Hello everyone, I hope your week has gone well. It's properly Autumn now the equinox is past, and here with pleasing symmetry the equinox was the first day it was definitely cool enough for me to add an extra layer to my outfit. The new teaching term arrived with added drama, but at least the leaves are turning and I had some pretty weather to look at outside the window when glancing up from the computer!
For this week's optional discussion topic, let's take a high level view of writing implements (in future weeks we will have space to get into the details of brands and swap recommendations for specific types). What parts of your work do you type, what parts get done by hand? How has that changed over time? Do you find yourself having strong feelings about whether a task requires ink or pencil?
Here's Mr Shoutypants making the most of a patch of late season sunshine (I am a terrible photographer and black, curious cats who tend to rush up to the camera whenever it is pointed at them are not great subjects, apologies)
LAST WEEK'S GOALS:
DAISY
Write outline for upcoming talk
Write one section of talk as paper section
Field work with student on weekend
Major committee stuff - internal
Major committee stuff – two sets external
Write web posts
DAME ELEANOR HULL
- at least 3 writing sessions
- grade grad quizzes, comment on undergrad in-class writing, prep for grad class
- read another essay submission
- read files for committee work
HEU MIHI
2. Write letters of recommendation
3. At least *start* reading (other) grad student's dissertation
4. Finish preliminary round of proofs and indexing
5. Get on top of various life things (call Mom, pay bills, that sort of stuff)
6. Exercise at least 5 times--Friday is optional
JANEB
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days (the two non campus days and one of the weekend days)
b) making a couple of times a week,
c) two gently social things (D&D hopefully)
d) keep up reading for pleasure
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
a) 75%+ of the weekly list of chores
b) make a plan for the shelving in the living room
c) don't make clothes worse
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) complete prep for new honours session and revise week 2 slides to introduce it.
b) get week 3 materials set up (next week is week 1)
b) limit teaching and admin to 5 hours at weekend
c) make contact with all my tutees/supervisees - again
RESEARCH
a) multi-author paper (due 15 October) schedule two meetings
b) attend meetings for big project (more meetings. they love meetings)
c) read and comment on chapter for meeting following week
d) test the computer stuff we set up last week
e) edit/precis box text using comments.
JULIE
2. Workshop for recently retired colleague on Friday.
3. Prep for research trip.
4. Prep for being away for two weeks (my mum is very capable, but still need to make sure everything is lined up for her).
I'm not always consistent with writing tools. For teaching and research, I switch mode when I feel stuck or when I need to think something through - to reverse-outline a paper draft or work out the main elements of an assessment task from Programme Competency to the actual steps, that sort of thing. I definitely feel like I think more effectively with pen and paper, or pencil and paper - something about the freedom from needing to go in neat lines and the space to scribble arrows and doodle trees seems to help me relax into flow state. But I do find that needing to sit in front of the computer, and creating neat rows of text, is also helpful in getting me to apply bum to seat and fingers to keyboard!
ReplyDeleteI don't enjoy the move to editing things online with track changes and comments (I've yet to find a commenting tool that isn't a pain to use) - I much preferred pen on print-out! - but when I'm mostly working with people in multiple locations and on multi-author papers it makes sense to do it online, and it's tolerable! :-)
LAST WEEK:
Was quite stressful, partly because I was feeling anxious about needing to prepare multiple hours of new teaching AND all associated digital resources for the week after next (which sounds like plenty of time, but I can't do more than 8-9 hours of work on any one day without crashing for the next 2-3 days, my diary is quite full of meetings, and I have to release materials a week before classes for inclusion reasons, not to mention needing to allow for the extra energy demands of two days teaching on campus - I'm needing to be careful because boring health things which adds to the anxiety. And there was Drama on the large project and a two hour meeting on my day off which I needed to call into, and faculty have completely dropped the ball on grad student support for practical teaching meaning we've been needing to shuffle staff around to cover for health and safety reasons (plus grad students rely on that work for actual money), and there are some students having registration issues, and there's just a Lot Going On. Which makes me feel off kilter! But it wasn't a terrible week.
SELF-CARE:
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days (the two non campus days and one of the weekend days) yes, just
b) making a couple of times a week,
c) two gently social things (D&D hopefully) one - D&D with nibling
d) keep up reading for pleasure yes
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
a) 75%+ of the weekly list of chores yes! pleased about this because there was a lot of "don' wanna" to overcome
b) make a plan for the shelving in the living room no
c) don't make clothes worse very slightly better (knocked one pile over but then refolded and repiled everything so it is a neater and more functional pile now)
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
Deletea) complete prep for new honours session and revise week 2 slides to introduce it done
b) get week 3 materials set up (next week is week 1) not fully done due to Field Site Drama and consequent changes - we found a good location for the students but they need to collect slightly different samples and data, so the follow up labs and data analysis classes I teach all need to be changed. Sigh!
b) limit teaching and admin to 5 hours at weekend just about - worked nearly all the good hours I had on Friday, but there was a research meeting for a bit of that
c) make contact with all my tutees/supervisees - again yes, and only a few still to respond. Grrr!
RESEARCH
a) multi-author paper (due 15 October) schedule two meetings sent out polls for one meeting - second one will be tricky as one of the key people has gone on fieldwork AGAIN and is out of communication
b) attend meetings for big project (more meetings. they love meetings) yes. Sigh
c) read and comment on chapter for meeting following week not yet
d) test the computer stuff we set up last week not yet
e) edit/precis box text using comments.not yet
EXTRA - the never-ending multi-author paper was resubmitted in the intermission weeks, and came back this week with revise and resubmit, so I fitted in a couple hours going through that with the lead author and coming up with a plan (the main referee report was one of those annoying "stream of consciousness" ones which at first looks very hostile but boils down to one or two main issues complained about repeatedly. It was actually very reasonable, but it had upset the inexperienced main author so the time was needed)
THE COMING WEEK:
So. Many. Meetings. And I can't keep putting off the paper with the 15th October deadline because of the need for teaching prep...
SELF-CARE:
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days b) making a couple of times a week,
c) two gently social things (D&D hopefully)
d) keep up reading for pleasure
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
a) 75%+ of the weekly list of chores
b) make a plan for the shelving in the living room
c) don't make clothes worse
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) get week 3 materials finished off for the first year module (the coming week is week 2)
b) limit teaching and admin to 5 hours at weekend
c) make contact with all my tutees/supervisees - again
d) get week 4 materials sorted for the honours class (they need releasing Tuesday of week 3 so if they are done by the end of this week that will help me relax over the weekend)
RESEARCH
a) multi-author paper (due 15 October) a couple of hours of work, schedule meeting
b) read and comment on chapter for meeting, add to methods text
c) test the computer stuff we set up last week
e) edit/precis box text using comments.
Oh, and add to self-care that I need to print out the Inktober prompts and make a start!
Delete"I can't keep putting off the paper with the 15th October deadline because of the need for teaching prep..." HELLO are you me??
DeleteThat's a lot of different things to juggle!
DeleteI miss being able to write on students' essays. We now use Turnitin and it is horrible for any kind of in-line comments. It was so much easier when you could scribble in the margins and circle all the misplaced apostrophes.
Paper is so satisfying to edit... I hate doing online corrections for galleys with a passion - I usually have to print them out, read/edit, and then enter everything in the online version.
DeleteJaneB, you inspired me to try Inktober this year, I never draw for fun and it sounds like it will be a cool challenge!
Excellent! It's really fun, you can do it in a couple of minutes a day or take a decent amount of time, depending on the day...
DeleteI mostly type. My mother made sure that the summer I was 14 I took typing, and since I was at university my typing has been faster than writing. Over the last 15 years, my handwriting has deteriorated, just because I don't write much. But there are things I write by hand -- my various "to do" lists, for instance, which live on post-it notes all over my desk. And when I'm trying to figure things out conceptually, I'll often get out a pad of paper and write/ draw.
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK:
Ugh. Monday was a complete wash-out, Tuesday I managed to teach on zoom, and do some other stuff, and finally was human on Wednesday and Thursday. How I did:
1. Find chair for session NO
2. Organize a couple of talks NO
3. Prepare for workgroup meeting on Wednesday YES
4. Return to exercise when I return to health YES
5. Figure out how to get microfilms on Interlibrary Loan. NO
6. Have fun trip to winery on Friday YES
AND ALSO I did the abstracts and keywords for Famous Author, though I struggled with writing the chapter abstracts. I finished a personnel review where I took over a colleague's section because her mother is dying. I finished admin stuff that I hadn't even put on my to do list. And I'm about to mail a birthday card to my sister. SO not a complete failure, but not great!
Dealing with the project involving the workgroup has just been a nightmare, and there have been 10 gazillion emails as graduate chair that I am not entirely caught up on. I feel like I'm more or less in control -- I've done all the highest priority things on the weekend list. But Monday morning may put an end to that optimism.
So: for next week:
1. Find chair for session
2. Organize talks
3. Write report on sabbatical (due Wednesday)
4. Write two letters of reference
5. Start thinking about the paper I am giving at the end of October.
6. Buy plane tickets for conference in mid-November
7. Do something about ILL stuff
8. Keep up with exercise
9. Do something fun
10. Sleep
Sounds like a very tough week. I hope you're feeling better and that next week is easier.
DeleteI'm glad you started feeling human by the end of the week and were able to enjoy the winery trip! And your ALSO list has a bunch of things that are important and impressive!
DeleteHope this week is less stressful and that the "something fun" is restorative!
DeleteUgh that was definitely a slog of a week! Hope you have fun with the something fun!
DeleteGreetings from Barcelona, where it is still summer and a shock after what were definitely autumn temperatures last week. Thankfully, we are past the kind of heat that saps the will to live, though it was very muggy yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI type more than I used to, and certainly once I'm at the writing stage, as opposed to throwing ideas around. I do like writing in notebooks, as described last week, and tend to outline papers by hand. I sometimes take notes by hand, sometimes typing. I now keep everything on the university One Drive, so if I'm in a library or archive without decent wifi (surprisingly often) I will often take notes by hand so I don't need to worry that they will disappear into the ether. And a notebook is a lot easier to carry round, and balance on your lap if needed!
Last week:
1. Prep for viva on Thursday and submit report afterwards. - YES (viva was a lot of fun - very smart student who absolutely loves her sources, so a lot of nerdy discussion of wills and seating arrangements in seventeenth-century churches).
2. Workshop for recently retired colleague on Friday. - YES (not really work as I was just there to listen, mostly to more nerdy discussions of seventeenth-century documents, by some very big names. Colleague is indeed the one you know, Susan, and his even bigger name supervisor was there.)
3. Prep for research trip. - JUST ABOUT (this fortnight will tell)
4. Prep for being away for two weeks (my mum is very capable, but still need to make sure everything is lined up for her). - FINGERS CROSSED (left her with Latin and quadratic equations. I may never be able to leave her my kids again.)
This week:
1. Get reading for two different chapters done and fill in as many gaps as possible.
2. Start looking at primary sources (two different archives in different places, so need to work how to juggle)
3. Co-habit peacefully with my dad.
4. See family.
5. Ignore all but urgent and essential emails.
Hola Barcelona! Hooray for a fun viva! I hope the kids and your mom do well in your absence and that you have a great time in the archives.
DeleteI'm here for nerdy discussions of 17th C wills and church seats! And your colleague's supervisor is one of the nicest big names around. (He was hired to replace my husband when my husband retired and so...) Enjoy Barcelona! I hope your research trip is successful AND fun!
DeleteI hadn't realised colleague's supervisor replaced your husband! He does seem lovely, but I have never had the chance to have a proper conversation with him. My first year as a PhD student was his last year in Cambridge, so I remember regularly being at the same seminars with him but being too awestruck to ever say anything.
DeleteLove the cool connections here!
DeleteHope your research time is great and everyone enjoys the change of pace and scenery!
Have fun in Spain - the "fresher's flu" is in full force here so I have class rooms full of sniffles - please make the most of your semester free of it! :-)
DeleteJust want to add that Shoutypants makes me think of a description I read of an eight-year old boy in a novel as being 'a kind of boy liquid that poured itself into any shaped hole available'. I feel Shoutypants is a cat liquid, at least in his photos.
ReplyDeleteI think cats in general are liquid! And they will turn liquid at the worst possible moments; Reina once nearly squirted out of my hands when I had just succeeded in rescuing her from a bad situation, and it was only because my husband was right behind me that he was able to hold her in cat form.
DeleteIt has been written up... Classic paper :)
Deletehttps://www.drgoulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Rheology-of-cats.pdf
Shoutypants is a Newtonian fluid in a very elastic fur suit - he can be a heavy rigid immovable lump or a puddle of fuzz!
DeleteOMG thank you for the link! Marvelous!
DeleteI always have to keep a paper planner with various to-do lists and other notes scrawled all over it. I like editing/revising with a pen rather than on a screen, although I do my actual initial writing on-screen these days, even first drafts (which I used to start with a pen). I like Pilot uni-ball pens, extra-fine (fine is too wide, micro too scratchy), with black ink. I *have* some with blue ink, but I never use them. Maybe I should try them out.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Catch up on emails in all three accounts - YES, OMG that was a lot
2. Write letters of recommendation - For two students, yes; I'll have to work on another this week
3. At least *start* reading (other) grad student's dissertation - NOPE!
4. Finish preliminary round of proofs and indexing - but YES!
5. Get on top of various life things (call Mom, pay bills, that sort of stuff) - YES, there wasn't much, I'm sure more will accumulate this week
6. Exercise at least 5 times--Friday is optional - YES--I took Friday off, then went for a long-for-me (= 5-mile) run on Saturday and made myself sick! Nauseous and headachy all the rest of the day. That's never happened before. I should have stopped at 3.5 miles, when my body made it very clear that it was unhappy.
The lesson I'm trying to learn is to trust my body. I harbor the strong suspicion that my body is secretly a lazy malingerer that requires rigid self-discipline (until such times as I rebel, which happens). I mentioned this to my husband, and he replied, "Has it ever occurred to you that you're secretly excessively self-disciplined and need to relax?" --In funnier, less judgmental language, of course. It was a good point.
This week:
I have meetings out the wazoo, and I bumped into the Dean today and she wants to meet with me...for I think I know what reason. I have mixed feelings.
1. Write LOR for third student
2. Revise index
3. Read 35 pages of Italian novel; maybe attend Italian discussion group
4. Complete periodic review of Gen Ed course (been on my docket for months now)
5. Start reading dissertation
6. Read prospectus
I could keep going, but this is just turning into my work to-do list. These are the things that I'm liable to put off (unlike, e.g., attend a million meetings or prepare for class), and I'd like to do at least some of them, so I'll stop there.
Lots of YES! I have similar feelings about my body though I have got better about letting it be tired when it is tired; OTOH I wish I were even half as disciplined as you when it comes to work. BTW, I finished the Italian novel I was reading and am now on its German (original) version, which will probably be even slower going than the Italian.
DeleteI'd second Dame Eleanor in that you seem very self-disciplined!
DeleteCatching up always feels like a giant mountain of tasks, glad you are feeling mostly caught up. Hope you feel better this week and you can get some non-guilty rest!
DeleteCatching up with email is SO depressing...
DeleteAlso at the moment (burnout, perimenopause, all the rest of it) my body is always tired, I'm just trying to learn which kind of tired, is it the "you must stop NOW or you will feel rotten for the next 48 hours" kind or the "a bit of stretching and some fresh air and I can carry on" or the "did you remember to drink water?" or the "bored of sitting, you actually need to move but that still feels like tiredness" tiredness. And there are others. You know, when I describe things like this, I begin to relate to some of the autism things that I would have dismissed as not me at all before I started researching - such as poor interoception. Because those sound like things that should be pretty distinct!
DeleteLike heu mihi, I use a paper planner. It helps make time more concrete; if I write in recurring meetings/classes by hand, I really internalize when they are. I do a lot of outlining by hand, as well, though I don't really take advantage of the opportunity to "map" things. But I do draw arrows and work in parallel columns, or play around with horizontal vs vertical outlines for different themes or approaches. This goes right alongside computer use for free-writing on quotations or ideas, and with recent experiments with PowerPoint as an outlining tool.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- swim x2 or x3, cardio x3, weights x2, yoga x5: YES (swimx3, yay)
- at least 3 writing sessions: YES, though they were not very productive.
- grade grad quizzes, comment on undergrad in-class writing, prep for grad class: YES
- read another essay submission: NO
- read files for committee work: NO. These files are now on another software system so they have to be accessed separately, whereas when they were on Blackboard I sometimes would "sneak in" some reading before I did class work. It was convenient having everything in the same system.
New goals:
- swim x2 or x3, cardio x3, weights x2, yoga x5
- at least 3 writing sessions
- grade undergrad essays, prep for grad class, write and grade grad quiz
- read another essay submission
- read files for committee work
Also like heu mihi I'm wondering if I'm being too hard on my body with the constant exercise. I like it, I'm used to it (psychologically as well physically), I don't have strong reactions such as hm describes, and I'm afraid of de-conditioning (aka getting old) if I ease up . . . but at the same time, I'm not 40 any longer, and it does take a pretty good chunk of the day. Maybe two rest days a week instead of one?
I wonder if women generally are bad at listening to our bodies. We're told pain and discomfort are normal a lot of the time, or we know we're tired, but there's stuff that needs doing so...I'm with you on the benefits, but your exercise schedule does sound intense. Maybe cut a cardio? After all, unless you're just floating, swimming is also cardio, surely?
DeleteProbably a lot of that going around in work realms and exercise realms and life in general... But... not doing whatever thing is involved is only rarely better than doing it... So what to do?
DeleteI'd swim every day if I could, but there's that pesky need for weight-bearing exercise to keep bones in good shape!
DeleteWell that's a sort of argument for retirement, you could replace some classes with swimming AND still have time for the pesky weight-bearing stuff? :-D
Delete
ReplyDeleteNew writing for me often occurs on sheets of paper, collected in folders, with lots of accompanying sketches and notes and odd bits and pieces. It definitely helps me think, and since much of my work for writing needs figures it helps to sort those out earlier in the process rather than waiting for written things to go first. I do record ideas in my general notebook, and for talks I like to do slide outlines on paper before going to actual slides. Helps with organizing and flow I think. For writing and sketching I prefer pencils I think… And coloured pens, love those!
Last week’s goals
Review DONE
Write outline for upcoming talk STARTED
Write one section of talk as paper section STARTED
Field work with student on weekend DONE
Major committee stuff – internal DONE
Major committee stuff – two sets external DONE BUT CONTINUING
Write web posts NOPE
Extra things done: two major grant reports, lots of people-management (the most stressful part of my job, hands down!), surprise sample things someone else should have done (that wonderfully frustrating old somebody/anybody/everybody/nobody story…), and more people-managing which stressed me out no end.
What a week… The September craziness was in full swing, everything in the world was due, and I have a huge committee meeting in different city at the end of the week which took a lot of people-wrangling. By the end of field work I was pretty done with everything. This week has traveling at the end for a huge committee that I run, I get to visit my PhD city and will probably manage to meet up with some friends in between meeting commitments. Classes are covered for trip (thank you lovely colleagues), including one that I totally forgot about (sorry first-years!) so disruption should be minimal, but I do want to slap my former self who did not clue in that she could have just put midterms on meeting days and not had to worry about lectures! Oh well… Will know for next year.
This week’s goals
Complete draft of upcoming talk for co-authors to look at
Paper outline and section points to go with talk
External committee work and travel
Write web posts on plane or something
Do at least one fun thing while away for trip
It's so hard to juggle all the things when you're planning courses! I hope you have a good time seeing friends as well as doing the work-committee-things, and that the trip goes smoothly.
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