Earlier
in the week, cartoonist Chris Hallbeck Tweeted:
I
was doing an activity with my 5-year-old and then told him I had to go back to
work and he said “Okay, go touch your letters daddy.” which is such an amazing
burn. “Must be exhausting touching that keyboard all day. Did you hit all the
letters yet? You’ve had all day.”
I found this amazing too, and charming. It
reminds me of how we sometimes talk about “touching” our projects as a way to
describe spending time in the research mode but not “actually” writing. Here at
TLQ, I’ve used the word “recherche” (which is rich in meaning in French) as a
way to refer to that time that is vital to the process but often neglected as
valuable when we look at productivity via word count or time spent actually
“touching the letters.”
This
week’s topic, if interested, is to consider the terms or metaphors used to
refer to these projects of research/writing/papers/presentations we do and how
the ways we refer to this work can have a positive (or negative) impact on our
perceptions and our work.
Following
up from last week:
Bardiac
1.
Catch up on union work (I'm treasurer now).
2.
Find 2 really good Hamlet articles for my senior seminar
3.
Organize the calendar for the works my senior seminar folks decided to read
4.
Prep the project for our student researchers meeting (Wednesday) and help run
the meeting
5.
Practice my new violin piece, and start incorporating vibrato practice
6. Do
taxes
7.
Organize British Library notes
8.
Apply for grad student research help.
9. Do
all the usual teaching and grading!
Daisy
1)
Read student work and comment
2)
Put all the cool conference discussions right into paper before forgetting
them!
3)
Finish paper text
Dame
Eleanor Hull
1.
Self: the usual stretching, exercise, safe eating; make a couple of other
appointments.
2.
Teaching: catch up on the online stuff and award points; grade a set of papers;
class prep.
3.
Research: languages; upload a translation chunk; another round of MMP
revisions.*
4.
Life Stuff: collect tax docs and list deductions; oil change; re-org kitchen
cabinets.
Elizabeth
Anne Mitchell
Two
hours x 4 on the sabbatical.
Walk
2.0 miles a day.
Three
hours x 4 on the grant.
One
hour x 7 on the novel.
Complete
heels on first pair of socks
Good Enough Woman
1) Do prep work for Poetry Out Loud
judging on Friday.
2) Article search (one hour)
3) Read one theory chapter
4) One hour editing article
5) 2-3 SF short stories
6) Finish "Dawn" by Octavia
Butler
7) Walk 3x.
8) Morning/Evening pages 4x
9) Pay bills and make phone call.
10) Schedule mammogram
heu
mihi
1.
Read 4 essays/chapters for Silence
2.
Novel: Revise chapters 5-7 (100-162)
3.
Finish reading diss chapter
4.
Read Honors draft
5.
Meditate some amount
6.
Run x 3, yoga x 2
7. 30
minutes of writing x 5
humming42
1
Actually set some deadlines
2
Work on pitch paragraph
3
Submit current book review
4
Read reference materials for Jewels
JaneB
I
might squeeze out about three hours this week for TLQ, and it all needs to go
on those horrible PRoblemChildPaper3 revisions which I had to get another extension
for. Cough cough sulk.
KJHaxton
1.
finish working through the paper draft
2.
finish a hat
3.
tackle the emails
4.
submit ethics application
Susan
1.
Really finish Way Outside
2.
Finish dissertation chapter
3.
Write self-statement for review, do bureaucratic stuff connected to it.
4.
Identify secondary and primary sources for keynote
5.
Walk three times
6.
Work on 7 hours of sleep.
This is a really interesting prompt which I...am having a hard time responding to, I'm afraid. What words do I use to describe my writing? Plugging away, powering through, getting it done. Those sound negative, but honestly, I find them useful: it makes writing into a task rather than a complicated nexus of emotional hang-ups, and, while those hang-ups certainly hang around, I can sort of put them somewhere other than where the writing is happening, if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThis week, the writing proceeded apace, but other things fell apart a bit. We had a snow day, my husband has the worst cold in the world, my throat is suggestive of a coming cold (BAD timing if it happens this week, ugh), and that dissertation chapter turned out to be 80 pages long. It's very good, but on a subject waaaaay outside of my field, and WHY are these diss chapters so damn LONG? My dissertation had 7 chapters, yes, but each chapter was 35-40 pages, which at least feels like a manageably readable chunk of prose.
Anyway, here's last week:
1. Read 4 essays/chapters for Silence - DONE--if I finish essay 4 tonight!
2. Novel: Revise chapters 5-7 (100-162) - SORT OF. Got through chapter 5.
3. Finish reading diss chapter - DONE. Finally. Damn was that thing long.
4. Read Honors draft - NO.
5. Meditate some amount - ONCE.
6. Run x 3, yoga x 2 - EH. Ran once, yoga once; shoveled snow and carried my son on my back for a mile of a snowy hike (that counted for a second run). My yoga classes for the month are about out and I might be getting a cold; hence the meagerness here.
7. 30 minutes of writing x 5 - DONE
This week, I have a friend coming to give a talk, which will pretty much eat up a day and a half. So I'll try to be restrained in my goal setting (but when has that ever worked?).
1. Write 30 minutes x 5
2. Meditate some amount
3. Revise chapters 6-8
4. Read/skim book for Silence
5. Read honors thesis section!!!
6. Read 1 grad exam document
7. Crafting: Either make some real progress on sweater for husband or buy supplies for another batch of beer.
Actually, the total snowy hike was about a mile, but I only carried my forty-pounder for half of that. Didn't mean to exaggerate!
DeleteI hope your husband feels better and you stay healthy! This is certainly a difficult winter for good health.
DeleteYou have my empathy on the extremely too long dissertation chapter. There seems to be a real split in academia between "bigger is better because it shows how smart you are" and "smaller is better because it shows your commitment to being concise." It seems like it might be a matter of context--depending on what you're arguing. But as a person who has always been devoted to brevity, I would be dismayed.
Fascinating prompt. I'm reminded of what Susan posted once (I think I'm remembering correctly) about how we talk about "our work" or "my work" and mean our research or writing project, and feel ownership of it in ways we don't seem to use for all the other work we do as academics, teaching, service, advising, and so forth. I try to think about how I use language to discuss both the bigger work I do and also my research/writing work.
ReplyDeleteList from last week:
1. Catch up on union work (I'm treasurer now). - This took about 8 hours, but I think it's pretty well straightened out for now, until a check clears that the previous secretary didn't bother recording. And until I get some emails...
2. Find 2 really good Hamlet articles for my senior seminar - done, sort of. I found one I'm really happy with and wrote thinking/discussion questions for the students
3. Organize the calendar for the works my senior seminar folks decided to read - done
4. Prep the project for our student researchers meeting (Wednesday) and help run the meeting - done! And it went really well, too.
5. Practice my new violin piece, and start incorporating vibrato practice - better practice this week than last...
6. Do taxes - not done.
7. Organize British Library notes - not done, but I did find a resource I need to find time to read.
8. Apply for grad student research help. done, and got some hours
9. Do all the usual teaching and grading! done, but more to do!
This week:
1. Organize the damned British Library notes.
2. Read the piece I realized I need to read. Take good notes!
3. Go pick up a botany book for the project.
4. Taxes.
5. Violin
6. Get some exercise!
7. The usual teaching gig!
So much done on your list! It's always good to have something that doesn't just get crossed off the list but also gives you the opportunity to stop and say that it went really well. Something so many of us forget to do before pushing on to the Next Big Thing that demands our attention.
DeleteHmmmm, I'm not sure about my writing projects but my teaching..well...when I refer to something as the 'module of doom' or the 'course from hell' (talking of the content not the students), I do dread it more. I guess I have similar mental language when referring to writing tasks, certainly my perceptions of how long something needs influence whether I get on with it or not. And whether or not I 'like' the writing or am currently working well with the collaborators has a effect as well. So I guess not so conscious as words to refer to writing, more about attitude.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. finish working through the paper draft - nope
2. finish a hat - yes
3. tackle the emails - partial
4. submit ethics application - done and took longer than anticipated hence the nope and partial for 1 and 3.
Wasn't a bad week I guess, the ethics thing was a big win but now it will go to panel and probably come back for changes. I've now made 6 hats so half way through the year's target of 12.
This week:
1. tackle the emails
2. do the small new semester marking task
3. prepare the teaching materials for next week
4. decide what to do for a writing retreat next week and prepare
5. work through the paper draft (assuming this isn't done as part of 4)
Good news on the ethics thing! And yes, those big project often push other ones off the map. And not getting those other things done is just a tweak to the schedule. (I tend to think I've "failed" when something planned doesn't get completed when it's simply a matter of accommodating it later).
DeleteAny plans to expand your hat-making target goal?!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
ReplyDelete1. Self: the usual stretching, exercise, safe eating; make a couple of other appointments. No appointments; did okay on exercise; had some food trouble.
2. Teaching: catch up on the online stuff and award points; grade a set of papers; class prep. YES to papers; still have not caught up with the online points thing.
3. Research: languages; upload a translation chunk; another round of MMP revisions.* YES, YES, NO.
4. Life Stuff: collect tax docs and list deductions; oil change; re-org kitchen cabinets. NO, NO, NO. Some other House Stuff got done, though, so there is progress.
This week (it may all be the same again):
1. Self: the usual stretching, exercise, safe eating; make a couple of other appointments.
2. Teaching: catch up on the online stuff and award points; grade a set of papers; class prep.
3. Research: languages; upload a translation chunk; another round of MMP revisions.
4. Life Stuff: collect tax docs and list deductions; oil change; re-org kitchen cabinets.
(In fact, I have already graded all the papers that came in yesterday; some have negotiated later deadlines. I have also purchased and put up curtain rods and curtains for the windows that were replaced last week. On the research front, I have visited the library to look up some details for the copy-editor of an essay that will soon appear---not the MMP, the other one.)
Metaphors: I've had a number of these over the years. Sometimes the work is like an oasis in the desert, and sometimes it's wrestling an octopus.
https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/more-musings-on-metaphor/
https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/writing-pacing-sports-metaphors-and-aging/
https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/?s=octopus
https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/metaphors-again/
And also this one:
Deletehttps://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/planning/
"More musings on metaphor" is delightful. I appreciate your blog posts about process because it's an enormous relief to know the general messiness and octopus nature of projects is not uniquely mine, which also enables me to own it. Grateful.
DeleteLast week's goals:
ReplyDelete1) Read student work and comment IN PROGRESS
2) Put all the cool conference discussions right into paper before forgetting them! DONE
3) Finish paper text IN PROGRESS
This week:
1) More commenting on thesis chapters
2) Finish paper text
3) Send paper to all coauthors for comments
4) Do some planning for future lab work
Topic:
I rarely use any metaphors for writing or research. It just is what it is, I don't even have good pseudonymns for projects on this site... I do find that subdividing tasks when I record them helps me see what sort of time I spend on figures vs. text vs. tables vs. production files vs. editing, which makes me happy and helps me plan things better. Maybe it is the science part :)
I think that straightforward, matter-of-fact approach to calling it what it is also enables you to avoid obscuring the sometimes harsh reality of deadlines by putting fluffy words on them.
DeleteGood for putting the cool stuff in the paper before you forget! It can be a challenge to remember the all the pieces before the float away.
Reading your prompt makes me realize that I have a lot of negative metaphors about "spinning my wheels" or being "stuck on a treadmill." These might not be good because they might make me feel like I'm not making progress when, in fact, I am.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1) Do prep work for Poetry Out Loud judging on Friday. DONE.
2) Article search (one hour). NOT DONE.
3) Read one theory chapter. NOT DONE.
4) One hour editing article. NOT DONE.
5) 2-3 SF short stories. NOT DONE.
6) Finish "Dawn" by Octavia Butler. DONE.
7) Walk 3x. ONLY 2x.
8) Morning/Evening pages 4x. DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THIS ONE.
9) Pay bills and make phone call. DONE.
10) Schedule mammogram. NOT DONE.
Well, not a great well for TLQ, but that's because TRQ got a bit crazy. I mapped my hours this week and I had just over 40 hours of teaching/service/prep. On top of that I had nearly 10 hours of volunteer work of one kind or another, so some TLQ fell through the cracks.
I also found it interesting to read Erin Bartram's essay about why she is leaving academia and the grief that she feels at the lost opportunities she is leaving behind. In her essay, she talks about how people say, "But you still *have to* write your book!" And, "You should still publish!" And Bertram asks (quite realistically, I think), "Why should I try to keep publishing if no one wants to pay me to do so?" This is relevant for me since any research/writing I do must be done in what would otherwise be my "leisure" time since I am not required to publish for my job. Yes, I must do professional development, but that's very different than the kind of work required for placing an article.
I know I've discussed this before, and I'm sorry to perseverate on it, but one half of me *really* wants to pursue publication of at least two chapters from my thesis. I want to do it because I think the ideas are valuable, and also because I want to feel/be legit as a scholar. But the other part of me thinks I should just give it up and focus on trying to stay healthy, enjoy myself, and, perhaps, write fiction. And maybe still present at conferences (low-stakes research). I've also thought about trying to publish in easy-access places as a way of resisting the current publishing models (since I don't need to publish in high-impact journals). A lot of internal conflict about this.
Anyway, this week also has some heavy-duty parent volunteer requirements with a fair amount of grading and prep. I also accepted a student for independent study, and now I need to re-read a bunch of Virginia Woolf over the next few weeks.
This week:
1) Morning and evening pages 4x.
2) At least one SF short story.
3) Move like water on the Saturday theater-kids' field trip that starts at 4:30am and ends around midnight and involves a lot of driving.
4) Help son with his weird Greek god costume.
5) Walk 3x.
6) One 20-minute at-home yoga session.
7) Keep doctor's appointment.
I've had three friends who left academia. One gave up on publishing immediately; one spent years trying to find time to write while working a full-time job that had nothing to do with her Ph.D. topic. One kept publishing, though slowly, and eventually got back in. FWIW.
DeleteAs for what you want to do, there are two things that help me with such questions: (1) imagine you're 80 (or just 20 years older than you are now, if 80 is too much of a stretch), looking back on your life and giving advice to your younger self. What do you want to have done? (2) Think about your values, your own real secret values, the things you love---not world peace and justice for all, but the things that make life worth living, like having cats and eating chocolate. Where does each kind of writing fit in this model?
I read a lot online that is targeted at people who might want to publish something borne of their own interests and creativity. These discussions and classes and coaching are even more present since self-publishing has grown in popularity and in some cases in profitability as well. It seems kind of strange to me that writing is "other" for those folks, and it is a hobby rather than part of their livelihood.
DeleteOur relationships to writing are so much more complicated than that, especially when scholarship isn't required as part of your job description yet something you've devoted so much time and energy to. Asking those questions about will want to have accomplished when you look back on your life is a good bit of wisdom.
DEH and humming42, Thank you for reading and replying. I think those strategies sound like good ones. I'm so torn about all of it, but I like the idea of trying to really think about "my own secret values . . . like having cats and eating chocolate." That might help.
DeletePart of me is also concerned that I can't do either kind of writing very well. One minute, I wonder if I should give a solid attempt at one and then a solid attempt at the other to decide which to really go for, but that would be quite the process.
Cats and chocolate. Cats and chocolate. And books. I love books.
DEH and humming42 have some good points. I would add a few thoughts. To expand on DEH”s “secret pleasures,” your interest in your dissertation topic seems rooted in a secret pleasure. After all, you must have some interest in it to have chosen it for your topic. While a lot of my cohort were heartily sick of the topic when they defended, they often returned to it.
DeleteAs for requirements to write, I am in a similar boat. If I do any medieval studies writing, it is due to my own interest, not because my Dean thinks it is a wonderful use of my time. I still write it, because I care about the topic.
I find the pull to write fiction is much the same. I work through some of my own life challenges with my characters, but I want the work to go out to a larger audience, not to be merely writing therapy.
Finally, to address your thinking your writing is not good enough. First, stop thinking that; it is paralyzing. Second, ask for readers who will be honest but fair. I suspect you will find you write better than you think.
Showing up late, so I’m just dropping in my goals...
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1 Actually set some deadlines: somewhat
2 Work on pitch paragraph: no
3 Submit current book review: yes
4 Read reference materials for Jewels: no
This week:
1 Work on pitch paragraph
2 Read reference materials for Jewels
3 Make a schedule for planned research projects
4 3x recherche