Welcome to the new session of TLQ! We will run until the weekend of 14-15 December.
The start of the new academic year is chaotic, and means saying goodbye to the slower pace and greater control of our own time that we (like to pretend we) get during summer, but it's also a time of new beginnings: new stationary, new students, new classes, new routines. Whether you're already a few weeks into the routines of the semester, or still dealing with getting started, let's make the most of the "new start" spirit as we set goals for this session of TLQ. It's become a good habit here that we set both writing and self-care goals (after all, the self does the writing, and if it's weary and worn it can't perform at its best) - so for this week's topic, if you feel like it, let's collect suggestions for seasonal self care (autumn or spring, whether it's a recipe (roasted butternut squash and chestnut lasagne...), a drink (hot apple cider with cinnamon...), or a thing to do (bring some leaves indoors, knit a new scarf...).
Anyone is welcome to join, as ever, and dropping in and out is also perfectly normal. Join by posting a bit of an intro about yourself, your goals for the session as a whole, your goals for next week, and your topic response if you want.
If you're also reporting in on how you got on last week or during the whole intersession, using the goals you set yourself as part of the intersession, could you do that in a separate reply to help Susan and I keep track of which goals are which?
Here's wishing you all a happy new (academic) year, and hoping it had at least some fun new stationary in it (I got a rainbow of washi-tapes and an expensive brand of brush pen. I may be slightly infatuated with the brush pen)!
I'm Susan, co-host with JaneB for this session. I'm a senior faculty member in the humanities at a new research university. I work on the history of a country where I don't live. I live in a smallish city in the unfashionable part of California, with two cats. My mother (88) lives in the same city, and I'm the first point of contact when anything goes wrong. So there's that...I have a sister who lives far far away, and a brother who lives only about 250 miles away with 5 y.o. twin niece and nephew. I'm in the process, following a big birthday this year, of trying to slow down, get off the "I must do all the things".
ReplyDeleteTopic: Autumn self-care: Autumn is harvest time. So -- I make and freeze a batch of pesto, I'll make some jalapeno jelly with the peppers in my garden. As it gets cooler and it rains, I'll need to get into weeding the garden. I've also been walking regularly, and my schedule this fall will make that more difficult in the morning (my usual walking time) as it gets light later...
Goals for the Session:
Academic
1. I will send off what I think are final revisions of Violence (the essay that would not die) this week.
2. I have a short blog post to write that will close a series on a major book in my field.
3. I'm speaking at a session celebrating 50 years of a journal in my field, so I have to read all 50 contributions to the special issue of the journal, and think about what I want to say. I'll call this journal
4. Start revising an essay I wrote a few years ago that needs rethinking. I'll call this "Race"
5. Keep working on Big, the edited volume I'll be involved in.
6. I'm likely to get another essay back from editors, so there will be time for a small amount of work on memorial.
7. Keep up with teaching. Neither of my classes is difficult, but both are semi-new to me, and involve a fair bit of thinking.
Life:
1.Take one day off each week
2. Keep walking - 10,000 steps a day is a goal
3. Start reading instaed of iPad at bedtime.
4. Try for 7 hours of sleep
Week ahead:
1. Read essays for Journal.
2. Send off violence
3. Look at Race, decide a plan
4. Walk in evenings if necessary
5. Read for reading group
I like the idea of "harvest time." That could be a useful metaphor for the coming months.
DeleteCHECK IN FROM LAST WEEK (intersession)
ReplyDelete1) daily good habits: 45s, bed by midnight, FooMood diary, leave office by 6pm, do something non-work (chore or fun) every evening yes during the work week, sort of during the weekend
2) house to baseline ready for new semester (starts a week on Monday): hoover and tidy upstairs, keep on top of the kitchen and clothes laundry, change bed and do at least one set of "linens" laundry, etc. no, yes, no, no. sigh
3) office to baseline: continue to sort out my microscope workspace and make sure the things I need to do this semester are very easily available and ready to go, sort through the paper files near my desk and set up something resembling a system no, yes
4) small research things: finish PCfu figure and send draft off, sort out two tiny grant applications, get the obituary written, set up the live projects page in my new teaching bullet journal no, but I redrew it manually and now know what I need to do, yes, sent to Incoming for comment, no
5) teaching prep (not small): check timetable info, put timetables into diary etc., prepare programme for tutors and send out, prepare class info for first week back, try and get VLE sorted for all classes. Prepare for meeting of working group on Feedback Good Practice which I for some reason am leading (sigh) mostly, yes, yes for one level prepared but not sent for the others, ish, ish, no
6) get in touch with my NaNoWriMo thing from last year. nope, I tried to update Scrivener and apparently it now hates me :-(
The beginning of year stuff is getting in the way of planning already, but I did quite well at the habit stuff which is probably the most important. I thought I was doing great, but as soon as the weekend came around I felt absolutely done in and wrung out - and my allergies are being mean to me :-(
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteSemester goals:
1. Keep up with grading and class prep. (I'm teaching two classes I haven't taught in a LONG time, so they're pretty new, with new texts and such, and one class I'm pretty sure of.)
2. Keep up with prep and committee work
3. Do a good job chairing the committee I'm chairing, and working on two other big committee projects.
4. Write a big report.
5. Write a the statue paper that's part of the bigger paper.
6. Exercise three days a week. (Does mowing count?)
For this week:
1. First big committee meeting
2. Already grading
3. Start prepping for the search I'm chairing (it's a spring search, which seems weird)
4. Practice violin (I just joined an intermediate level orchestra!)
5. Get to bed by 9:30 most nights.
6. Get some exercise.
Welcome! I think mowing counts as exercise - it's movement in the fresh air after all!
DeleteI hope the orchestra is fun!
I agree that mowing definitely counts. Rumor has it that French women don't exercise, they just integrate more movement into their lives, like walking a lot. Mowing is 10X walking a lot!
DeleteMowing is exercise, for sure. Double points because it's so loathsome. (I hate mowing. One of the reasons that we bought the house we bought is that it has a large yard but NO LAWN--which comes with its own set of problems, but neither of us could stand another summer of mowing!)
DeleteWelcome! Yay for the orchestra -- it's fun to play in a group!
DeleteAnd as the others say, mowing is *definitely* exercise.
I guess I'm the only one who likes mowing. Small plot, push mower (so not noisy or smelly), satisfaction of seeing real progress, even though it is one of those tasks you have to keep doing.
DeleteTHIS SESSION:
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm JaneB and I'm hosting this session with Susan. I'm a Reader at a regional university in the Uk which is currently undergoing some difficulties and handling them in what feels like an unthoughtout and hysterical way ("no changes will affect frontline services this semester", they say, but my department is losing both administrators and at least one teaching-support technicial at the end of September and the centralised student services and records team are losing about a third of staff at the same time, and every name I've seen so far is an experienced and knowledgable member of the team...). We were already facing a tough year due to a hiring freeze and some people we were counting on being seconded to admin/central roles - which is good in that they pass us information and hopefully will represent us well, but bad in that we still have to teach students. The first and second year cohorts are relatively small (key cause of panic), but the third year is both huge and well laced with Students Who Need Extra Support). It's going to be a very tough year - so self-care has to be a priority.
I also tend to be more verbose the less time I have. Warning! :-)
DeleteGoals for the session:
1) self-care. key features here are sleeping enough (or at least spending enough time in bed, if I can't sleep), moving enough my stupid joints/back don't get too noisy, saying "no" or "not now" more often, working on slowly getting my house and finances into order, and taking some quality time to think about what I might do if I do lose my job and identifying some practical steps (I think, and my most pessimistic and university-politically-savvy colleague thinks, that academics in our area are probably safe from involuntary severance until Summer 2021, and that our subject area is likely to survive if the university does - but who the hell knows in this world of Brexit and Boris-the-career-liar-who-can't-stop-lying being our prime minister and the general cultural turn against experts and what feels like a big looming recession?) (this means a) working on preparing some job materials which manage to sell my strengths (I am very experienced at preparing new teaching, especially in the unpopular areas of "skills in the discipline") and explain my weaknesses (lack of grants) as contextual (new teaching every year, lots of papers despite lack of people) not personal and looking for jobs (unlikely, but...) and b) probably doing one of those short courses in editing or proofreading or indexing, as my specialist writing skills seem like the most potentially non-academic lucrative skills I have (given my creakiness and age, and that even at senior levels industry positions in my research field are both very badly paid and involve quite a lot of outdoors work, hiking and mud and travel)
2) Research: finish and submit at least one substantial grant application, complete benchwork on FavouriteIslands samples, get the paper ProblemChild1 submitted somewhere and FlatProject1 fully drafted and ready to go, and do the equivalent of another paper's worth of data analysis and writing (lots of options, mostly depending on others).
3) teaching: I am leading a complete redesign of the two key first year modules (which will save quite a lot of money as we change out the field trip venue), I have to look after all exchange students going out or coming in, I'm supposed to be setting up a new programme with industrial placements... this trimester I also have a solo honours module which I taught for the first time last year (but it's moved trimester, which changes the timing of everything, there's a big timetabling problem which messes up my teaching plan, and chunks of it were taught by Incoming last year so need to be rewritten so I can teach them - his materials are scrappy & students were not happy so starting over will be easier) and also will be covering some gaps in modules related to my primary research skills (we hired someone who said they could do it all, but I said they couldn't, and I was right, and now I'm the only person left who can cover some parts of what we need - and we can't change ANYTHING of the advertised content this year, so we have to manage), and looking after the final year project module for the big cohort of needy students and the tutorial/study skills support programmes for the other years. Whine whine! (But I am only on an 80% contract so I do feel kind of whiny!). And next semester will be worse. So, goals for this semester are: resist the urge to get fancy with the redesign of the first year and third year. Get the new degree programme to the stage of either progress to full paperwork or denied. Rewrite all the stats teaching for the second semester module so that it is as close to ready to go as possible. Be responsive to students, and focus on a pedagogy of kindness approach (because I will need kindness, my colleagues will, and often the best way to get is to give out. Plus students tend to be forgiving of slip-ups if they feel genuinely cared for, and kindness is a good way of summarising all the things that make them feel like that).
GOALS FOR THE WEEK UNTIL 22nd SEPT:
DeleteThis week is induction week so we have lots of stuff for first years but all classes for higher years start NEXT week. Sort of a gentle start, sort of not! I also have agreed to do an outreach event on Thursday evening, sigh.
1) maintain the habits I started in the intersession (bed before midnight, 45s to get small regular movement in at work, keeping a food/mood diary, not eating refined sugar, leaving work before 6, doing something non-work every workday evening)
2) small things this week: finish drawing up a figure for the grant idea called PCfu (ProblemChild follow up) and send the draft to FormerPDF. move FlatProject reanalysis on one step. Check with FormerPDF what she did about PC1 issue. Sort out FavouriteIslands samples. Chase up obituary.
3) prepare all teaching materials for following week, and set meeting times for all my tutees and project students
If you can maintain good habits and get some small things done, that will be great! Transitions are hard.
DeleteI keep snickering over "PCfu," because I am 12. Thanks for spelling it out here.
Hello! Heu mihi here, assoc. prof. of medieval literature at a public research university in the northeastern corner of the U.S. I skipped the intercession because I was on vacation the first week, then struggling through the first weeks of the semester. It was a rocky transition, but classes have stabilized, I'm re-networked to the office printer, and I'm starting to re-accustom myself to being around/in front of large groups of people on a regular basis. Also, this semester I get Thursday afternoons until about 5:30 home--and mostly alone--and this is glorious, glorious.
ReplyDeleteSo. Session goals:
Research:
1. Proofs and indexing for my book. Due mid-Oct., and I need to start tomorrow. If I do 12 pages per weekday, I'll be fine.
2. Abstracts: Two due Oct. 1
3. Conference paper: For mid-Nov.
4. Edited collection proposal: ASAP
Self: Maintain good routines.
5. Sit a reasonable amount. I've had good luck these last two weeks meditating at 8:00, after Bonaventure (age 7) gets on the bus.
6. Language work: Finish this textbook already.
7. Daily writing/research/reading.
8. Don't prep on the weekends. (I hate, hate, hate prepping on Sunday afternoons. It makes me monstrously grumpy.)
This week:
1. 60 pages of proofs/indexing
2. Sit x 5
3. Language x 2
4. All prep for Mon & Tues done by the time I go home on Friday
5. Submit abstract #1
6. Consult with co-editor and determine next steps for collection
Welcome! Congratulations on getting into the new semester, and networking the office printer. They changed the process for our networked printers over the summer, and I've had to install the driver twice....
DeleteGood luck with the no-weekend-prep resolution! I'd love to do the same. But it's that or Monday morning in good research time . . . so far I often am taking the Monday time to prep, and it is nice to have the weekend, but it would be even nicer to get far enough ahead to have both!
DeleteHi! Jenny here, an Associate Professor at a SLAC on the East Coast. I so appreciate the new beginnings theme, as I tend to focus on all the loss of free time and ability to be more balanced that we lose with the start of school. I don't want to be a curmudgeon for the entire semester, so a reminder to focus on the positive is a good one for me. Fall often brings more walks outside in the cooler air, bubble baths, and cooking of hearty stews, soups, and chili.
ReplyDeleteSession Goals:
1) Transform two conference papers into two chapters for edited volumes (due end September), finish Ch 7 of book
2) Writing three times a week, lab work one time a week
3) Do Master Naturalist class (one night every other week and one Saturday a month)
4) Decorate house with things from my parents
5) Exercise x 3 a week
This week:
1) Complete chapter for edited volume, first draft
2) Send bits of conference paper to co-author for developing into chapter for edited volume
3) Pull new samples for Fri lab
4) Follow up with new decorator appointments
5) Exercise x 3
4) Plane ticket for memorial service for Mom to dedicate bench at Botanical garden
Hi Jenny! I like the ideas of walks in the cooler air and hearty stews.
DeleteThe memorial service and bench sound lovely. I hope the trip is all you hope it will be.
DeleteThis time of year is very nice for outdoor walks. So often, where I live, it's either too hot or too cold for outdoor exercise (I am not so hardy as Bardiac), so I do try to take advantage during the fall.
I’m Linda, aka humming42, recently promoted professor teaching in the humanities at a mid-sized third-tier state school in the US Southwest. Glad to be here as ever.
ReplyDeleteSession goals are mostly projects to which I am already committed...and perhaps a bit overcommitted. All projects require planning and incremental work, so I am hopeful to avoid as much TRQ urgency as I can.
Session goals:
1 Complete and submit five book reviews
2 Complete two article reviews
3 Submit grant proposal
4 Submit residency proposal
5 FInish and present Perform
6 Write and submit DQ paper
7 Write and submit December paper
8 KR abstract
Tallying up, I see that five of the above eight session goals happen before 1 November, so the next six weeks promise to be intense. This is to the benefit of December paper, a big project for which I have long been collecting data but not even considered analysis. At least there’s a working hypothesis.
This week:
1 Finish and submit book review
2 Submit article review
3 Finish writing sample for residency proposal
4 Write every day
Maybe you will be an inspiration to us all with your incremental work and avoidance of urgency!
DeleteI will do my best!
DeleteI'm a professor of English at Large Regional University in the American Midwest, married to Sir John, still saddled with a large old house we're trying to sell, and servant to three cats.
ReplyDeleteSession goals:
*Live with uncertainty and work the process w/r/t the house.
*Finish and submit a very old R&R.
*Polish a chapter and write an introduction to my book-in-progress so I can submit it to the press of my choice.
*Keep up with grading and other administrivia so they get their due attention but not more.
*Keep up with exercise, stretching, FODMAP-safe cooking, and other necessary physical maintenance.
Goals for this week:
*tidy the garden
*daily reading/writing for research purposes (x5)
*grade one set of papers when they come in
*daily exercise and stretching (x6)
Intersession report: My husband retired during the intersession. That is, he's still finishing off some documentation, but he has given notice and today is clearing out his office. So I was a little distracted! My goals for the intersession were these:
ReplyDelete*establish a working schedule: STILL IN PROGRESS;
*grade promptly and keep up with other prep: BARELY (I always say, " 'barely' counts");
*finish the albatross R&R: NO;
*take care of my physical self through exercise, sleep, and cooking; make some medical appointments: DID WELL AT THE DAILY STUFF, but NO to phone calls.
On the "albatross," I've decided that I'm waiting for a day/days when I feel well and am willing to push aside all other work and just focus on that one thing. A sort of productive procrastination project, perhaps. It is driving me nuts not to have it done, but it does need a chunk of open time in which I can think about the whole thing; 30 minutes here and there isn't going to work. I'll know the time slot when I see it. The other things I'm working on this fall are more amenable to working in little bits; the main challenge is to do those bits and not get caught up in the less-important more-urgent activities.
Looking forward to our discussions/reports here, as always!
Hello, all. I am Elizabeth, a tenured associate librarian at a large state research university in New York State (sometimes called the unseen side of the apple). I am ABD in Medieval Studies, and am trying to transform that into a rare books PhD. I have an elderly Standard Poodle; a husband (the Philosopher); and two sons: one in college (the Historian); and one in graduate school (the Political Phiosopher). If you are new to the group, I will say only that I am mired in the worst sort of college politics I’ve ever experienced, so I will whine from time to time about that. I am trying very hard to concentrate on self-care, because the stress of the job is taking its toll on me. My session goals will reflect that, as well as trying to do something new, or revisit something that could turn out a new product.
ReplyDeleteSession goals:
Steal outright JaneB’s idea of setting an alarm for 45 minutes, so that I get up, move about, and take a break.
Instead of haunting the vending machines, make lunches the night before.
Declutter the work office, at least as far as to see the surface of the desk and to have all the books standing, not laying, on the bookshelf.
Outline the Aurelius project.
Edit the Illuminated project.
Next week:
Walk at least 2.5 miles x 5.
Take homemade lunch x 4.
Edit one page of Illuminated x 3.
Outline the intro and lit review of Aurelius.
Sorry for joining so late. I am finally at a retreat where I can think and my stomach doesn’t roil. Thank you to Susan and JaneB for hosting this session. Float like mist, everyone.
Welcome. I hope this provides some respite from awful politics. (As it has to me when I've had to deal with them.)
DeleteI am sure it will, thank you, Susan.
DeleteIntersession report:
ReplyDeleteMove half an hour x 6. Yes
Find a place where I can download my 3.5 floppy to a flash drive or cloud. (Thanks for the suggestion, Dame Eleanor) Yes
Pull/shred fifteen files. Yes
Destress, breathe, take the long view. Most of the time, punctuated with bouts of anger.
There was a lot of “middle-grade mean girl” stuff going on this week, and lots of documenting and counting nonsensical things. “Check this list three times a day in case there is something on it.” I can sometimes see the absurdity of it, but not always.
Intersession report:
Move half an hour x 6. Yes
Find a place where I can download my 3.5 floppy to a flash drive or cloud. (Thanks for the suggestion, Dame Eleanor) Yes
Pull/shred fifteen files. Yes>
Destress, breathe, take the long view. Most of the time, punctuated with bouts of anger.
There was a lot of “middle-grade mean girl” stuff going on this week, and lots of documenting and counting nonsensical things. “Check this list three times a day in case there is something on it.” I can sometimes see the absurdity of it, but not always.
Even better, at the moment, I am curled up in a rocker in a 1838 inn in the Catskills with a glass of wine, writing a WWII era novella (and these posts), surrounded by fellow writers creating words all around me. It is bliss. I raise my glass to you all, friends and companions on this quest to keep the important things front and center.
Apologies for the repeated paragraphs--I could try to blame the internet up here in the mountains, but I suspect it is the wine.
DeleteThat sounds divine!
DeleteIt has been absolutely divine--and I wrote upwards of 5000 words, which is even better.
Delete