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Sunday 26 October 2014

Week 4 Review

Happy almost end of October! I’m looking forward to Day of the Dead and Halloween activities this week, but also gearing up for Academic Writing Month. Are others planning to participate in AcWriMo or NaNoWriMo? If so, it would be interesting to see whether goals are related to time, word count, or project-oriented. I’d like for it to be exciting, not vexing, to think about writing every day. Looking forward to a good week ahead.

Allan Wilson: 1) exercise 4x, 2) redo the last analysis for my FS paper, 3) recheck comments from a colleague critique for FS, 4) eat healthily, with increased protein and vegetables and less carbs, 4 days this week.
Amstr: 1) re-read my article and highlight where changes should go; 2) skim what I read of diss this summer and finish chapter I was on; 3) exercise 3x; 4) work on job app (3x20min); 5) declutter (3x20min).
Contingent Cassandra: (1) try to get back into exercise (walking/weights routine): at least twice on each; (2) cook the rest of the soup ingredients; (3) return to work on garden; (4) some financial work (if this doesn't happen this week, it needs to take higher priority the week after).
Daisy: Traveling this week.
Der Modell Wissenschaftler: 1) Finish paper 1/Chapter 2 and turn in to coauthors. 2) Figure out if we are moving overseas in 6 weeks. 3) Get my planning together to see if it will be realistic to graduate this semester.
Earnest English: 1. Live through it. 2. Take super care of self this week, including getting foods that will keep me from eating really bad food. Sleep. Get the best sleep I can. 3. 3 30-minute sessions with Beloved Field. 4. Turn in assessment plan and get student papers graded.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: No goals posted.
Good Enough Woman: No goals posted.
Humming42: No goals posted.
Ivy: 1) continue to try to be zen about the papers. I have a bunch more analyses to do. 2) Keep working on Discussion for Paper 2 - unlikely to happen with sample processing. 3) Processing samples - has to happen so priority!
JaneB: 1) talk to one person about something other than work/work crises for a few minutes every day. 2) 1 x 45 minutes on Crunchier. 3) pull out journal formatting and submission instructions for the target journal for Easy Win paper.
KJHaxton: (1) Start on CPD thing 2 and workout what must be done for CPD thing 3 (my theory is that there is so much overlap in this kind of thing, one might as well do many at the same time). (2) write exam questions for 3rd year module and finalise the content of the other 5 lecture hours for that course. (3) eat properly, remember to drink enough, finish blanket - generally do something not work but that feels productive everyday.
Matilda: 1) Plan for the paper I am supposed to submit in coming May. 2) Revise my book plan with its research theme.  3) Write at least 15 minutes. Exercise 10 minutes every day. Two no midnight snacks day.

Susan: 1. Finish reports -- one on admin role in national organization, a promotion review and a ms. review. 2. Three more sections of the chapter. 3. Three walks and fairly abstemious eating for a few days while I recalibrate my metabolism from the excess of the last three days

29 comments:

  1. NoNoWriMo! I may be INSANE, but I am definitely going to do NaNoWriMo again this year. Pure word-count, no fiddling around, and not trying to meet anyone else's criteria for what is 'good' - no collaborators changing their minds, no reviewers, no Academic Appraisers going on about the REF and whether the piece is truly internationally significant or 'just' national, etc. etc. Just me, a blank page, and words. Yay!!!

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    1. I know there's definitely something about NaNoWriMo that inspires you...I hope I can find the same pleasures in AcWriMo this year, for a change.

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    2. I like word-count goals, too - it is simple, easy to understand, and shows so clear what you have done.

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    3. funny, I often don't like word counts because I often feel that I do my best writing on days where the number of words has gone backwards…

      I guess though that could be considered revising rather than actual writing but I find that the hardest part of the process (getting verbiage on a page isn't so much the problem, making it understandable by someone other than me is)

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  2. Is it too crazy for me to try to get in some writing-related work every day in November? 30 minutes? That would be beautiful, as I haven't been writing this past week barely at all (though I did print things out today, which is the next step in my process). It's definitely worth a thought.

    Last Week's Goals and How I Fared:

    1. Live through it.: I barely made it but I did -- a zillion student conferences, child's birthday complete with party, and a whole grant-related thing that turned out to be terrific but so so early.
    2. Take super care of self this week, including getting foods that will keep me from eating really bad food. Sleep. Get the best sleep I can.: Getting the best sleep I could sometimes meant precious little sleep. I ate terrible food this week, yet still Partner is talking about how thin I'm getting. (I'm nowhere near thin -- this purely a comparative term, though sweet.)
    3. 3 30-minute sessions with Beloved Field: No. No, did not do. Not even close.
    4. Turn in assessment plan and get student papers graded. I did get these done.

    And I also got these major things done, which represent a major move forward:

    5. Went to the dealership and test-drove and put a downpayment on my car, which they have to find. I'd been putting this off forever.

    6. Took up the black mulch from the front bed. Partner had a brilliant idea of putting the raised garden bed there instead of the back -- and it totally works, though that's a place that is absolutely sun-drenched most of the day with light colors behind it. I think that the crops that love the warmth will love this place and everything else I can shade with big giant umbrellas like film starlets. Partner loves the idea too so we can devote more of the back to chickens and blueberries. And I love the idea of an orchard in this back area we have. I'm about to buy a leaf blower so I can shred our fallen leaves for mulch. I love it! (Now if only I had time to update my blog.)

    This Coming Week:

    1. Continue gardening momentum. Pick up leaf blower. Use leaf blower. Get wire mesh for bottom of raised bed. Work on the front bulb bed. Gotta hurry up. Snow's coming!

    2. Take care of self with good food and good sleep. This is especially important as I have very achy sciatica. Take mental discipline seriously.

    3. Plan workshop early in the week instead of going crazy at the last minute.

    4. Work in as much homeschooling as I can while I'm home several days this week.

    5. Start work on getting Great Class proposed to the Curriculum Committee.

    6. Do as many 30-minute sessions on Beloved Field as I can.

    Have a great week, everyone!

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    1. Your gardening accomplishments are inspiring. I have a yard that seems to be reduced to not much more than sand at this point, and it is crying out for some loving attention.

      And congratulations on your car! May it take you to wonderful places.

      I have a "sure, why not?" view on trying to see what we can do during November...

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    2. Sounds like you're making good garden progress. I, too, have become a heavy consumer of wire mesh recently (I'm replacing a fence, and trying to make the bottom part inpenetrable to voles. We'll see how that goes; I may end up lining the beds as well).

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  3. Setting goals for a change: 1) write for 15 minutes a day. 2) grade papers, tests, and assignments that have gone all TRQ for me. 3) dedicate whether to apply for the fellowship with urgent application deadline

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    1. 15 minutes is not long, but I have realised how much you can do during that short period of time. Moreover, you can find this short block of time maybe several times in one day, even when you are busy and cannot take 'one hour for writing'.

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  4. So, I looked at the goals I set last week, and I met almost all of them. Well, kind of. I got two of my three reports written, and the one I haven't written is probably the easiest. I've managed some writing, but a bit less than I hoped; and my current chapter is a bit recalcitrant, so I added a few pieces, but I realized on Friday that the structure was all wrong, so I've moved everything around. I walked three times. And I've eaten very rationally most of the time.

    My goals for this week are to finish this chapter, which should be possible -- I've got most of it written, and need to fix transitions, and write a couple of thousand words, but these are mostly things I have in an article I wrote last year.

    I also have to finish my last report (a reader's report on a manuscript) and write a couple of letters.

    I haven't planned to participate in NaNoWriMo, or AcWriMo (I'm on AcWriYear). I'll do some writing in November, but probably not that much, because there are two months on the next chapter, and I have to do a bunch of reading for it.

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    1. What a great productive week! Sometimes that business of shuffling things around in a chapter to make better sense is frustrating, but it sounds like you were undaunted. :)

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  5. Hello, all,

    Last goals:
    1) Plan for the paper I am supposed to submit in coming May.- A little. I have started working on it instead of planning first.
    2) Revise the research theme of my book plan. - Some part, though I have only written memos of revising plan.
    3) Write at least 15 minutes. Exercise 10 minutes every day. Two no midnight snacks day.- Three days writing. Ok. I did some exercise for only 5 minutes but 5 days. Ok. No midnight snacks day- well, only one.

    Analysis:
    My daughter got ill and my husband and I had to take care of her while changing plans, taking her to doctor, and so on. This disturbed my plan of this week, but I have already learned that children can get sick anytime and we have to manage it.

    Next goals:
    1) Plan a structure of the paper.
    2) Revise the research theme of my book plan, and work on it.
    3) Write at least 15 minutes every day. Exercise for 5 minutes every day. If I have some snacks, have healthier ones. ( I have changed the way of thinking. Not to think ‘no snacks’, but think to have healthier snacks, if I want some. )

    Topic:
    I have not tried AcWriMo, though I like the idea. What I usually try is something like ‘a writing day’ or ‘a writing week’, a shorter period of time for writing. When I try that, I usually set a goal of word count. It sounds too mechanical, but for me, it works quite well to feel ‘at least I have done this amount’.

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    1. I think most of the structuring of commitments for time, word count, or page count, sound mechanical, and that might be a reason why some of us resist setting goals like that. It's good to find ways to commit to research and writing that are meaningful and work well for us. Sometimes just figuring that out a challenge to overcome.

      I hope your daughter is feeling better. I'm reminded of our discussion here a few week ago about how to adapt when life throws you other plans.

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    2. My daughter is getting better now, thanks, humming42!

      One of the things I have learned from my children is to be ready for anything, anytime. Before becoming a mother, I hate changing plans once decided, because I am very poor at adapting myself to a new situation. Now, I think I have become better to be prepared for sudden change...

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  6. Last week's goals: (1) try to get back into exercise (walking/weights routine): at least twice on each; (2) cook the rest of the soup ingredients; (3) return to work on garden; (4) some financial work (if this doesn't happen this week, it needs to take higher priority the week after).

    Accomplished: continued progress on cooking & garden, not so much on financial or exercise (except that my muscles are telling me that the work I did in the garden over the last two days asked more of them than I usually do). I'm making good progress, but can only make so much progress on so many things at once. Energy (both physical and mental) is definitely a limiting factor; at the moment, mental energy is pretty good thanks to visible progress in the garden, but I'm physically quite tired.

    Goals for next week (cutting back a bit here to be realistic, and to recognize that I seem to be on a roll -- and facing a deadline -- "fall inspection,"not to mention dwindling daylight and looming student conferences -- in the community garden plot: (1) continue progress on garden, especially replacing fence; (2) continue work on food and sleep. [yes, I'm putting off the financial stuff and the formal exercise for now, in hopes that getting the garden to a stopping point will free up time and energy for other things]

    Topic: I'm actually at a point where I'm feeling anxious to get back to writing, but also feeling that I can only juggle so many things at once, and that the focus on infrastructure is bearing fruit, and will bear more. It also seems like a not-entirely-bad thing to be missing writing, and viewing it as a reward. So not this November, but maybe some other one (even though November is a heavy student-conferencing month for me).

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    1. There's something quite marvelous about missing writing and seeing it as a reward. Interesting to see how we tend our relationships to/with writing.

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  7. Goals for last week:
    1) re-read my article and highlight where changes should go--done
    2) skim what I read of diss this summer and finish chapter I was on--HA!
    3) exercise 3x--done (4x)
    4) work on job app (3x20min)--nope
    5) declutter (3x20min)--sort of

    Some progress, but not as much as I had hoped or planned. My kids had Friday and Monday off for parent-teacher conferences, so that messed me up, plus my last online class for children's picture book writing, so a big draft due there. But I survived.

    Next week:
    1) finish article and send in by Thursday night; 2) make some (any!) progress on dissertation reading.

    Topic: I was planning on NaNoWriMo this year, but I may need to wait a year for it. I think I'll be unofficially doing a dissertation-to-book blitz month. November tends to be crazy anyway. This year, though, I need to figure out a sustainable work plan through the next few (holiday-ridden) months.

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    1. November is crazy for me too, and I always have trepidation about the writing months. Hence teeny tiny goals for me. Interesting to note that contemplating a big commitment to writing gives us pause to think about what we want our writing plans to look like, so I see that as a really good benefit of being in process.

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  8. Last week:
    1) continue to try to be zen about the papers. I have a bunch more analyses to do. - started analyses. Realised (more) data are missing. On hunt for missing data (or logical explanation of why they are missing - I think though it might be due to forgetfulness which is somewhat difficult to explain in a paper…)

    2) Keep working on Discussion for Paper 2 - unlikely to happen with sample processing. -- Nope, not at all!

    3) Processing samples - has to happen so priority! -- started, collected some data. Fancy machine decided to stop going ping. Have spent most of the week 1. trying to figure out why it's not going ping - it's pretty sick and needs an overseas trip and 2. working out a way of collecting data without machine. Think I have a plan but it relies on a 15 year old computer…

    Next week:
    1) more endless data analyses. These data are going to be tortured into revealing the meaning of life…
    2) data collection!
    3) three lots of 30 mins on the Discussion of Paper 2 - it's close, I could get it out the door by end Jan… (perhaps that should be my goal!)
    4) Three lots of exercise - combination of swimming and yoga…
    5) something fun!

    Topic: I sort of said it all up above but I have a really hard time assessing progress. I don't really have a problem getting verbiage down on the page but find it hard to get it readable by another person. Therefore word count measures don't really work for me since the most productive work can result in going backwards! I need to try and figure out what does actually work though. Time can be good or it can result in me faffing…


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    1. Annie Lamott's "shitty first drafts" makes an awful lot of good sense! Spilling it all out the page is a first giant step toward doing good writing. I write very sparingly, so I find word counts really frustrating, but for the opposite reason. Hope data are revealing their secrets to you!

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  9. Hi all,
    Goals from last week were
    1) exercise 4x - vaguely, half heartedly, but I guess they more or less count
    2) redo the last analysis for my FS paper - not even. Sooo tired
    3) recheck comments from a colleague critique for FS - looked and shuddered
    4) eat healthily, with increased protein and vegetables and less carbs, 4 days this week - ate more mindfully, and possibly more healthily.
    I was overwhelmed with catchup tasks and inertia. I found it impossible to commit to anything requiring brainpower (goals 1 and 2). However, on the bright side, caught up with miles of paperwork, so a kind of win overall, possibly, and at least my brain seems to have recovered somewhat.

    I've never done AcrWriMo, but like the idea. I have been feeling more urgent about left quadrant stuff of late, so this is a good time to set a goal of writing every day. Next goals:
    1) write every day
    2) exercise every day
    3) do analysis for FS.
    Good luck everyone for your goals this week!
    allan Wilson.

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    1. Ha! I mean goals 2 and 3 for brainpower. An indication of the last week I am afraid. . . allan w

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    2. Clearing out and catching up with paperwork, the so-called administrava, can do wonders for clearing space for writing. As an undergrad, I would clean my entire apartment before sitting down to write. That was a luxury I no longer have, but I do appreciate the need to bracket things for later or go ahead and get them done (especially when they strike me as urgent). Good luck to you too!

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  10. Goals from last week: (1) Start on CPD thing 2 and workout what must be done for CPD thing 3 (my theory is that there is so much overlap in this kind of thing, one might as well do many at the same time). (2) write exam questions for 3rd year module and finalise the content of the other 5 lecture hours for that course. (3) eat properly, remember to drink enough,

    Achieved (1) - not done but did find out I wasn't eligible for one so that's some progress. (2) - done, but in draft only. (3) - yeah well sort of.

    Semester is gathering pace and standards are slipping :(

    This week (what's left of it!).
    (1) prep for fun Hallow'een outreach and do the event on Friday afternoon (yay! slime! fancy dress!) (2) use what's left of the week to catch my breath and catch up on the general TRQ to-do list, (3) start planning my November thing - I think I'm going for NaBloPoMo, would love to do the NaNoWriMo but I don't think I'll hold it together - I need small chunks so a blog post a day will be good for me.


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    1. I'm not familiar with NaBloPoMo! Blogging? I know there's a digital writing month in November too. So you could effectively be doing both. Enjoy the holiday celebrations too!

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    2. Hi humming42, yes National Blog Post Month I think. I need to get my writing back on track and I find it easier to write about stuff on a blog rather than hitting the hard core academic stuff. Digital writing month sounds excellent as well. The holiday celebrations were good fun and a well needed break.

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