Administrivia - heu mihi, please get in touch to be added as a blog author!

Hi heu mihi,

Sorry for the public call out but I don't seem to have an email for you anywhere!  If you email me privately (at mollimog at gmail dot com) I can add you to the blog so you can make posts, and connect you with humming42.

And happy end-of-year to everyone!

Week 15 - The finishing line (of sparkly tinsel)

Hello Everyone,

I hope you're having a good mid-winter and that the past week has been easier than expected. There's so much going on for everyone at the moment.

This week we have final weekly check-ins and then the check-in against the final session goals. 

Thanks to all for participating this session.

Amstr

-revise 2 PBs

-finish MF stuff by Thursday pm

-exercise 4x

-mediate daily

-figure out and execute work time

Dame Eleanor Hull

1) Self: stay healthy via exercise, stretching, safe food.

2) Grade undergrad lp2.

3) Life stuff: deal with the bills and parental issues.

4) Resolutions: Live with uncertainty, work the process, show up, be kind.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Get completely well.

Finish second stocking.

Plan for holiday travel.

heu mihi

1. Figure out something to do in final classes. (Really. I have no idea. I'd thought it likely that tomorrow would be a make-up day, but I didn't cancel any classes, so there's no need.)

2. Actually finish the draft of this terrible novel.

3. Grade All The Things for Big Class.

4. Relaaax! Have a massage (--already scheduled)! Go Christmas shopping!

5. And, okay, start reading the book that I was supposed to have reviewed this fall.

humming42

1 30 minutes recherche (reading, writing, research, project admin) every day

2 Write first Snow blog

3 Write task list for Tiny project

4 Finish all grading!

JaneB

1) If I go to the conference, go to the conference, make the most of it, and feel entirely free to refuse evening activities if I don't feel like it. If I don't, do Gallimaufrey stuff and organising stuff which I've been putting off.

2) Stay in the office for minimum hours on Friday - priority is to attend a couple of meetings, then post parcels etc.

3) self-care and not wasting energy telling myself I've not done enough, indulging in self-blame or listening to any other Bugges with their nasty shrill mean needle-y voices

KJHaxton (carried over)

1. marking

2. prepare lectures for the next couple of weeks

3. work more on ethics forms

4. carry on with Christmas stuff

Susan

1. Write abstract for essay collection

2. Finish footnotes on R &R

3. GRADE

4. At least one walk

5. Party preparation includes decluttering & at least tidying.

Session Goals:

I've included original and revised goals where they exist - a few folk struck things off the session goals as complete half way through but I think it is important to count all successes for the session. 

Amstr

-Draft half of my novel (now aiming for a quarter)

-Develop submission packet for picture books/start submitting

-Finish prep for and teach weekend course (October)

-Develop website for editing

-maintain consistent exercise and eating habits (4x/wk exercise; daily meal planning)

-get more sleep! (7-8 hours a night)

Contingent Cassandra

--Continue working more regular movement into my routine: keep lifting weights on a regular (or semi-regular) basis, get back into habit of walking several times (or more) a week.

--Work more academic reading into my routine (with likely focus on Spring '18 class prep)

--Work in at least some other self-care (eating well, sleeping) and/or financial/household TLQ work when possible.

--Generally try to observe what works -- and doesn't -- in terms of forming new routines, keeping up with existing positive ones, avoiding bad habits (like creeping-forward bedtimes and too much reading on the internet when I'm tired/overwhelmed)

Dame Eleanor Hull

Live With Uncertainty and Keep Working the Process

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Session mantra: Organize, plan, contemplate

Continue to organize paper and electronic scholarship files.

Plan future projects.

Figure out my scholarship path.

Two hours on the book.

Walk an hour every day.

Keep up with medical needs.

Good Enough Woman

 Goals for the session:

1) Develop more stress management strategies, including exercise and, perhaps, exploring meditation and telling others how I feel.

2) Submit one article.

3) Either do NaNoWriMo or make another plan for drafting some of a novel, and develop a regular writing habit.

4) Make progress on bags and piles in the garage (this involves sorting and framing art pieces, finding places for supplies and books, and etc.)

Revised Session Goals:

1) Move more (more being "some").

2) Write at least five minutes every day in November (starting Nov. 2).

3) Decide on a journal target for the article. Complete one revision pass. Create bib of needed sources. (I have a lot of internal conflict about doing the article, so . . . )

4) Get bookshelf for the witch hut so I can clear some books out of the garage.

heu mihi

*Research:*

1. Submit my manuscript to the interested publisher. I have a full draft of everything but the conclusion, and I've just reread/re-revised the introduction, but the five subsequent chapters need their own rereadings and re-revisions. I would like to have it sent out by November 1.

2. Plan/outline/research an article that would come out of a conference paper I delivered last year.

3. Submit an abstract to a conference (due late October).

4. Meditate four times a week. It's a habit that I've been wanting to establish, and I need it.

Revised session goals

1. 40k words of NaNoWriMo novel--not enough to "win," but plausibly realistic?

2. Start running again when daylight savings ends and it's not actually dangerous to do so in the mornings.

3. Make some kind of headway on planned article. (This is a terrible goal because it is vague and unmeasurable, but whatever.)

4. Meditate 3x week, but build it into a genuine self-care routine, which may sometimes include blowing it off to lie in bed with the heating pad on my neck watching Netflix instead. I've had too many stress headaches this semester.

humming42

1 As ever, write 5x/week

2 Submit manuscript

3 Submit grant proposal

4 Find funding for December conference presentation

5 Submit abstract for photo essay

6 Submit Snow abstract

7 Catch up with co-author and resume Talk project

Revised goals:

1 write and submit blog post

2 send letter of inquiry about February article

3 submit Buildings abstract

4 draft Camp article

5 finish and remaining book reviews

JaneB

1) self-care, self-care, self-care.

2) Research, money acquisition - get rid of the GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted, get a full draft of GallimaufreyGrant written.

3) Research, writing - don't start anything new until the current horde are out of the gates. I got a lot of stuff pushed from things I ought to do to actively being worked on this summer, so now just to keep it moving... Here's the current list, to be annoying

3a) ProblemChild1 and PC2 - hopefully submitted last week but no news yet from co-authors.

3b) PC3 - waiting for co-author to write their sections next week, then the discussion needs drafting, deadline of end of September for a special issue (AARGH)

3c) Tagalong paper - with co-authors for final checking, should be submitted by the end of September

3d) Gallimaufrey Review - a cast of tens, driving me nuts, but more herding than long slog on my part. end of December submission desired.

3e) MScPaper - a revise and resubmit to a new journal.

3f) Ferrett - needs the figures finalising and a final check of references, then will be ready to submit.

3g) PickyPaper - my baaaaaby, about half drafted and keeps changing shape. This will take up any quality writing time I can get my hands on.

3h) ExcessivePaper and SurprisePaper are both with journals at the moment, so waiting for comments. SpecialIssuePaper is awaiting proofs (submitted the R&R last December, accepted 4th Sept, have 3 days to do proofs sometime during my leave, sigh...)

4) Other Academic Stuff that is TLQ - I'd like to spend a little time working on the new second year modules this semester before they are urgent. I have some ideas about incorporating group work and mini-projects, and know from past experience that with multiple academics involved and general student dislike of group work that this will work a LOT better if it's really carefully designed and planned and practiced, for this first year. And that takes time.

5) Stuff For Me - I want to finish a big crochet blanket/hanging project, and complete NaNoWriMo - I'm thinking of working on several short stories set in my fictional university setting (Department of effectively Magic based in a normal middling sort of contemporary university, which has exchange arrangements with a University in a parallel world where magic/fantasy elements are standard and technology levels lower - what with the talking cats (no-one is sure if that was an accident or an Evil Plan overtaken by events), non-human exchange students and staff, a dragon living in the boiler room (helps with the budget juggling) and students who keep trying to use mobile phones in zones where they really can alter the nature of reality, there's plenty of material, and I haven't worked on short stories for ages, so...)

karen

1. I have a whole lot of research deliverables (to drop into business speak) that need to be done before the end of the year: co-authored conference paper, solo conference paper, co-authored curriculum paper, community project, dowry grant, grass work. To get these done with any quality and without major panics I need to make time for progress each week, so the session goal is probably something about process as well as product.

2. The curriculum project - complete draft needed by end of year to meet timelines.

3. I have grand garden visions, but if I can have a vegetable patch with the complete set of planned summer veg and repeat sowing I'll be happy.

4.Cultivate inner calm by moving, sleeping, declutter/organising and carrying out creative activities.

KJHaxton

mantra: be sufficient

1. grapple with the scholarship and research issues and try to reach a plateau if not a conclusion and new direction. The current state of freefall with arms flailing cannot persist.

2. get to Christmas as intact as possible.

3. finish Machair blanket, beach cushions, and tree printing project.

4. Submit an article

Revised Goals

1. continue grappling with scholarship and research

2. get to Christmas as intact as possible

3. finish beach cushions and tree printing project

4. submit an article or ethics form

Matilda

1. Finish writing drafts of Chapters 1, 2.

2. Finish writing first drafts of Chapters 3, 4.

3. Finish outlines and structures of Chapters 5, 6.

4. Exercise every day.

5. Eat well.

6. Organise my day.

Susan

1. Finish Way Outside paper, that was a summer goal

2. Write article review for journal

3. Write late book review

4. Do revise and resubmit

5. Get regular sleep, aiming for 7 hours a night

6. Keep moving

7. Make sure I do one thing for fun each week

Week 14 - the push before finish

We're approaching Christmas, the end of semester and the end of the latest instalment of Top Left Quadrant.   Next weekend will be the final check-in for this round.

If you are interested in hosting the January - March iteration, leave a comment. 

So, a theme for the week - what would you most like to find in your Christmas stocking? 

Amstr

-revise 2 PBs

-MF work (scenes in order, character sketches and cheatsheet, map, timeline, list of what's next)

-write 1 blog post

-menus/grocery shop

-mediate for 5 min each day

Contingent Cassandra

--Move a little, somehow, sometime

--Finish book order & course description

Dame Eleanor Hull

Weekend goals:

1) Self: keep up the good work on exercise, stretching, food, and language prep. Good on food, minimal on exercise/stretching, no languages.

2) Teaching: comment the grad drafts, start on final exam. Drafts commented and returned. I may cancel the final exam, depending on news today.

3) Research: try for 2.5 hours a day, in 1/2 hour chunks if necessary. An editor is breathing down my neck, with reason. No. Have explained circumstances to editor.

4) Life: Do something fun with my husband. We tried; it was just TV after dinner, and every time, I had to take phone calls about my father.

Minimal goals:

1) Self: stay healthy via exercise, stretching, safe food.

2) Grade undergrad lp2.

3) Life stuff: deal with the bills and parental issues.

4) Resolutions: Live with uncertainty, work the process, show up, be kind.

heu mihi

1. Finish the novel??? (Or get close. I can have until the 15th if I need it.)

2. Grade everything pre-finals.

3. Order books for second class (due a month ago, but there were scheduling snafus and I wasn't sure whether it would run).

4. Get organized for next week's UC meeting

5. Schedule a room for February lecture

humming42

1 Read articles and organize information for meeting next week with other co-author

2 Really, send that query letter about February article

3 Write task list for Tiny project (which is, of course, huge)

4 Sort out plans for Snow blogging

JaneB

1) write and print two posters for a conference

2) remember to fetch my tickets for said conference (which have to be purchased from the approved supplier by the faculty office, who refuse to use the internal mail to deliver them to other buildings on campus, and for no doubt VERY LOGICAL reasons the faculty office is on the far side of campus from the buildings of the constituent departments/schools/centres/institutes of said Faculty, so I keep not getting around to going over there to get my tickets (I also have to coordinate with THEIR closing hours...). I don't get why they don't use the post!

3) I should look at ProblemChildPaper2, but I don't want to

4) I need to send some emails related to SocietyThing and GallimaufreyPaper

5) grading, present wrapping, card writing, self care, the usual.

KJHaxton

1. marking

2. prepare lectures for the next couple of weeks

3. work more on ethics forms

4. carry on with Christmas stuff

Susan

1. Write abstract for collection of essays

2. R & R footnotes: 1 hour

3. Read job applications (this is TRQ, but I need to list it)

4. Pay some bills

5. Get back into exercise at least 4 days

6. Do some decluttering (it's bothering me, so it's time.)

Week 13: Do What You Can

Okay, so I’m tapping this out on my phone in a relatively bare room. Seated on a tatami mat and with a bed laid out on the floor next to me with a small sleeping girl in it, I’m reminded that sometimes, simple is enough. use what you have, do what you can.

I’m not able to cut and paste across from last week on this set up, so would you all mind looking back to last week to see what you posted? And if you’d like to reflect, how can you do what you can (even if not perfect) to make progress on your session goals as we head towards the end of this session and year?