We're in the fifth month of 2022, whatever season it is (even in the northern hemisphere, not all of us are in places where it's quite summer), and about to start another session of TLQ. Your hosts will be Dame Eleanor Hull and JaneB. I'm going to propose that this be "week zero," when we introduce ourselves and start thinking about session goals. The thinking can be gentle and fuzzy this week: perhaps you want to list All The Things and then cut them down to a more manageable group next week, or on the other hand, think of a couple of goals now and add to them later.
I'm going to suggest that this session run to mid-August: that is, that the weekend of 13-14 August be the last goal-setting post of the season, followed by reports of how we did for the whole session on 20-21 August. That would make the midpoint the weekend of 2-3 July.
And now for the shameless borrowing from previous sessions/hosts/writers:
The format will be the same as ever. Goals can be in any aspect of life although the key focus is often writing tasks that are personally and professionally important but that never quite tip over into important AND urgent. Urgent things sometimes find their way in here too, which is completely okay, and process goals are also most welcome. Each week we'll try to have a discussion topic or prompt to write about if you feel so inclined. We’ll remind everyone of their big session goals about midway through the session.
Anyone new or old is welcome to
join. It would be great if you invited a friend or acquaintance or
colleague to join in. We would be thrilled to welcome new guests and expand our
circle. So if you've been following along silently and wondering about joining in, please do!
And finally, don't worry if you miss a few check-ins. Life happens. This is a supportive, generous space with no intimidation factor so enjoy it!
I'm shamelessly borrowing from my own past introductions, as well. I'm a late-career medievalist, hence my nom de blogue, still working on my first book (I got tenure long ago on articles, which is or was more common for medievalists than for many other areas in "book fields"). Finishing it and getting a contract for it, not necessarily in that order, is my main goal lately. This summer I also have a conference paper on a related topic to finish, and I want to complete the unpacking/moving in process (now that we've been here for two years!). I live with Sir John and two cats in a 1970s split-level with a huge yard (maintenance is another time suck). We like this place much better than the too-big, too-old, too-much house we sold two years ago.
ReplyDeleteI want to paint the guest room, prep the vegetable patch and plant edible things (right now it's overrun with dandelions and assorted ground cover that would be welcome somewhere else), do some other heavy gardening as well as regular weeding, write my conference paper, prep next year's classes, possibly go on a road trip with Sir John, get the driveway resurfaced, read a lot of fun books, replace two or three electronic devices, find a new doctor, get a new driver's license, do some sewing and crafty things, possibly visit family again (I've just come back from one trip).
This is a lot, considering that I have 13 weeks until classes start again. :( I'll have to think and cut down a bit next week, or else set up a schedule and be very structured with my time. It's a good thing I've already managed one trip to FamilyLand!
I'm looking forward to hearing more about the garden!
DeleteThank you for the encouragement!
DeleteAs ever, I’m humming42, a professor teaching in the humanities at a mid-sized third-tier state school in the US Southwest. This is the summer of being a student. I have signed up for enough classes here and there to consider myself a full time student, so that will be my method of managing the workload by adopting a scheme/identity. And there are academic book chapters to write, so those will be like term papers. Also a bunch of creative writing classes crossing disciplines. I think I will include my assignments as weekly goals so I have a sense of what I’m actually doing, not just what I wish to be doing. I have hopes for some small trips and one more significant research trip, since there’s still travel funding available. More details next week.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting way to spend the summer! I find it helps a lot to have an identity that I'm invested in. I've also planned to keep a "done" list so I know what I've spent time on.
DeleteYou've inspired me to start a new Done list as well. It's helpful to look back on what I think was a wasted day and to see that I made progress on things, even though there was nothing "finished" to cross off on the To Do list.
DeleteHi everyone, I'm JaneB. I guess I'm still mid-career (early 50s, likely 15+ years to go until retirement)? I'm a Reader at a regional university in the north of England, and I'm currently on sick leave with "stress" - I hit a mental and physical wall at Easter Break, and my get up and go got up and went completely. I've been doing a little bit of marking (honours projects I supervise etc.) and got a bit more drawn into work things this week, which I think was not a good idea as it was really, really stressful. Some OK stressful (I helped out with delivering a specialist workshop to an international group of enthusiastic people) and some very wearing stressful - Teaching Tsar decided to hack one of my modules apart and cut the content by almost half, at very short notice, and in such a way that I felt hugely criticised and disapproved-of - mostly I think this was just not having thought ahead on her part, and the way people assume everyone else thinks like them and teaches like them, and the whole "everything WILL be normal next year, students will be normal, teaching will be normal, there will be no pandemic precautions, staff will be normal" thing which includes the issue that we have even fewer staff than last year due to things like people returning part time from leaves etc.
ReplyDeleteAnyway! I still have grading to work through, and the focus this summer needs to be replenishment - of myself, my energy, my interest in just about anything, my work, my house (which has descended into chaos and unkemptness in ways I didn't quite notice until I stopped, and which now is hugely daunting to address, although before this last week I had just about begun to have the energy/focus/executive function to chip away at the edges.
Anyway. I played D&D with my nibling and their friend online this afternoon then ordered a waffle with ice cream for delivery, so today had some very good patches; hopefully the start of a better phase.
Wishing you all the best for your summer - may it bring the space for gentleness, regeneration and replenishment.
DeleteReplenishment is an excellent word for an important theme. I echo Karen's good wishes for regeneration this summer.
DeleteHi all, I'm karen - southern hemisphere representative - so currently facing the rapid turn around of marking/ semester two prep/ semester two while amidst the dark and cold. I work at a satellite campus of a regional university, which is also currently doubling as a building site while we wait on the long-promised new facilities. This year has felt like a slow and fragile return to myself after what was (in hindsight) a prolonged period of burn out in an environment with little meaningful support and fragmented leadership (just like every other uni, I guess). So in reflecting on my goal setting: part of it will be about meeting KPIs in a punitive, quantitatively driven work culture, part of it is trying to find ways to protect a small flame of curiosity and care.
ReplyDeleteIn other introductory info/contexts, I have two kids, a partner working in a cultural organisation that has its own dramas, and family in a different part of the country who I am going to visit soon.
I'm always glad to hear from the southern hemisphere! It helps me appreciate the warm season even more, and gives me vicarious enjoyment in our winter. I hope you can continue and strengthen the return to yourself and nurturing your small flame.
DeleteHello everyone,
ReplyDeleteAs always, I'm heu mihi, a mid-career medievalist at a research university in New England. I have a husband who is currently sort of between jobs (was/is a pastor; currently temping) and an almost-ten-year-old son, Bonaventure. I'm on sabbatical in 2022-23, and we're spending the fall in France. (Hence my husband's under-employment, as it doesn't make sense to seek a new position right now.)
This summer is all about getting ready for my sabbatical. Of course, it would be lovely if I could start simply enjoying my sabbatical, too, but I'm wondering whether I'm constitutionally capable of that? It would be nice. However, the upcoming time abroad--and the renting-out of our house for the fall--means that we have MANY projects around here. I enjoy projects, so this is okay, but there are a couple (hello, making garden stairs and a garden path!) that provoke anxiety.
The other part of getting ready is to get my research project into shape such that I'll feel capable of getting the most out of my many planned archival trips this fall. So I'm writing rather feverishly--and poorly--in an effort to map out what I know and what I don't know.
In terms of actual preparation for the semester abroad, we're in pretty good shape. The one Great Unknown involves our visas; we have a second appointment to try to get them tomorrow, but I can't figure out whether one of our forms (in bureaucratic French) is signed by all the proper authorities, and that is Stressing Me Out. Well, I'll know by noon tomorrow, so stay tuned. Other than that--our son is enrolled in school, we have plane tickets and an apartment, so I think we're in good shape.
I would really like to find some space and peace and calm in all of this, though. I had a thought about taking a month--no, a week--no, maybe a couple of days in which I would not be allowed to be "productive." It made me anxious. Of course, when I'm traveling, there will be many many such days, so it's not as if I'm incapable of taking time off--the truth is, I mostly feel that I don't work anywhere near as hard as I could, and I'm fine with that. But I am very checklist- and achievement-oriented, which is sometimes tiresome (even as it brings me great joy).
Anyway, that's enough for this morning! I'll be working out how to translate my infinite to-do lists into session goals!
Mapping what you know, and don't, sounds like an excellent plan at this stage, and such writing doesn't need to be good, it just needs to lay the necessary groundwork. I hope it will prove that you have all the necessary forms and signatures, so that you can stop stressing about the visas, and enjoy working on the house projects. For now, they're for other people, but next year, you'll get to enjoy them as well! I look forward to having you with us this summer.
Delete