It was lovely last week to hear all the accomplishments of TLQ participants, whether
over the last few months or the last few years. Several positive and complimentary
comments were made about the impact of the group on our feelings of accountability,
and therefore on our progress. I started thinking about the chemistry of writing groups,
both on-line and in-person, especially since many of us have both incarnations going
on at once. What do you look for in a writing/accountability group, and what is
different about on-line versus in-person versions? Would you feel adrift if you never
left the good steamer TLQ in any port of call?
over the last few months or the last few years. Several positive and complimentary
comments were made about the impact of the group on our feelings of accountability,
and therefore on our progress. I started thinking about the chemistry of writing groups,
both on-line and in-person, especially since many of us have both incarnations going
on at once. What do you look for in a writing/accountability group, and what is
different about on-line versus in-person versions? Would you feel adrift if you never
left the good steamer TLQ in any port of call?
Please respond to the prompt if it speaks to you, report your progress on your weekly
goals, analyze what went well or badly, and set goals for the coming week.
goals, analyze what went well or badly, and set goals for the coming week.
Bardiac (held over during trip out west)
1. Finalize some plans. Since this involves my Mom, it will take time (because she's
communicating with five other people...)
2. Finish weeding. I need two hours before it gets hot. Hopefully tomorrow.
3. Exercise.
4. Pack.
5. Write enough that I feel like I've made progress.
6. (added by editor:) HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP!!
communicating with five other people...)
2. Finish weeding. I need two hours before it gets hot. Hopefully tomorrow.
3. Exercise.
4. Pack.
5. Write enough that I feel like I've made progress.
6. (added by editor:) HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP!!
Dame Eleanor Hull
1. Self/health: yoga for neck 5-7 days; same for cardio; see doc if sore foot doesn't improve.
2. Research: keep office hours 9-12 four days; 6 hours on revisions; 2 hours on language;
update promotion application.
3. Teaching: 2 hours planning or reading for fall classes.
4. Life Stuff: do 3-5 things.
2. Research: keep office hours 9-12 four days; 6 hours on revisions; 2 hours on language;
update promotion application.
3. Teaching: 2 hours planning or reading for fall classes.
4. Life Stuff: do 3-5 things.
Elizabeth Mitchell
1) Pick up interlibrary loan books.
2) Take notes on three of the above-mentioned books, at least 2 hours a day.
3) Pick up pool pass.
4) Stay hydrated.
5) Proofread for 3 hours every day.
2) Take notes on three of the above-mentioned books, at least 2 hours a day.
3) Pick up pool pass.
4) Stay hydrated.
5) Proofread for 3 hours every day.
Good Enough Woman
1) Make the back yard even more pretty.
2) Daily push-ups (10).
3) Walk the dog once.
4) Review the readers' reports more carefully. Take some planning/strategy notes for revision.
5) Keep my shit together and try not to cry when I drop my daughter off on Sunday for a
week-long camp at UCSB.
2) Daily push-ups (10).
3) Walk the dog once.
4) Review the readers' reports more carefully. Take some planning/strategy notes for revision.
5) Keep my shit together and try not to cry when I drop my daughter off on Sunday for a
week-long camp at UCSB.
Heu mihi
1. Sit x 4
2. Exercise x 4
3. Work on Wonder for 2 hours total
4. Finish a book
5. Read 30 pages of Proust
2. Exercise x 4
3. Work on Wonder for 2 hours total
4. Finish a book
5. Read 30 pages of Proust
Humming42
1. Post book review
2. Write 1000 words for Tiny Project
3. Write one or both of upcoming abstracts
4. Consider freelance gig
5. Get caught up on grading
2. Write 1000 words for Tiny Project
3. Write one or both of upcoming abstracts
4. Consider freelance gig
5. Get caught up on grading
JaneB
1) self-care: focusing this week on drinking enough water, on taking time to eat the food
I choose, on moving a little extra each day (at least back stretches), "sitting".
2) arranging a time to visit my sister despite hot weather
3) going through the rest of my notes from meetings two weeks ago and taking small
actions, planning/recording large ones, related to my various papers and grant applications
in progress.
4) spending an hour or two on one of the papers
5) spend an hour on teaching prep things, just getting things in order
I choose, on moving a little extra each day (at least back stretches), "sitting".
2) arranging a time to visit my sister despite hot weather
3) going through the rest of my notes from meetings two weeks ago and taking small
actions, planning/recording large ones, related to my various papers and grant applications
in progress.
4) spending an hour or two on one of the papers
5) spend an hour on teaching prep things, just getting things in order
OceanGirl101
1. Write 5,000 words for Ch 6. If this means I get to the end of the chapter, then edit as
much as I can
2. Continue text/comments for co-authored paper (waiting on email from collaborators)
3. Weights 2x, Pilates 1x, walk or something else 2x
4. Do something fun x2
5. Think about getting a decorator for my upstairs office
6. Edit copy of will/health care directive for 1 hr.
much as I can
2. Continue text/comments for co-authored paper (waiting on email from collaborators)
3. Weights 2x, Pilates 1x, walk or something else 2x
4. Do something fun x2
5. Think about getting a decorator for my upstairs office
6. Edit copy of will/health care directive for 1 hr.
Plant Girl
1. I WAS going to NJ to visit family, but after driving partway to MDW this morning only
to find out that my flight was cancelled inexplicably and that there were no more flights I
could take today or the rest of the week, it looks like I'm not seeing family again until the
holidays.
2. So, since this was supposed to be a week off from work, I will try to relax and balance
little bits of work that I feel motivated to do with lots of reading for fun, which is something
I've really gotten away from this summer.
3. Try to run and eat healthy again now that I'm feeling better physically.
1. I WAS going to NJ to visit family, but after driving partway to MDW this morning only
to find out that my flight was cancelled inexplicably and that there were no more flights I
could take today or the rest of the week, it looks like I'm not seeing family again until the
holidays.
2. So, since this was supposed to be a week off from work, I will try to relax and balance
little bits of work that I feel motivated to do with lots of reading for fun, which is something
I've really gotten away from this summer.
3. Try to run and eat healthy again now that I'm feeling better physically.
Susan
1. Do serious edit of Violence
2. Identify more of the primary sources for new class
3. Get exercise
4. Go to bed early enough to get good sleep.
5. Enjoy the most beautiful library setting ever (we call it paradise)
6. Enjoy the twins (now 4 1/2) and my family.
2. Identify more of the primary sources for new class
3. Get exercise
4. Go to bed early enough to get good sleep.
5. Enjoy the most beautiful library setting ever (we call it paradise)
6. Enjoy the twins (now 4 1/2) and my family.
Waffles
1. Get either the PTSD or YRBS paper done. I am skyping with my postdoc mentor tonight
(they are on the opposite side of the world right now), and am hoping I can get her to help
me be accountable on this front.
2. Get my revisions to discussion section done.
3. Get review done that is due this week.
(they are on the opposite side of the world right now), and am hoping I can get her to help
me be accountable on this front.
2. Get my revisions to discussion section done.
3. Get review done that is due this week.
What Now?
1. Again with the summer school. Teaching 4.5 hours each day is just exhausting; there's
no way around that.
2. Try to exercise at least ONE time during the week! (See how I'm lowering my
expectations? Just suck less!)
3. Pull out the essay draft and actually look at it. But I don't have to do this until Saturday;
I think it's not reasonable to expect myself to do intellectual work after a day so full of teaching.
4. Finish the online course, wrap it up, and dive into the other online course that I've
completely neglected.
no way around that.
2. Try to exercise at least ONE time during the week! (See how I'm lowering my
expectations? Just suck less!)
3. Pull out the essay draft and actually look at it. But I don't have to do this until Saturday;
I think it's not reasonable to expect myself to do intellectual work after a day so full of teaching.
4. Finish the online course, wrap it up, and dive into the other online course that I've
completely neglected.
To answer the prompt, I think that I do need this or some group like this to stay accountable these days. I seemed to do okay without any structure just out of my degree, but these days I'm finding it harder to write and work without some support from multiple directions. Part of that is the expansion of responsibilities, but its also my health, esp mental health, that makes me feel dislocated and unable to focus.
ReplyDeleteAs for my goals last week, sadly nothing really happened. I had a major health incident on Tuesday and spent the rest of the week recovering, and am still essentially recovering. So my goals for this week are tiny and modest:
1. Try to edit chapter a little bit each day
2. 10 hours of FL work
3. Pack
Sorry to hear about the health incident! Things happen, and we can bounce back. The group is happy to support you in your recovery process.
DeleteWhat Dame Eleanor said. One of the things that is useful with this group is that we know life happens - to us, and to those in our families of birth and choice.
DeleteI hope your recovery continues.
Seconding what Dame Eleanor said. This group has stood by me through several health crises, including the present one. Its members are steadfast and true (and even better, kind).
DeleteSending healing thoughts your way.
DeleteThanks to everyone for all of your support. <3
DeleteI've had a RL writing group for nearly a decade, and it has changed notably through that time. At first it was a group of people who had gone through a writing workshop at LRU together, facilitated by a staff person. The participants worked in humanities and in social and information sciences, and although the official line was that we would all benefit from writing for a wider audience, I think in practice we all found that we wrote for publication in sufficiently specialized journals that questions/ comments from people way outside our disciplines were rarely very helpful. Gradually, due to scheduling and other conflicts, the group re-shaped itself and for the past five years or so I've met with a group that is strictly literature-focused, though we cover a broad span of times, places and languages. Our membership in those five years has been very stable.
ReplyDeleteIn the original, university-supported group, there was a strict format to follow when we met: a round of clarifying questions, a round of positive comments, then any actual criticism. Now, since we are an ad hoc group and know each other well, it's much less structured, and that's okay because we trust each other to be helpful. Although in the early group there was a sociologist whose questions were enormously helpful to shaping my book project, in general I prefer working with people who understand how lit crit works.
Usually we meet each week to discuss one person's work (up to ten pages if submitted in advance, occasionally more if we all say we can deal with a full article or chapter; two pages if brought for instant perusal). If no one is ready to submit, we may meet for a "writing date" or to discuss/set goals.
I find the RL group nicely complements the daily/weekly/session goals I set here.
My college started a writing group much like the one you describe, although focussed on information science. It didn't gain the depth of interpersonal knowledge, nor did it offer critiques, and has become a brief, monthly accountability session, without offerng much support.
DeleteI'd be much more inclined to attend something like you describe.
How I did:
ReplyDelete1. Self/health: yoga for neck 5-7 days; same for cardio; see doc if sore foot doesn't improve. YES; YES; YES (foot is bruised, not broken, and continues to improve. Neck is much better). I very cautiously did another food test, which went well for almost a week, and then produced a bad reaction that ruined Friday-Sunday.
2. Research: keep office hours 9-12 four days; 6 hours on revisions; 2 hours on language;
update promotion application. THREE days; YES; ONE hour; NO.
3. Teaching: 2 hours planning or reading for fall classes. ONE, I think.
4. Life Stuff: do 3-5 things. YES.
In the coming week, I have four days at home (of which one on campus), then will start a week-long trip to the west coast on Friday.
New goals:
1. Self/health: yoga for neck 5-7 days; same for cardio; cautiously try going back to weights; massage.
2. Research: keep office hours 9-12 three days; 6 hours on revisions; 2 hours on language; update promotion application.
3. Teaching: 2 hours planning or reading for fall classes.
4. Life Stuff: do 3-5 things.
5. Travel: pack and prep for trip; do necessary hunting and gathering to eat safely on the road.
Sorry to hear that the food reaction ruined your weekend, although I'm very glad the foot is not broken. Given all the above, you did quite well on goals. Enjoy the west coast!
DeleteYes, I'm glad to hear the foot isn't broken and that your neck has improved! And it sounds like you had a productive week until the food issues came upon you.
DeleteI hope your west coast trip is smooth!
I have an "in person" (actually via video conference, as we're spread out across the country) writing group that is fantastic; in fact, I've heard other people, who don't know that I'm in it, refer to it as this sort of dream group. It's very different from this one, though, as it's for reading and commenting on each other's work. But what makes it wonderful is similar to something that makes *this* group so nice, I think: We're entirely supportive and non-competitive with each other. It's become this lovely, generous space for getting substantive feedback on our writing but also affirmation of our ongoing progress (and help talking through professional and personal struggles), and there is zero snarkiness or ugliness underlying it all.
ReplyDeleteI feel really lucky. And I've become great friends with the other four women in the group.
Last week:
1. Sit x 4 - Yes, if the kirtan/bhakti class counts as one. --Sure it does. I make the rules, don't I?
2. Exercise x 4 - DONE
3. Work on Wonder for 2 hours total - DONE--actually got to almost 4 hours--going to try to hit that again this week.
4. Finish a book - DONE, plus most of another one
5. Read 30 pages of Proust - Only about 15.
This week:
1. Sit x 6
2. Exercise x 5
3. Finish a book and read most of another
4. 30 pages of Proust
5. 3 hours on Wonder
6. Prep first week of undergrad class
This list is far too ambitious, but I'll see how I do!
How do you make it supportive? Is it the lack of underlying mal-intent, you think? I feel like I'm not sure I would be able to tell intent anymore.
DeleteThere is lack of mal-intent, but also, more positively, genuine generosity, which comes through in the specific comments that we give each other (always with loads of encouragement), the willingness to share ideas/resources/even phrasing of thesis statements!, and--because we've now been meeting for about three years--the friendships that we've established.
DeleteNot too unlike what I see here, in fact.
How did you get started?
DeleteI'd also like to know how you started the group.
DeleteGood job on goals--and yes, of course you make the rules, so it counts if you want it to do so!
I'm overwhelmed and stressed out and being pretty dumb about things but can't get my feelings back under control right now. This is the least summery summer... it DID rain quite a lot this weekend though, and things are a bit cooler, which means I'm getting to catch up on some sleep.
ReplyDeleteLeaving goals as they are because this last week I DID spend a couple of hours on writing, but otherwise, once again, nothing. Heat and meetings and an all day training workshop and just STUFF that is not TLQ but is draining all my get up and go, and I don't have much of that.
My real life writing group has been pretty much too busy to meet this year, or unable to reconcile our diaries to meet in person, more than once a month or so. And we're being kind of stealth-hijacked by the people in charge of REF preparation, I think, and I am unreasonably put out by this. By everything.
1) self-care: focusing this week on drinking enough water, on taking time to eat the food I choose, on moving a little extra each day (at least back stretches), "sitting".
2) arranging a time to visit my sister despite hot weather
3) going through the rest of my notes from meetings two weeks ago and taking small actions, planning/recording large ones, related to my various papers and grant applications in progress.
4) spending an hour or two on one of the papers
5) spend an hour on teaching prep things, just getting things in order
So sorry things are rough - I'm glad you are focusing on self-care!
DeleteI, too, am sorry things are rough. You've done more in the heat than you give yourself credit for, even if it was stuff that you didn't particularly want to do. That's a good thing.
DeleteThe few times I've had IRL groups, they stumbled to a halt over the whole scheduling and far-too-busy things as well. I fault academia for making research some hand-wavy thing that gets done "on our own time," as though we have shoemaker's elves with a penchant for research. Gah!
ReplyDeleteI like this group for accountability because we all just want each other to be successful. During my PhD I had a similar group, which was a nice antidote to some of the weirdness going on while I was finishing. Today the PhD students invited me to a little informal group they have started to support each others' work - basically whoever wants to present an issue does, and we all give feedback. They are really good eggs and it was a super pleasant experience (and I hope it was for the presenter bc we basically tore her project apart - but we did it to help her get it done and get it done successfully).
Amazingly, I got everything done last week that I said I would - plus I got a draft of another paper to my mentor as well. I felt pretty accomplished.
1. Get either the PTSD or YRBS paper done. DONE
2. Get my revisions to discussion section done. DONE
3. Get review done that is due this week. DONE!
At the beginning of the week last week, I mapped out exactly how I planned to spend my week, and I think that really helped. I woke up every day knowing what I needed to do, and I mostly did it (although my plan fell apart over the weekend, but that’s ok). I was also asked last week to join the editorial board of PLOS One - which is crazy. I turned them down bc the work load is significant, and I can’t dedicate that much time to admin this early in my career. But it was amazing being asked (I was convinced the email was one of those spam emails we all get every day calling us eminent and asking us to share our brilliant research at their conference…).
Am headed to a conference next week - and am giving two presentations there - so my goals will be aimed at those, plus some other things I need to get done:
1. Presentation #1.
2. Presentation #2.
3. Stupid reviews for stupid review paper (will be so glad when this is done!)
4. If I am successful in getting 1-3 done, I’d like to take the success of last week and try to make serious progress on my F32 paper.
Good for you! When I do a lot of mapping, I tend to get rebellious and not want to do the thing I'm supposed to do at that time, and yet I also need structure and lists to get things done. It's a tricky balance.
DeleteI rebel against mapping, too, although sometimes I can sneak up on myself. What? Following a plan? Of course not. . . hey, wait!
DeleteYour nascent Ph.D. group sounds like they might have something good there, especially if the presenter can see the criticism for the constructive help it was. I tried to get a group together when I was a Ph.D., but no one would share due to a paranoia that their ideas would be stolen. Sigh.
You did fantastic on your goals! I hope the presentation go (went) well.
I’ve never had an in-person writing group or accountability group and I’m not sure I could find people locally with whom I would want to share my work or process. One of the nice things about TLQ is that I can be vulnerable or angry or hopeful, and there are no consequences, no gossip.
ReplyDeleteI don’t want to call the summer a wash since there are still four weeks, but I really have struggled to get motivated. I am hopeful that the impending end will inspire, or that once the routine of the semester kicks in, I will manage my time more effectively.
Last week:
1 Post book review: yes
2 Write 1000 words for Tiny Project: no
3 Write one or both of upcoming abstracts: no
4 Consider freelance gig: considered, decided not to
5 Get caught up on grading: started, still working
This week:
1 Write 1000 words for Tiny Project
2 Write and submit two abstracts
3 Reply to Tiny Project person
4 Get caught up on grading
I think it's hard, when teaching in the summer, to do much else. You did get the book review done, so that's good! Remember the Mayhew Principle: Mediocre days add up. https://prosedoctor.blogspot.com/2011/04/aurea-mediocritas.html
DeleteSo much gratitude for embracing the mediocre day!
DeleteEmbrace mediocrity--I like that. Those days do add up, though it is hard to see that while slogging through them.
DeleteIn addition to Dame Eleanor's cogent remarks, sometimes projects take time to burgeon--at times it helps to write dreck to get the ink flowing, but at others, it is better to let things simmer on the back of the stove until they are edible.
I love that I can let everything hang out on TLQ, and there are no consequences--no gossip, as you say. It is such a supportive group, and one I treasure.
I don't have a IRL reading group -- some of us have talked about it, but it's never started. And our community here is pretty small. I think what works for me about this group is checking in - reminding myself of bigger goals. In some ways I'm not very organized, so this helps me.
ReplyDeleteGoals from last week:
1. Do serious edit of Violence YES- at least I've got it almost short enough
2. Identify more of the primary sources for new class YES -- the syllabus is coming together
3. Get exercise YES, though erratic
4. Go to bed early enough to get good sleep. SOME
5. Enjoy the most beautiful library setting ever (we call it paradise) YES
6. Enjoy the twins (now 4 1/2) and my family. YES
My goals were modest, so I even did more, starting on a book I'm reading for a review! The trip to the beautiful library and family was fun, and I met a smart and very interesting grad student while there. So a win for looking forward.
Goals for this week:
1. Two sets of expense forms for last week's travel
2. Write application for admin job
3. Do one more edit on Violence, leaving mainly footnotes for when I return
4. Read articles for prize (only 3, manageable)
5. Finish book for review, draft review
6. Begin process of contacting potential collaborators
7. Pack for vacation
8. Keep exercising
9. Get good sleep
I leave next Saturday morning for a week's cruise(!) so I may not check in next week. This week's tasks are all deck clearing so I don't feel anxious while I'm away and off email.
Oh, and another thing I meant to say that works about this group: that we don't know eachother IRL. (I did a small research favor for DEH a few years ago, but I've never met her.) There's something about being from all over the world, and multiple fields, that is extraordinarily helpful.
DeleteIt does take the pressure off, that we're not directly in competition or concerned about impressing people we work with. I have met Bardiac IRL, but I don't think I've met our other usual suspects. I believe I've been within shouting distance of JaneB on trips to the UK, but since we're both giant introverts, haven't attempted a meet-up!
DeleteThis is a great group for introverts, and it would change things to know each other IRL. I'm sure I've been at conferences with some of the participants here, but those conferences are big enough that one would have to plan a meeting, and, well, introverts, so, no.
DeleteThe multiplicity of places and subjects does take away the problem of competing or impressing someone, and there is far too much of that in our real lives, I suspect.
This group has been great for me because my research work is very isolated. Not only was I living in a different country from my PhD institution (and therefore wasn't really part of a postgraduate cohort), but most of my community college peers don't work towards publishing, so I don't have that kind of camaraderie or professional cohort). This group was both supportive and informative as I navigated the academic world.
ReplyDeleteI don't have an IRL writing group, but one would certainly be helpful since I write in isolation and don't feel very experienced. It was kind of nice to get readers' reports on my article submission. Both readers were constructive BUT ALSO KIND!
Last week:
1) Make the back yard even more pretty.OH YES!
2) Daily push-ups (10).NOT DONE. I have a kink in my back.
3) Walk the dog once.DONE
4) Review the readers' reports more carefully. Take some planning/strategy notes for revision.DONE
5) Keep my shit together and try not to cry when I drop my daughter off on Sunday for a
week-long camp at UCSB.DONE! I was like steel! Plus, the camp director specifically told us not to cry when we said goodbye. I didn't want to get in trouble.
Only two weeks until teaching starts (booooo! hisssss!), and next week I have a three-day trip with my daughter to LA, so I need to get A LOT finished this week.
This week:
1) Draft a revision incorporating all reader feedback (except, perhaps, the bibliography stuff)
2) Do at least 20 minutes of yoga per day. I've GOT to get the kinks out of my back and work on my tennis elbow or whatever I have going on. It's some kind of RSI affecting my hand, forearm, elbow, and shoulder. In fact, my whole right side is kind of a mess. Surely yoga will help. I hope so b/c working on the computer is difficult.
3) Do all three syllabi.
4) Submit reading packet to reprographics.
5) Walk the dog twice.
6) Take some time to enjoy the back yard.
7) Spend some quality time with my son while my daughter is gone.
I've been through years of chronic pain related to an RSI. Save yourself! Get off the computer and rest your arms. Ice the painful parts. Take anti-inflammatories. Use dictation software to get the syllabi done; it's now built into Microsoft Office. When the pain calms down, look into the ergonomics of everything you're doing: desk set-up, kitchen stuff, sports, holding books to read, how you sit/slouch to watch TV, position while driving (I unconsciously rest my left elbow on the window and it messes up that side of my body). Yoga helps; look up moves that will address the specific issues you have.
DeleteIt's nice to keep track of journals that have good reviewers. When you reach "your people," they respond kindly and enthusiastically even when they have suggestions for improvement. In the medieval field, I've had great suggestions from Speculum even when they rejected me, and as I have reviewed for Arthuriana, I know what their guidelines for reviewers are and have used them when reviewing for other journals that don't have such specific guidelines. I think (hope) most people look on reviewing as an opportunity for mentoring rather than as a chance to be anonymously mean.
I've often thought that a discipline-specific group might be helpful, too. Is there any way you could find other scholars in your area (both discipline and geographic)? I've thought about doing that myself, although to be honest, the email to the medievalist at a nearby university in my system languishes in my draft file.
DeleteWhen I started at my tenure track university I was in two RL writing groups. For one I was asked by a new colleague in a different department to start a writing group- we met at the first day of orientation and she asked me there, really grateful for that! We meet 2x a week for 2 hour sessions. We talk a bit about what we are writing, but we mostly just sit together in silence and write. We have become friends and now socialize outside of writing times. My other writing group devolved into a chat session and I did not find it useful to move my writing forward. So now I am just in the one group. My writing partner is on sabbatical this year, so I have started the same practice with a junior faculty in my own department. The benefit to these writing sessions for me: once we are deeper into the semester and I find it hard to find time, I have to show up to write for four hours a week. I think it has gone a long way towards me being more productive. It also makes the writing process less reclusive (we meet on the quiet floor of the library to write).
ReplyDeleteI managed to meet most of my goals for last week. I am finding myself in a crappy mood as I face the last 4 weeks for summer. Teaching and less time to write is looming ahead and making me feel sad. I am trying to counter anxiety and desires to work all the time.
Last week:
1. Write 5,000 words for Ch 6. DONE, finished the text, then fiddled with additions
2. Continue text/comments for co-authored paper (waiting on email from collaborators)- NO
3. Weights 2x, Pilates 1x, walk or something else 2x DONE
4. Do something fun x2 DONE
5. Think about getting a decorator for my upstairs office NO
6. Edit copy of will/health care directive for 1 hr. YES
Goals for this week:
1. Complete Ch 6 edits
2. Start outlining theoretical bits of CH 2
2. Write one section of theoretical bits of Ch 2 (might be a stretch)
3. Submit conference abstract
4. 1 hour lawyer/will/estate stuff
5. Make dr appt for arm injury
6. Exercise x 4
7. Fun things x 2
Until I read your comment, I hadn't thought of that kind of writing group. This kind of group is invaluable, for exactly the reasons you mention. I have friends like that from my fiction-writing world, although they happily let me proofread Latin and Middle English these days when we get together to write.
DeleteIt is hard to keep the looming end of the summer from invading the time now, but if I let it affect me now, it wins, and I don't want that. It will overtake me kicking and screaming, downing the last dregs of free time.
Excellent job on chapter 6--and good progress on many other goals.
I agree, whatever we can do to protect our last dregs of time, let's do! I am putting off all major teaching thoughts for two to three weeks.
DeleteTopic: I think the support I get from TLQ is unlike that I have gotten from any other groups. I have had IRL writing partners when working on particular projects, but no IRL group has managed to offer support unalloyed with judgment or fear of competition. I have been lucky to have some excellent mentors who sliced and diced my writing for the greater good, and managed not to make it seem personal. I feel somewhat isolated now in my field, but am trying to think of ways to get around the isolation, whether by expanding beyond my subfield to the discipline, or beyond my campus.
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
1) Pick up interlibrary loan books. Done
2) Take notes on three of the above-mentioned books, at least 2 hours a day. Only 2 done
3) Pick up pool pass. No; I’ve given up on the pool for this summer.
5) Stay hydrated. Done
4) Proofread for 3 hours every day. Done
Analysis: It has been somewhat of a rough week for me. I have been more symptomatic, which led me to cancel the trip to the Morgan. It doesn’t make sense for me to go when I am not at my best, and can wring the most out of every hour there. I have another test tomorrow (Thursday) that will determine whether I will be out for the better part of a week, or for the better part of a month, and how urgently that week or month will begin. My brain welcomes the certainty of whatever outcome; my emotions are gibbering in the closet. Work helps, but does not cure, the anxiety.
Next week’s goals:
Take notes on four of the interlibrary loan books.
Have test done.
Dependent on test results, plot out the next 2-6 weeks.
Edit and rearrange introduction
Finish proofreading the edition--2 hours a day.
Have an excellent end of the week, everyone. Float like mist!
I am so sorry the kidney seems worse and that you haven't been feeling well. I hope the test results come back promptly with good news, or at least clear and definitive news.
DeleteAnd I hope you can find some activities/strategies for quieting (if not silencing) the internal gibbering, and that the anxiety doesn't mess up all of the other TLQ. ((hug))
Thank you for the hug, GEW. I've found knitting seems to help the gibbering slightly, too.
DeleteI had a couple of writing groups in grad school that were wonderful. In the best one, there were three of us who met every two weeks, and one of us was "on" each time, sharing her work with the other two. That means that we had to produce something shareable every six weeks, which was a perfect pace at that point in our lives. I've never been able to recapture that rhythm and support, but I still think of it fondly.
ReplyDeleteThat does sound like a wonderful group, both for accountability and feedback. I understand the fondness of the memory.
ReplyDelete