Hello Everyone,
I'm currently on holiday in the Hebrides (islands off the west coast of Scotland) and it's a very nice place to be. On the current island there are lots of single tracked roads with passing places so journeys take a little longer, and most 'locals' wave at every car that passes them. It's small enough that we've passed the same cars each day as we've roamed around in search of beautiful beaches and rain-free spots. Simple things like waving to oncoming cars makes the place feel very friendly. Of course, there are other natives who find cars fascinating - we've been swerving to avoid the sheep and today encountered some wild ponies who wanted in the car! I'm posting this before moving to island number 2 as the internet access is comparatively good here, and I suspect it wont be in the next place.
So that rather circuitous start leads to a theme for the week is to think about what we do when the oncoming traffic forces us into a passing place, or to avoid an obstacle in another way. I wasn't particularly happy today when we decided to drive through this...puddle?...small loch in the road?...ford? I took the photo once we'd been through it and were going back for the return visit. I saw no need to document our stupidity if we'd gotten stuck (or flooded the engine - it was decently deep).
Many of us have talked about themes or constraints for the session before us, considering how they will shape what we believe we can achieve, and the goals we will set. Let's think about our strategies for dealing with obstacles that arise unexpectedly and how we decide whether we slow and move to the passing place, or play a game of chicken with the oncoming traffic with the intention that they will.
The format, as always: comment on the theme if you wish, review of last week's goals and setting goals for the coming week. If anyone wishes to join the session, or to post session goals, feel free to introduce yourself or post goals in the comments here. Just shout if I've missed anyone!
Amstr
-plan exercise and eating and do it!
-no screens after dinner (5 days)
-do 1 hour coffee shop writing first thing (4 days)
-draft 5 pages of novel
-finalize YB for packet
Contingent Cassandra
--Figure out some session goals and post them here.
--Work some kind of movement -- weight-lifting, walking, or
gardening -- into most days
--Try to keep to a regular sleep schedule
-- figure out what to do about another ongoing project at
work which I'm basically in charge of
Dame Eleanor Hull
1) Self: daily exercise, yoga (2x, preferably), enough
sleep, work on at least 2 languages, do the necessary cooking so I can eat
safely.
2) Research: 5 hours.
3) Teaching: finish setting up assignments for undergrads.
4) House/Life: finish packing the guest room, move file
cabinets in my study.
Elizabeth Anne
Mitchell
Organize, toss or scan one half of one file drawer.
Start project file with one folder per project.
Walk.
Go to dental appointment and call for bone scan appointment.
Good Enough Woman
1) Return ill-fitting shoes and order new ones (for kids).
2) 15 minutes x 5 of writing or planning (at least two
session must be actual writing).
3) Print previous draft of article (We'll call it
"Spy")
4) Research ideas for middle school writing club.
5) Turn in volunteer application and paperwork.
6) Get sufficient sleep. Aim to be in bed by 11:00.
heu mihi
1. Reread/revise ch. 1.
2. Send out necessary materials for upcoming talk that I'm
organizing.
3. Help others: write recommendation letter, read
dissertation chapter, assign advisors to new students.
4. Meditate 4 times.
humming42
1 Finish revisions for manuscript chapters 2 and 3
2 Submit abstract for photo essay (due)
3 Complete and submit TRQ proposal review
4 Get materials organized for grant proposal
JaneB
As mentioned, on leave! So:
1) more decluttering (with help from professional
declutterer booked for Monday)
2) installation of new supposedly faster and better internet
service
3) order and organise all the yarn for the rest of the
crochet project
4) outline some ideas for the NaNoWriMo project
5) write report on PhD thesis I need to examine, and make
sure someone does those proofs (may not have to be me...)
6) put all non-essential work related items that come up
into the list in my day-book for dealing with later
7) read some more fiction
karen
1. Finish the reorganisation of the home filing system into
something I can use.
2. Sow remaining early start veg.
3. Break down curriculum project tasks for the week and set
up at least 5 meetings.
4. 30 min research projects work each work day.
5. Do either music or movement each day, 5 minutes min.
KJHaxton
1. Be on holiday
2. Come up with topic for week 2 here.
Matilda
1. Finish revision of Chapter 1.
2. Finish writing up of the first part of Chapter 2.
3. Do 5 minute exercise every morning.
4. Have more vegetable, less bread.
5. Write my journal every day.
6. Practice writing. - Read a lot, write a lot, look up good
dictionaries. Do you have any other practical tips to improve writing?
Waffles
Recovering from the move, goals to follow!
By commenting now, I'm trying to avoid the obstacle of posting goals on Monday morning when I might better be doing research! I'd like to be able to finish off some goals this afternoon, but let's not wait around to find out. :-)
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1) Self: daily exercise, yoga (2x, preferably), enough sleep, work on at least 2 languages, do the necessary cooking so I can eat safely. MOSTLY YES: most days, I did most of this: exercise daily, yoga at least once every day and a bit extra about half the time, languages most days. Yay!
2) Research: 5 hours. YES and NO: I've spent an ungodly amount of time trying to track down a reference, rather than finishing the revisions. It is time to give up and finesse that bit.
3) Teaching: finish setting up assignments for undergrads. NO. I did some other useful teaching things, however.
4) House/Life: finish packing the guest room, move file cabinets in my study. YES and NO. I moved the file cabinets. I might manage to get to the guest room today; we'll see how things go.
New goals, probably the same as the old goals:
1) Self: daily exercise, yoga (2x, preferably), enough sleep, work on at least 2 languages, do the necessary cooking so I can eat safely.
2) Research: 5 hours, focusing on product.
3) Teaching: finish setting up assignments for undergrads.
4) House/Life: finish packing the guest room, do some other useful house thing.
As the old song goes..."second verse, same as the first." :)
DeleteSame sort of goals means you are building on what you have already done :)
DeleteTopic: I don't have much of a strategy. Just do what I can, try not to let anyone down badly, keep going. In many ways I am my own worst block, so perhaps self-care is key to this?
ReplyDeletelast week (on leave):
1) more decluttering yes, with help from the professional who came in Monday
2) installation of new supposedly faster and better internet service done - it isn't, except right in front of the router, but that's because my (modern) walls are defeating its transfer to my normal work space apparently. A repeater has been ordered (more money, but hopefully worth it - the service in front of the router IS impressively good)
3) order and organise all the yarn for the rest of the crochet project ordered, arrived, not organised
4) outline some ideas for the NaNoWriMo project ish. Struggling a bit with the short story problem - do they need a complete and self-sufficient plot, just a twist, a moral, a message or a meaning, or can they be vignettes, like prose poems, sufficient by being? I guess all options are possible, but I have Plot Issues which tend to buck up at times like this. I am more of a Pantser in NaNo speak than a Plotter...
5) write report on PhD thesis I need to examine done, and make sure someone does those proofs (may not have to be me...) did the proofs, but they want some figures redone, which I can't do from home so going to be late anyway. Grrrr nearly 9 months to accept the thing then three days to do the proofs grrrr
6) put all non-essential work related items that come up into the list in my day-book for dealing with later ish
7) read some more fiction a bit
This week was less productive than I'd hoped, and also less relaxing. Although I did get stuff done in the first half of the week I also got rather stressed - the sorting out of stuff got to me a bit I think,a nd the dread of going back to work was creeping up on me, not helped by having to start dealing with some emails (someone put me down as contact for the new incoming first years for any queries about the field trip - which is my JOB, don't get me wrong, but also, I am on leave...) - which led to some bad eating and excessive napping and lots of messing around on the internet. I did get a new phone (upgrade of the old one which is no longer supported), but that only encouraged messing around on the internet. Looking back, it's only really the last three days that have been very poor, and although I had good intentions, well... I don't want to go back to work and it's making me sad and scared ::pout::
Next week is going to be kind of busy. LikesMaths has her end of second year "exam" Monday plus there are several meetings. Tuesday is a real life writing group write in, Wednesday I have counselling then meetings on campus if I can find a parking space mid-morning (grrr), Thursday I have to drive to another city to be the external person for a PhD viva (because the train journey would take nearly twice as long and involve crossing Crowded Capital, which greatly increases the chances of delays due to both the number of changes and the current security alerts on the underground) which means a late evening, then hopefully Friday I will get some work done (there is a whole organisational unit meeting to "celebrate the successes of the last year" with prize giving by Incoming, which is always kind of squicky for me, but I should go... which means no day off next week...).
Deletegoals:
1) self-care - sleep, fruit and vegetables (as well as chocolate if necessary; sound basics will help), being the rock or the water as the situation requires, not getting sucked into too much negative talk
2) get ProblemChildPaper3 completely written on the writing day
3) get those two figures done for SpecialIssue paper (TRQ, but coming here for crossing off purposes).
I will write you a doctor's note to stay home "sick" on Friday. After all, like most of us here, I *am* a doctor (just not a medical one).
DeleteDear Incoming, JaneB is suffering from a griffin bite and cannot attend any meetings until it heals. She is under orders to stay in bed with lots of chocolate, which is the state of the art treatment for griffin bites, and some anti-demon Bugge Spraye, to prevent anything else nasty taking place. We are not responsible if the demons leave her but crash your meeting. Verray truly youres, Dame Eleanor Hull.
Thank you! Oh, I wish I could hand that in...
DeleteI was thinking along the same lines as DEH (though without the proferred Dr's note): you should plan now to not to be up to going in for the meeting on Friday (though of course you won't actually let Incoming know until Friday morning). It sounds like a packed and stressful week, after a truncated leave, and that's not a good way to begin the term. So practice the "treat yourself well" goal by planning to give the meeting (which sounds ghastly) a miss.
DeleteLet's all make DEH's Drs. note into a template form, shall we?
DeleteThat does sound like a busy week - and after a week that involved the emotional wear and tear of a lot of change to home. Go with the DEH drs note!
DeleteI love DEH's Drs note...I may be seeking one later in the week.
DeleteFor short stories I tend to do very horrible things to characters based (fairly closely) on people I know that have annoyed me. As such, they are more vignettes into their misfortune. It is enjoyable! I'm contemplating NaNo this year - will I get past the first 10k? Not sure, never have done before.
Topic: I tend to drop into the passing lane when confronted by something unexpected. I try to have tasks categorized by the amount of brainpower they take, or the time they take, so that I can fall back on something less grueling if necessary. If it is something so overturning as a change in staff or organizational structure that I have to take some time to regain my bearings, the small tasks can help create a feeling of normalcy--”the world may seem to be ending, but this mindless task still needs to be done, and will steady my hand.” I still haven’t figured out how to then move to the larger tasks, so I look forward to others’ insights there.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals:
Organize, toss or scan one half of one file drawer.Yes.
Start project file with one folder per project. Yes.
Walk.Yes.
Go to dental appointment and call for bone scan appointment. Yes, and no, although I have the phone number on a sticky note on my monitor so I will see it first thing in the morning.
The first two goals are pretty entertwined, so I almost feel like I’m claiming more credit than I should. Once the file is sorted, whether to keep or toss, it is a natural next step to scan it into a folder for the project. I will admit that I felt pretty darn virtuous about getting that done, though. As for walking, I finally succumbed to letting my health app nudge me if I was sitting too long. I hate it going off, but it does get me on my feet for at least one round of the stacks, so it works. I did better than I expected at the dental appointment. I was nervous, since the previous time had been difficult, but it was fine. The bone scan won’t be a big deal, except for the time involved, so I’m not terribly nervous about that.
Next week’s goals:
Recalibrate the outline for the book.
Write my part of the survey article.
Spend at least five hours on the grant.
Organize, toss or scan one file drawer.
Continue to expand project file with one folder per project.
Walk more than 45 minutes a day.
Go to bone scan appointment.
I hope everyone has a good week.
I like your approach to the topic, Elizabeth Anne. I've been trying to get grading, especially, to fit into that "must be done/know how to do it" category (rather than being the subject of angst and procrastination, which is really rather silly at this point in my career).
DeleteI like the approach of intertwining goals - so that getting one done makes it so much easier to do the next while still recognising them as separate tasks rather than one scarily large thing.
DeleteYour system of splitting goals by brainpower is similar to a method a student suggested to me in October - to colour code tasks by quantity of effort (or number of spoons if you're a spoonie) so you can attain some kind of balance of effort, reward and productivity.
DeleteI'm not sure it fits entirely with the road metaphor, but my preferred (if not always practiced) approach to dealing with the unexpected is to have healthy/self-supportive routines that are well enough established that I can fairly easily slip back into them even after an interruption. Unfortunately, at this point, I seem to have more less-than-productive/healthy habits I find myself falling into when I get tired, overwhelmed, or, yes, surprised than I do supportive ones. So I'd like to get back to having more of the supportive ones.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals:
--Figure out some session goals and post them here. done
--Work some kind of movement -- weight-lifting, walking, or gardening -- into most days not really: gardened once, lifted weights once
--Try to keep to a regular sleep schedule not really; drifted toward later bedtimes, even without outside influences/obstacles to earlier ones
-- figure out what to do about another ongoing project at work which I'm basically in charge of I'm coming toward a decision on this one, which will probably mean either a hiatus or handoff, if I can find anyone to hand it off to
Goals for the coming week:
Delete--Lift weights at least 2x, walk at least 1x
--Try to keep bedtime consistent
--Prepare for and deliver presentation on pedagogy project
--Decide what to do about pedagogy project (handoff? grant applications this year but no work 'til summer '18?)
--Begin planning Spring '18 lit classes (figure out what I need to do by when; begin planning readings and perhaps doing some background reading)
I find my bedtime slipping later too--even when I eliminate goofing-off with screens. Alas.
DeleteCongrats on two days of movement--it's way better than none!
I hope that consistent bedtime means clear brainsoace to make decisions and planning easier.
DeleteI like the idea of routines that can be slipped into as required. I hope the bedtimes have worked out.
DeleteI’m surprisingly drawn to the non-human side of the marvelous metaphor. While I’m seldom the wild pony who wants to climb into the car to see where we could go, I’m usually the bird on the branch counting cars and watching each one go by, one after another, after another. So I do some hiding, try to disengage as well as I can.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1 Finish revisions for manuscript chapters 2 and 3: nope
2 Submit abstract for photo essay (due): nope, due Monday, will do
3 Complete and submit TRQ proposal review, yes
4 Get materials organized for grant proposal, yes
This week:
1 Write grant proposal
2 Work on manuscript every. single. day.
3 Breathe, be kind to myself, be mindful of creating distracting little projects
Wishing for the best in the week ahead.
Distracting little projects are my favorite! And they are so darn distracting! Here's to moments of rest in the midst, being open to possibilities and creative thinking, and knowing when to let little dreams dissipate.
DeleteWell done on the completed proposal review and on getting organised.
DeletePerhaps being kind to oneself includes allowing the distractions to float by, but then also to know when to let them float away.
As long as you're not the bird determined to poop on every car that comes past...seagulls...my goodness what a mess they make :)
DeleteTopic: I was just noticing this week that when a big deadline comes up, or something unexpected, I drop everything except exercise (and maybe one other thing--this week I kept up with laundry) in order to get the big thing done. Sustaining TLQ through an entire week is a challenge.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
-plan exercise and eating and do it!--yes to exercise; halfway for food.
-no screens after dinner (5 days)--Hahahaha! I think I made it two nights without screens. Definitely a goal I should keep in mind.
-do 1 hour coffee shop writing first thing (4 days)--I think I did 2 days, and 1 evening coffee shop writing meet up.
-draft 5 pages of novel--got 1 page down.
-finalize YB for packet--did everything except the last line.
I've scheduled in my time better this week, I think, and I'm starting to get back into the swing of things with my planner.
This week:
-plan exercise and eating and do it!
-no screens 3 nights (let's be realistic)
-1 hour coffee shop writing 5 days
-finalize YB
-redraft PO
-finish drafting KLB handouts
At least you keep exercise. For me, that's one of the first things to go. Now that I'm becoming more aged, I need to change that!
DeleteGood job revising goals with realism in mind.
It helps to have appointments with a trainer a couple days a week--then I can't bail at will. (At least not with my Obliger guilt [see Gretchen Rubin's Better than Before].)
DeleteKeeping exercise going is an achievement! I like your realistic 'three nights of no screens'!
DeleteSupport Precedes Action. It's something my yoga teachers always say, and I'm working on how to implement it in my own life.
ReplyDelete(Doing this in a rush as it's Monday morning and I have another super-busy week starting...now.)
Last week:
1. Reread/revise ch. 1.
DONE--in fact, I did one better, and got through ch. 2!
2. Send out necessary materials for upcoming talk that I'm organizing.
DONE
3. Help others: write recommendation letter, read dissertation chapter, assign advisors to new students.
DONE
4. Meditate 4 times.
DONE. I sleep so much better after meditating. I also went to my first kirtan. If you're looking for some serious stress relief, may I suggest a kirtan?
This week:
1. Reread/revise ch. 3.
2. Enter revisions to intro & print so husband can read it.
3. Get one week ahead on reading for all classes.
4. Meditate four times.
5. Enjoy the outdoors for at least a few minutes every day; look out the window sometimes.
I will have to Google "kirtan."
DeleteAnd do you use a particular meditation strategy? How long do you meditate?
Congrats on a productive (and overachieving!) week!
Well done! I hope this week is as productive as the last one.
DeleteA kirtan sounds fascinating.
DeleteI like so many of the responses to the questions, and I think I use different strategies at different times. Sometimes, I speed up in the passing line to look for a fast way around. Other times, if something is in front of me, I ram the obstacle from behind, hitting it with my front grill to try to get it out of the way. But I love humming42's image of being a bird on a wire, and I really think I should do that more often.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I think my strategy is to just pull over to the side of the road to rest. So far, it seems I've gotten fairly lucky with the shingles, and they haven't been too terribly bad, but I've had some wicked fatigue when I exert myself. Can't remember ever really feeling like this before. Therefore, I think I need to deal with TRQ that comes my way, and then just pull over.
Last week's goals:
1) Return ill-fitting shoes and order new ones (for kids). YES for the returns, NO for the new purchases. Might do it right after this check in.
2) 15 minutes x 5 of writing or planning (at least two session must be actual writing). NO, but I did one, one-hour session.
3) Print previous draft of article (We'll call it "Spy"). NOT DONE.
4) Research ideas for middle school writing club.NOT DONE.
5) Turn in volunteer application and paperwork. DONE
6) Get sufficient sleep. Aim to be in bed by 11:00.MOSTLY DONE
This week will be busy because I have a couple of Drs. appointments, lots of grading, and my mother-in-law in visiting at the end of the week.
This week's goals:
1) Research options/activities for middle school writing club, which starts next Monday (quite nervous about this).
2) Try to move like water with TRQ and family, especially with weekend guests, and also with helping daughter make matching T-shirts for an upcoming activity with friends. This will be a special challenge when it comes to the iron-on transfers.
3) Write 200 words of fiction.
4) Go to bed by 11:00 and focus on rest.
5) Pay bills.
I hope you do get rest this week, though it sounds like a crazy week. And I hope the shingles go away soon!
DeleteHere's a writing club resource: http://www.younginklings.org/whats-new/
A friend of mine runs a non-profit that focuses on kids' writing. Some blog posts have "challenges" that would be great writing exercises (you should be able to use the "find" feature to search out those posts). The org also holds a writing contest each year and finalists get to work with a professional writing mentor to revise their work (over skype, usually), and winners have the opportunity to be published.
She's also written this book that might be helpful: http://www.naomikinsman.com/books/writerly-play/
(Now you can at least half check off goal #1! :)
Thanks, Amstr! I will check these out.
DeleteFatigue is nasty and insidious. I made a playlist of fairly uplifting tunes on my phone for when I can feel it hitting - it helps a bit, in the sense of sufficient oomph to get to the nearest safe place to rest a while!
DeleteI'm glad someone else thinks about ramming things...I didn't want to mention that incase it was just me.