That seems an odd title, writing on a cold, damp, grey, completely overcast morning in the UK and wondering whether to go and dig out hiking socks because my feet are cold in normal socks! But summer writing season is coming close - some US readers may have already finished teaching and grading, and the teaching part of my own semester is drawing to a close although the grading and the meetings will drag ooonnnnn and ooooooooonnnnn.
The next TLQ session begins formally on the 16th, next Saturday, when we'll be setting goals for the summer and for the next week. We already have two new sign-ups - welcome to iwantzcatbocl and Lena Corazon - as well as some regulars, and there's plenty of room and time to decide to join in.
Today I thought it might be worthwhile to contemplate those summer goals. How do you go about setting them? Do you just carry on working through your usual to-do list, do you have some external deadlines, or is it a chance to pick up a piece of work that's been lying fallow or to start something new? Do you think about your goals using words like "ought" and "must", or words like "want to" and "enjoy"? How do you feel about your goals - excited to spend time with them, daunted, disenchanted, obliged, enthused? Are you going to set time goals or product goals this summer, are you aiming high and challenging yourself or trying to be realistic and secretly hoping to achieve more than you set out to do? Any tips or lessons learned from past summers or past TLQs which you want to use this time, or want to share?
It’s a wonderful idea to contemplate setting summer goals instead of just blurting them out on the page. In anticipation of the end of summer, I calendared some arbitrary project deadlines a few weeks ago. They are really dream deadlines though, with no construct or schedule in place to see them through. I won’t know if these goals are realistic until I can determine how much work I can get done each day and week.
ReplyDeleteMy summer classes don’t come up until mid-July so I am hopeful that I can get significant writing done during the next eight weeks or so. I am afraid I’ve become that scholar I never wanted to be: the one who seems capable of making time for writing only during the summer. I am still determined to make daily writing a year round reality for me.
I also love the idea of thinking about what verbs I would use to describe what it is I plan to do: what I want, what I will enjoy, what I will love doing. More on that next week!
Right now, the main problem is trying to balance realism (I'm teaching most of the summer) with finding a way to move ahead on at least a few goals. This process will probably be a bit easier once I get grades in later this week; in the meantime, I'll look forward to whatever wisdom others have to offer.
ReplyDeleteI came across this today and am thinking about what a five year plan might look like at this point in my career: http://www.hookandeye.ca/2015/05/from-archives-your-five-year-research.html
ReplyDeleteThanks, JaneB for this preliminary post. This summer, I'm going to be setting ambitious, product-oriented goals related to the PhD thesis. I'm starting to creep up on my submission deadline, so things need to get real. Also, it's become clear to me that I can't really get that much research and writing done when I'm teaching a 4/4 load made up of mostly writing-intensive comp courses (and being a wife and mom). So, with a sabbatical in the fall, I must (MUST!) make the most of my time during the next 6-7 months. Over the past few summers, I have just chipped away at the work, but this summer must (MUST!) be different. As for my feelings about it all, right now, I am thoroughly stoked and excited to do this work, but that might change as I get into the thick of things and face so many tasks that are so challenging.
ReplyDeleteI also need to do my sabbatical project stuff, which is focused on digital humanities, and I'm excited about that, too. But I'll spell out the specific goals next week.
I recently saw a post by Y.S. Lee (young adult author) about her productivity habits that was very useful. I think I'm going to have to follow her lead and set strict rules for myself about the daily clock and about other tasks that easily usurp writing time (e.g., checking email, tidying the office, cleaning the grout between the tiles on the kitchen floor).
Here is the great post by Y.S. Lee: http://yslee.com/2015/04/note-to-self/
BTW, I think a friend of mine might stop by this thread to state her desire to join us for summer!
Excellent, the more the merrier! Especially in summer when people come and go (occasionally discussing rennaissance artists) (for some reason my head is full of Eliot quotes at the moment. Something about the tiredness and end of semester hopelessness one gets?).
Deletethanks for the link, too! lots to think about...
Here I am! I am the friend of GEW! Hi, everyone. I'm so glad to be part of your group. I'm looking forward to learning more about you and your projects. My projects are myriad and currently crushing, so I'm hoping this group will help me make sense of it all sooner rather than later. Thanks for welcoming me!
DeleteI see that I should have been a bit more specific. Okay: this summer, I need to visit an archive and finish an article (due June 14th); finish a book (all chapters are drafted--all need serious revision); and finish two chapters of a co-written book (all archival research is done, pretty much zero writing is done). Luckily, I'm on quarters and don't start back up again until mid-September. I also have a newborn at home. But, no teaching duties = writing time!
DeleteI thought about this idea of some kind of emotional engagement with my goals, and just - couldn't. I remembered a great post on this topic - Mark Corrigan argues that 'cognitive triage breeds a mentality within which tasks become obstacles to negotiate rather than activities through which we can become who we are' http://markcarrigan.net/2015/03/24/life-in-the-accelerated-academy-1/
ReplyDeleteRather downbeat, sorry, but after a mornign of whiplash between course review and teaching the actual students we have the with actual resources we have, that's where I am.
karenh
Hi, I'm the newbie. I actually found your quote inspiring and not at all downbeat. It really helps me to think of my projects as an "activity through which I can become who I am." I try to get myself to say, "I get to write today," instead of "I have to write today." For someone on a 3/3/3 teaching load (or 2/2/2 if I get lucky with assigned time etc.), "getting to write" is a big, big deal. So, thanks for your note! It was a good reminder.
DeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteGood idea to have a pre-session thinking week about summer plans. I like the verbs and engagement part of it specifically, summers can easily disappear into busyness if they are not thought out clearly. Of course plans change, but I find that having a plan at the beginning makes a lot of things go well.
My main goal for the summer is to do a lot of reading. Some specifically about techniques, some about field areas, and some for general catching up in the my field. I've found over the last couple of terms reading has really fallen by the wayside as a regular thing. It is really a top TLQ activity since it is always necessary and important, but never urgent unless it is required for a specific purpose, right now for a reason. The kind of deep reading that makes us able to design questions and projects and have epiphanies only happens when there is space and time to o it properly. So I'm calling this the Summer of Reading.
Which will of course work well with the writing plans.
I have many weeks of field work ahead (remote, beautiful and totally cut off from everything) so I will plan the summer in small chunks between trips to maximize the times when I can write. Remote field work creates excellent reading time, so I'm feeling good about that combination.
Lessons from the last couple of summers include one to actually plan fun things right along with work. If it doesn't get planned by me it won't happen, and if there are no set plans nothing will happen and the summer will go by and I'll try to fit in 6 camping trips in August, which will not be fun.
Work-wise I'm going to concentrate hard on not getting distracted with small side-projects or anything teaching related - that includes outreach, public things, school visits, facilities work and committees etc. I'm not going to be here enough to afford time for stuff that is not related to my main projects.
Things I will enjoy: the reading, the new techniques and ideas, the new projects, and getting done with some old things...
Will put up specifics next week I guess.
If there is a need for extra hosts this summer let me know, I may be here for weeks the official hosts are not.
(I just posted on the last post that I'd love to join in, even though I feel academic-adjacent. I did just write an application letter to teach an online lit course through a SLAC!)
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be a summer of pacing myself. I have a few different projects on hand, but I need to make room for writing (in a leisurely way--with lots of space around it), as well as having my kids home for most of the 12 weeks of summer. I really want to enjoy them too. Because I haven't been teaching, summer feels like a "less work on MY work" than during the school year. But I would really like to continue the good habits I developed this spring and to guard against overcommitments in the fall.
I think you would be grandfathered (grandmothered?) in no matter what!
DeleteI agree with GEW, Amstr. You've been a member of this group for so long. Also, there's a certain bent of mind that academia inculcates, for better or worse, that is nearly as permanent as a tattoo.
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