What's New?

Last week Amstr had us check in with our session goals, and I was struck that most of us have done pretty well so far.  Most of us have also dropped one thing at least from our list – we were a bit too ambitious.   But as I was thinking about my life, I realized that I’ve also taken on things that I didn’t expect.   So: what’s new?  What’s happened that you didn’t expect?  We all have complicated lives, with family, work, and friends.   In my experience, life is never exactly as you expected.   Sometimes a project emerges unexpectedly, or a professional opportunity, or a health issue, or a family crisis.  Some of these are great – a new conference, or a new job possibility, or a new grant; some are not so great – illness, job loss, etc.  Along with thinking about how you’ve done so far, I thought it would be good to remark on what unexpected things had come into TLQ.

Goals from last week:

Allan Wilson:

1) check all the data in goal 1 again, and remerge all the data from the sources available.

2) prepare for, and make the Friday meeting, and work it to get as far as I can

3) walk up hills at last 3x

Amstr:

1) exercise 4x; eat more fruit

2) 3x20min. decluttering in dining room

3) 4x30-60min writing

Contingent Cassandra: (1)
Goals for this week (which is nearly over, so I'm writing down some things I've already done): (1) continue self-care, especially exercise & try to take a day off; (2) do a bit of the most urgent apartment cleaning/organizing; (3) begin work on financial stuff; (4) reconnect with garden.

Daisy: 1) Read 5 or 6 papers in new project area to design a new set of experiments.

2) One full day of work on paper B.

3) Keep running....

Earnest English: ?

Elizabeth Ann Mitchell:

1) Make doctor’s and dentist’s appointments.

2) Compare the cloud and hard drive dissertation files to find duplicates and confirm versions.

3) File into paper files for a half hour at least twice.

Good Enough Woman:

1) Email supervisor about timeline.

2) Read a secondary source book chapter or article.

Humming42: (From week 9)

1 Make progress on proposal #1

2 Draft proposal #2

3 Look for content for conference paper

JaneB: 1)
1) rekindle 5 minuteses from Wednesday 2) do two work sessions of 30 minutes or so on Repeater 3) do some freewriting about funding application ideas/plans/whatever (1x15 minute minimum).

Kjhaxton:

1) finish up the marking and stray bits of paperwork from early semester tasks

2) plan the two articles that I will write

3) plan publication/presentation around small aspect of current teaching so that I can put an evaluation plan in place to get a good paper

4) make figures for the paper

Matilda: (from week 9)

1) Week 6-1 of Belcher's book.

2) Continue to read the important book. It is worth doing so.

3) Write the first section of the article.

4) Do 3 minutes exercise twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon.

5) Be tolerant of snacks, but try to have healthier ones.

Susan:

1. Get a good draft of the paper

2. Finish grant stuff

3. Submit conference proposal

4. Return to exercise

Two-Thirds Through Reassessment

We're about two-thirds of the way through our January-April session (final check in is April 24). We have five weeks left. It's time to reassess our original goals for the session and recommit to what we can reasonably accomplish in the next chunk of time. As you reassess, consider what you've finished, what's left to do, and what you want/need to cut from your list. As you look back and ahead, is anything surprising?

This isn't a time to bemoan your lack of progress over the term; it's a time to pick up your pack and keep trekking--leaving behind the items that won't help you in the final push.

I'll post your original session goals and your weekly goals below.

Suggested format:
session goal reassessment
last week's goals
next week's goals

Session Goals:

Allan Wilson:  A long list is possible here, but I am going to treat these serially. Work goals: first, to complete a data spreadsheet for the project where my loved collaborator is leaving town for good in around 6 weeks, so we can draft the first paper before he leaves. Second, to do one piece of data analysis (that I have been avoiding) so I can submit the paper FS, a hangover from previous writing groups and a previous postdoc. Third, to submit a long overdue paper with a motivated student – the first task here is to write and revise the first complete draft. Other goals: to exercise regularly, and to eat healthily.

Amstr

1) dissertation to book draft complete

2) exercise regularly, eat healthfully (track these)

3) declutter 4 rooms of the house (one a month)

Contingent Cassandra

--use lit class to experiment with digital-humanities teaching/analysis techniques; produce at least some materials (assignments, activities, student/class projects) that can serve as models that might be applied to other classes, and/or material for presentation/reflection (at least on the professional web page I’m developing, perhaps also in a conference presentation or article).

--continue developing a daily/weekly routine that includes healthy eating, regular exercise, and regular sleep patterns.

--make substantial progress on getting financial matters in order

--accomplish enough at the community garden to satisfy the powers that be; get as many project materials as possible out of apartment/car.

--as possible, work on getting apartment in order (in particular, building/painting/installing shelves, because that will facilitate a return to research and writing by making materials more visible and accessible).

Daisy

3 submitted papers, 2 (B and C) from thesis and one new project one (D).

Earnest English:

-think ahead in my classes and grade on a regular basis (which I've calculated means 4 projects or so per day).

-write scholarship for 1-2 hours per week to get the conference paper I have due in March done with as little panic as possible

-write on my project regularly, which means about 4/week and entails getting some kind of draft from my notebook to the computer each week

-develop a meditation habit

-develop a work out or yoga habit

-keep on top of gardening projects

-maintain personal and family happiness through downtime, reflection, and making time for fun

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

I plan to catch up with all the doctors’ and dentist appointments I’ve let slide for the past year.I want to be mindful about stress and stress-related eating, hoping to exercise to reduce stress and, as a byproduct, become more fit.

For sanity, I want to reduce clutter, both in paper and electronically, to be better organized and spend less time frantically searching for things.

Good Enough Woman

1) Work 10 hours per week on PhD thesis

2) Revise two PhD chapters

3) Write and present conference paper

4) Pursue various 30-day challenges (see below)

5) Declutter my clothes, kids closet/toys, linen closet

6) Maybe additional family goals (kid dates, etc.), but not sure yet

Humming 42

My goals are going to be process-oriented rather than product-oriented for a change. I have a lot of projects I would like to work on and with hope complete this year. Rather than saying I’m going to finish that manuscript or that proposal or that article, my not-urgent approach is to say that by April I’d like to have a firm habit of writing every day. My second goal is probably best articulated by saying I want be more active, less sedentary. So getting there will mean a bunch of small weekly goals like walking all the stairs to get to my office and going to yoga. Setting those goals and sticking to them is what can make the difference.

Jane B

* get at least two of the papers I faffed around with in the last iteration at least off to co-authors and preferably submitted. These are Crunchier, Repeater, Neglected Student Paper and Very Late - the first two are the most likely to be done, but any of them will count!

* make rough drafts (as in, 1-2 pages plus figure list plus chores lists) of Effie the first (the one which was sort of a conference paper), Effie the second (the big ambitious one!) and Brilliant Undergrads Project papers

* submit 3-4 abstracts to Big Conference (due 8th January)

* have started a draft of a grant for the deadline in July

* have an orderly home and office environment

* have done some fun things, and be healthier and fitter!

kjhaxton

Work: 1 submitted paper, 1 submitted ethics form, 1 project plan,

Other: enter a photography competition, create 60 hand crafted items (40 of one kind for a specific event), sort out my wildlife garden.

Matilda

1) To submit an article.

It will be a base of the introduction of my book. I am going to use Belcher's book of Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks as my guide this time, modifying its weekly plans quite a lot.

2) To start to research for chapter 1 of my book and start to write the draft.

3) To exercise regurarly and eat healthy.

Susan

Writing/research: finish substantive chapters, draft intro and epilogue

Write essay (pre-circulated) for April workshop

Home: declutter junk room, get rid of old computers

weed garden, get garden ready

choose new furniture for living room

Other: Keep myself moving, and eating heathfully

Weekly Goals:

Allan Wilson: (repeat goals from week 9?)

get paper CR rewritten and back to my co-author, again with enjoyment. NO

And stay up to date with my RQ work. BARELY- which is why nothing on paper CR.

Amstr: 1) exercise 4x

2) 1 hour on job apps

3) menu plan/grocery shop

4) write 6x30 min.

Contingent Cassandra: (1) continue self/care (walking, eating well, sleep); (2)(TRQ) get midterm grades for 200-level class in and begin catching up on delayed grading for 300-level ones; (3) do reading & other necessary prep for 2nd trip/conference.

Daisy: Paper B, complete the new draft and revise figures.

Revise Figures for A (again!)

Keep running

Earnest English:

Elizabeth Ann Mitchell: 1) Don’t flub the presentation. Rock presentation (or at least present presentably).

2) Write at least 500 words on the new article, which I wish I could name in some clever way, but don’t seem to have the brainpower to do so at the moment.

Good Enough Woman: (from week 8)

1) Read two articles and one primary source novella

2) evaluate structures of chapters one and two

3) Send follow-up email to supervisor about timelines

4) Exercise 3x

5) help son with Minecraft account problems (I've been promising to do this for a while) and prep daughter for next presentation

6) play son's homemade game with him

Humming42: (away last week)

1 Make progress on proposal #1

2 Draft proposal #2

3 Look for content for conference paper

JaneB: 1) rekindle 5 minuteses from Wednesday 2) do two work sessions of 30 minutes or so on Repeater 3) do some freewriting about funding application ideas/plans/whatever (1x15 minute minimum).

Kjhaxton: (from week 9)

1) finish up the marking and stray bits of paperwork from early semester tasks

2) plan the two articles that I will write

3) plan publication/presentation around small aspect of current teaching so that I can put an evaluation plan in place to get a good paper

4) make figures for the paper

Matilda: (from week 9)

1) Week 6-1 of Belcher's book.

2) Continue to read the important book. It is worth doing so.

3) Write the first section of the article.

4) Do 3 minutes exercise twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon.

5) Be tolerant of snacks, but try to have healthier ones.

Susan: 1. Block out remainder of paper, which includes sections from various existing projects

2. Finish book review

3. Do additional garden clean up work

4. Exercise 4 times

5. Do task on grant proposal

What’s your Advice?

It has occurred to me over the past weeks that the people in this group have a lot of experience and have all developed great tools for survival.   I am not very much a system person, but I’ve certainly adapted ideas people have mentioned.   And it occurred to me that we might just take a moment and discuss what’s the one thing that has helped each of us maintain some engagement with TLQ.   It may be a productivity tool or tip, or a daily habit, or some kind of self-knowledge.   What is it that keeps you going, especially when things are difficult?  What advice would you share?

(And reminder of format -

comment on topic

last week's goals

next week's goals)

Last week’s goals:

Daisy:

Paper B, complete the new draft.

Keep up the running habit I have started again.

Humming42 (for next week - away this week)

1 Make progress on proposal #1

2 Draft proposal #2

3 Look for content for conference paper

JaneB

3 days of 5 minuteses (I'm letting myself off for the long weekend!), make some rough notes towards a plan/list, and reaquaint myself with the paper 'Repeater' (which is about repeating analyses under different conditions, and is rather minor, but I hope useful and I seem to recall rather close to being ready to go back out to my co-authors following the first round of revisions...)

Susan

1. Finish the chapter

2. Begin paper for invited workshop

3. Work on grant proposal

4. Do major gardening task

5. Keep up with paper in house. (This is perpetual, but I feel so good about NOT having a large pile of paper in the kitchen that I want to keep it that way!)

6. Some exercise daily.

Allan Wilson

get paper CR rewritten and back to my co-author, again with enjoyment. And stay up to date with my RQ work. (I am still avoiding finishing paper FS, but I am going to leave that this week- I don't think I can cope with the stress of it yet, so I am going for another slightly simpler piece of work first).

Contingent Cassandra

1) Continue work on self-care, especially exercise (also sleep & eating well).

2) Keep on top of grading, especially for DH class, and being reflecting on/publicizing preliminary results of student projects.

3) Conference prep (registration, readings, travel, general logistics/planning to make the most of two upcoming combined conference/research trips).

4) (Possible SAG, with caveats above) make incremental progress on household/financial projects (these really should be tackleable through SAGs, but in practice seem to be subject to all the issues above -- mostly, once I start, I don't stop, and something else, often something a bit more TRQ-ish, doesn't get done when it needs to).

kjhaxton

1) finish up the marking and stray bits of paperwork from early semester tasks

2) plan the two articles that I will write

3) plan publication/presentation around small aspect of current teaching so that I can put an evaluation plan in place to get a good paper

4) make figures for the paper

Amstr

1) exercise 4x

2) 2 hours on job apps

3) 4 30-min writing sessions (more is better)

4) menu planning/grocery shopping

Matilda

1) Week 6-1 of Belcher's book.

2) Continue to read the important book. It is worth doing so.

3) Write the first section of the article.

4) Do 3 minutes exercise twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon.

5) Be tolerant of snacks, but try to have healthier ones.

Elizabeth Ann Mitchell (from Week 7)

1) Write 100 words a day

2) Space planning for home office. The current arrangement is not working

3) Personal time. I do not protect down time for myself either at work or at home

Good Enough Woman (from Week 8)

1) Read two articles and one primary source novella

2) evaluate structures of chapters one and two

3) Send follow-up email to supervisor about timelines

4) Exercise 3x

5) help son with Minecraft account problems (I've been promising to do this for a while) and prep daughter for next presentation

6) play son's homemade game with him

Earnest English: