser," too.

      If you stay home, it seems that it would be important really block off time for relaxation and rejuvenation, yes? I'll be interested to find out what you decide.

      Hope you had a good swim!

      Delete
    2. I'm having a similar travel or not self-discussion about some time off in September, it's never easy to decide when you really want BOTH and ANOTHER WHOLE MONTH OFF AT LEAST!

      Delete
  4. Session Goals:
    1) Do all things necessary to get kids set up in their own rooms (rooms that will be good sanctuaries for them for the rest of their time at home). This will involve MUCH moving and purging (and building of a backyard "office/library/studio/witch hut"). DONE.
    2) Eat the rainbow and help my family do the same. NOT REALLY. We've had to eat out a lot b/c of all of the house stuff.
    3) Move more and build family practices for kids to do the same. NOT REALLY (unless you counting room-painting and stuff-moving)
    4) Read daily (and somewhat widely) within SF and also academia (esp. c18 Brit lit and any scholars with good writing styles). Finish reading Dune. YES FOR SF, no for academic stuff
    5) Write at least five days per week, whether free-writing, formal academic writing, notes about texts I plan to teach, poetry, fiction, or journaling--all with the goal of exploring my interests/subjects areas while also improving my writing style (which was criticized [rather mildly, but still] by one my article reviewers). I think parentheses were probably part of my problem.
    6) Since we aren't traveling as much, take advantage of local attractions and activities. HAHAHA. No. Starting to get better though.
    7) Spend more time on family to improve relationships, future memories, and bonds. (The relationships are good, but they definitely played second-fiddle to the PhD for the past year.) YES.

    The past few weeks have been taken over by house stuff. The bulk of my part is behind me now, so I'm hoping I can improve on some of the above. I'll be on kid duty while my husband works on the backyard and witch hut.

    I think I will change goals #4 and #5:

    4. Just read daily and widely, regardless of topic. As for Dune, I'm not sure.
    5. Write 5x per week, min of 15 minutes. Finish a chapter or a short story.

    Last week's goals:
    1) Write 15 minutes, 2x. DONE!
    2) Read a few chapters of a book on writing. DONE.
    3) Walk dog 3x. Yoga or Swim 1x. YES FOR THE DOG, no for the yoga and swimming.
    4) Move like water, float like mist during the house challenges and chaos. DONE.
    5) Re-read Solitude conference paper to consider whether or not I'd want to re-visit it for an article. NOT DONE.

    During the carpet removal and replacement, I moved like water and floated like mist, which was great and required since my husband freaked out the night before our prep day, saying, "There is no way we can do this." We could do it, of course, and it was necessary for me to be the water and the mist--for him, for myself, and for my kids.

    But I had a realization: Sometimes, I need to be the rock in the river rather than the water than goes around it. Lately, I feel like I'm always the water, changing course and direction whenever anyone else needs me to do so. After a while, doing that leaves me feeling very depleted. This has been an issue for me before, and I usually start to feel better if I make sure that sometimes I can be the rock and not the water. (This is what I liked about Matilda pulling her desk out of her room. She is being a rock because she needs to be. Everyone else is going to need to be the water.)

    This week's goals:
    1) Have parents over for pizza night.
    2) Walk 4x, swim 1x, yoga 1x.
    3) Write 5x.
    4) Clean out 4 boxes/drawers.
    5) Take kids on outings: a trip to the movies, at least one beach trip, and take daughter to Ren Faire. Plan a waterpark trip.
    6) Start planning for August vacation.
    7) Choose important moments to be the rock so that I can do the other TLQ things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What Any Lover Learns
      by Archibald MacLeish

      Water is heavy silver over stone.
      Water is heavy silver over stone's
      Refusal. It does not fall. It fills. It flows
      Every crevice, every fault of the stone,
      Every hollow. River does not run.
      River presses its heavy silver self
      Down into stone and stone refuses.

      What runs,
      Swirling and leaping into sun, is stone's
      Refusal of the river, not the river.

      Delete
    2. I need to post this poem on my cubicle wall, and my front door at home. After a lifetime of being water, I am the rock!

      Delete
    3. Apt, indeed! But I keep re-reading this poem to see if I think the stone's refusal is bad or good. Does this poem suggest it's better to be the water, the river, or the stone? Or does it remain ambiguous about all three?

      Delete
    4. I read it as saying that what catches our eyes, what is beautiful and exciting, happens as the result of a refusal. I never thought about it in terms of what's better.

      Delete
    5. DEH, I'm definitely being reductive as I think about it in relationship to my own metaphor (as I try to give myself permission to be the stone). Thank you so much for posting it!

      Delete
    6. Very interesting poem. It wants to be thought about the way a smooth pebble wants to be fingered...

      Delete
  5. HOW I DID (SESSION):
    *First six weeks: primary goal is packing up my house and doing necessary maintenance to sell it. I'm trying to put in 1-2 hours a day on research and teaching tasks. HOW I DID: I did a lot of packing. I made a long list of stuff yet to do (bad news: long; good news: actually possible to write a list more detailed than “pack all the things). I got estimates for necessary work, some of which is being done while I’m away. I got the bare minimum of summer course prep done, very little research. No point in revising anything here, since those six weeks are over.
    *Five weeks in UK: in addition to teaching responsibilities, which involve field trips as well as classroom work and grading, visit two places of personal significance, and ramp up the research considerably, since I will be living a few minutes' walk from a major research library that calms and inspires me. HOW I’M DOING: keeping up with teaching so far; have been to one of the two places; have been putting in 15-20 hours per week of research. Things are going really well here. If I just keep this up, I’ll be very happy. I would like to add some fall course prep into the mix, if I can.
    *Final three weeks: take a week off from all work, then prep for the fall semester, mop up whatever tasks need mopping. With any luck, unpack in new place. REVISE? I suspect we will not get the house on the market this summer, though that’s still up in the air and depends on how Sir John gets on without me. He has been finding the packing process tiring and depressing (this makes me feel better about how draining I found it). We’ll have to see what happens.
    *Product goals: sell house, move; review all sections of translation that I have yet to review; get two R&Rs out the door (probably a good UK task); read, take notes, and move my book project forward; finalize syllabus for UK teaching; plan for fall classes. REVISE: do everything we can do to prep the house while keeping up with our jobs and staying sane (sell in the fall or next spring?). The syllabus is done. I will have to ramp up translation work to get through all my review sections (sometimes they go quickly, sometimes very slowly); if all goes well, I can get both R&Rs done; I’ve done very little toward the book

    END OF SESSION GOALS:
    In UK: keep up with teaching; continue 15-20 hours of research per week; one more short trip.
    At home: take a week off, prep fall classes, go back to house prep and consult with agent.
    Product goals: finish translation review (a bit of a stretch, but I’ll keep it); finish and submit 2 R&Rs; write fall syllabuses.

    LAST WEEK:
    Self: organize a couple of short sight-seeing trips. ONE ORGANIZED and TAKEN. Stretch every day. 5/7
    Teaching: Organize a couple of tours for students. ONE ORGANIZED and TAKEN.
    Research: Review 1000 lines of translation. 500. Make progress on MMP-3 revisions. YES.
    House: type packing list and e-mail it to husband. NO.

    NEXT WEEK’S GOALS:
    Self: organize second trip. Stretch every day. Swim 3-4 times. Do some shopping.
    Teaching: Grade, be enthusiastic on field trip, organize the other tour.
    Research: Review 1000 lines of translation; write topic sentences for new/revised paragraphs in MMP-3.
    House: type the packing list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I said this week's post, kudos and gold stars for all of the TLQ research work! It does seem like things in the UK are going well. And while I'm sorry Sir John has been struggling with house stuff, I am glad you're able to feel validated about your own struggles on that front. I hope things keep progressing.

      Delete
  6. I am back from my trip and ready to go! I did manage to get through my two during-travel goals, albeit mostly on the plane home: 1) Read through and "final" (for now) revisions to ch. 5; 2) read over ch. 2 to think about how to revise it; 3) start working on the mess at the middle of ch. 2.

    (Re-)Assessment of goals:
    Non-negotiable ones are complete--
    1) Revise Norway talk (by 6/18) DONE; talk given
    2) Draft tenure statement (by 6/1); revise it (by 7/1) DONE; submitted
    3) Write ACLA paper (by 6/18) DONE; talk given

    My other goal was to finish Book 2, which involved the following:
    4) Revise chapter 3 - DONE
    5) Revise chapter 5 - DONE but for fiddly bits in the notes, etc.
    6) Revise chapter 2 - JUST STARTED
    7) Full read-through and revision - NOT STARTED
    8) Write a conclusion - NOT STARTED

    I'm about where I should be through the list, hypothetically, but I have grave doubts about my ability to finish revising ch. 2 (with any degree of integrity) in time to do a full read-through in August. Add to this the following: We're going to the beach in two weeks (for a week), and my son's nursery school ends August 18, meaning that we'll have no child care for two weeks. So I may revise my goals to the following:

    6) Revise ch. 2 as best I can
    7) Finish tenure portfolio (which I need to do anyway)
    8) Prepare for final read-through (by fixing notes and obvious problems in some chapters).

    I'm in a bit of a conundrum with ch. 2: I could easily spend a year, or more, reading a bunch of untranslated (and sometimes unedited) Latin in order to ensure that there's nothing I'm leaving out of it. And this is the natural direction to go, given the way in which I started this chapter and what I was originally trying to do with it. But that seems...foolish, at this stage of the project, and I'm now seeking a way to keep the work that I've done, do SOME of the reading I just mentioned, but not spend a year + on what might turn out to be a handful of footnotes.

    So one goal for this week will be:
    1) Decide what to do about ch. 2.
    Others involve getting my life back to normal, post-trip:
    2) Fix little fiddly bits in chapter 5
    3) Back to exercise routine, more or less
    4) Send book proposal to another publisher (I have interest from one, but am covering my bases)
    5) Take care of little domestic things: a few errands, granola, laundry, etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Regarding Chapter 2, is there a big hole in the chapter without that extra reading? Is the "mess at the middle" related to this extra reading? If not, maybe you can wait to do more reading until the rest is finished? Then (if you have time to do the reading) you could pop in the footnotes during the post-acceptance editing process? Or maybe this extra reading is a whole separate project? Just some thoughts. I'm sure you know better than I do what might work best.

      Welcome home, and I hope you can get back into your routine quickly.

      Delete
    2. Excellent thoughts, actually, and I hope that it works out that way. This week, I need to engage deeply with what I've got to see whether I can make the chapter work without ALL the extra reading....

      Delete
  7. Hello,
    It is already in the middle of this session. I cannot believe it, but I know it really is.

    Topic:
    Well, if I review my session goals, I think I am working well in terms of my eating habit.
    I can avoid chocolates and other sweets, even I love them. My exercise habit at the moment is not bad, anyway I need to cycle every day to take children to go to school. The important - most important parts of my goals, that is, my book project, is not going as well enough as I expected. My mentor advised me that writing a book is very difficult, and I know other people here are working very hard for their own book projects, so it is difficult…However, I am not going to change my goals, while I will change the details of the plan.

    1) Finish the revision of the first drafts of Chapter 2~5. - Only on the way of working on chapter 2.
    2) Make a concrete plan of the structure of the book. - Revising continuously.
    3) Establish good eating and exercising habits. - Keep going.

    This week’s goals:
    1) Write chapter 2: reading the most fundamental sources first. - I am working on it. It is interesting, but I will need to write at the same time.
    2) 5-minute-exercises several times a say. - not done. Only once or twice.
    3) Find ‘my own 15 minutes’ as many as possible. - Well, Ok.
    4) Think positively, work practically. - I think this motto is suitable for me, but I need to be more practical.

    Next week’s goals:
    1) Write chapter 2: continue reading the most fundamental sources, and accumulate 1000 words per day by write / revise.
    2) 5-minute-exercises several times a say.
    3) Find ‘my own 15 minutes’ as many as possible.
    4) Think positively, plan concretely, work practically.

    Have a wonderful week, and let’s enjoy the latter half of this session!

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    1. I like "think positively, work practically," and it's good that you're focusing on getting words on the page even while you read. It's so easy to just read, read, read without writing! Good luck with chapter 2 this week. (It's a big week for second chapters.)

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  8. Half way?!! Ouch. The days are squirming by.

    Session goals:
    1. Recover from surgery (it was last week) and finish up the current rounds of treatment. Negotiate return to work.
    2. Submit an abstract for, create a poster for (assuming abstract accepted) and attend conference at end of summer
    3. Finish some knitting projects
    4. Start and finish a printing project

    I've recovered mostly from surgery, 6/15 radiotherapies done at time of writing, and I'm in phased return for work (2 days a week for now). I submitted two abstracts for the conference (a poster and a presentation) so hopefully they will be accepted. I've registered so am going. I finished a green sparkly scarf, and the knitting is going well, and I made the lino block and screen print for the printing project but both need more work.

    My revised session goals:
    1. Recover treatment, get back to work full-ish time
    2. create oral presentation and poster for (assuming abstract accepted) and attend conference at end of summer
    3. Finish big blanket and purple scarf knitting projects
    4. Start and finish a printing project
    5. Submit ethics form for House project

    I'll be back with weekly goals...

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    1. It's is difficult to see the days squirming by, but I'm glad you're already almost halfway done with the radiotherapy.

      Fingers crossed for the conference.

      And you've probably said this before, but what do you do with all of your knitting projects? Do you keep most? Gift or donate most? You seem to be quite prolific with lovely items.

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    2. I keep most of my knitting but am planning a few potential Christmas present projects. The wee hats (for the tops of bottles) are given to charity. I'm close to saturation of knitted items - I don't think we need any more blankets (and one is for my office!).

      Last week:
      1. Keep on knitting - 12 mm needles and multi-strands is so satisfying. - DONE
      2. Submit conference abstract, small grant application, reply to important emails - Actually all done - woo hoo!
      3. work on the first tasks in the writing plan - not done - booo!
      4. draft ethics application and submit for signatures - partial

      It was actually OK in terms of getting stuff done. I've also been 'up and out' every day, either to campus or to the hospital and that's a routine I've been out of since November. So far I'm not too tired because of it.

      This week:
      1. Keep on knitting (I'd abbreviate that but I don't think I want to Kok)
      2. 15 hours of 'work' in keeping with 2 days/week
      3. work on ethics application
      4. make progress on printing project

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    3. The process of knitting is so beneficial that it's worth the risk of having too many knitted items. I'm not a very skilled knitter, so I just knit a lot scarves that I (and my children) rarely wear. I want to learn slouchy beanies.

      Glad you haven't been too tired!

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    4. I can't follow patterns so haven't graduated from scarves and blankets (and tiny hats) to anything more useful. The concentration required to follow a pattern removes the beneficial aspects for me! I've made a couple of beanie hats, Tin Can Knits have lovely patterns (some free) and critically, good tutorials for any complex bits.

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  9. Ooops, where did last week go and/or where was I last week? (nose down in work stuff trying not to lose my temper/self-control, the usual try to catch up post being under the weather on top of other commitments, and just... blah. When will summer get here? Why are my emotions so all over the place for trivial reasons?).

    first half of session goals:
    For the first six weeks, my goals are something like
    1) domestic chaos reduction and self-care (semester recovery) barely started
    2) conquering all assessment paperwork efficiently and putting modules "to bed" as tidily as possible (i.e. with changes for next year either made or clearly identified, etc.) about half done?
    3) having a good set of lists of preparation for late September, and having the main logistics for the early October fieldtrip in place nope - mostly Other People Problems...
    4) complete analysis for ProblemChild project, and have drafted our parts of the first two papers (for a meeting on 29th June when we hopefully get all the authors together and submit the darn things) YES
    5) make good progress on PickyPaper hahaha no
    6) finish and submit that GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted! waiting on other people. HAve made progress...
    7) go through and act on all the notes from the conference and workshop I just attended, the two I went to in March, and the things I've left aside in my email since January (or at least add them to a single list). about half way with this too

    I note I didn't set goals for the "second half" which was kind of wimpy of me, but I guess I was still hanging onto the dream of at least SOME "proper summer". As it is... well, I've got the first two weeks of September booked as annual leave (not sure whether to travel, stay here and domestic, or some of both). Then we get back straight into pre-semester Stuff (ugh. I still haven't completely finished LAST semester's stuff...). Before then, I've a week of family stuff (aunting, sistering and daughtering), four weeks of high school student supervising two of those with added academic visitor training, and a couple of "normal weeks" without those things but with meetings. In other words - aargh!

    So not adding much to the list, or taking much off!
    Summer goals:
    1) domestic chaos reduction and self-care
    2) having a good set of lists of preparation for late September, and having the main logistics for the early October fieldtrip in place
    3) submit two ProblemChild papers and have the third close to ready
    4) make good progress on PickyPaper
    5) finish and submit that GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted!
    6) go through and act on all the notes from SouthernCountry conference I just attended, the two March Meetings, and the things I've left aside in my email since January (or at least add them to a single list).
    7) slightly stretch: get Ferrett ready for submission, have a complete draft of Gallimaufrey Review, and have started NextGrant (whatever that will be).

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