Abstraction is not my greatest ability, but let's give metaphor a shot this week: do you have a "recipe" for any part of your work? A standard approach to writing an article, designing a syllabus, or planning a lecture (pick one or more, as you like)? Do you need to proceed step-by-step or can you dump all the ingredients in the same bowl and stir like mad? What "ingredients" do you need to have on hand in order to produce an article, a syllabus, a lecture? What do you vary according to the season?
And how did you do with last week's goals?
Daisy
- Accounting from trips
- Giant meetings with many committees
- Write web articles, now just annoying
- Majorly overdue review
Dame Eleanor Hull
- try to figure out some sort of "syllabus" for the rest of summer (interim due dates, etc)
- one campus day, meet with grad, spend 30 minutes tidying my office, scan essay and return book (yes, again, different book)
- swim x 2, yoga x5, cardio x 3, do PT exercises 2x/day
- identify and contact reviewers for edited volume
- take notes on articles read 3 weeks ago
- create syllabus for one to-be-proposed course
- organize the guest room closet and shelves
- think about fall courses
- make some measurable progress on 2 research projects (M and W)
heu mihi
1. Finish uncle's memoirs
2. Housework projects (clean garage and/or wash windows)
3. Finish reading research-ish book
4. Yoga retreat this weekend! Drinks with friends on Wednesday!
5. Clean up email somewhat
JaneB
1) building better habits: one creative thing with the hands, keep reading for pleasure, start a new yarn project, journal, play D&D
2) environment: do week's chores. Sort out post pile of doom
3) blocks: two teaching blocks - one sorting out the laptop, second looking at the module I am now fed up about
4) writing: do some more work on the collaborative paper with a deadline, two re-reviews for journals (sigh).
5) grad students: Only ONE meeting this week, in the diary at least. And maybe no paperwork? MAYBE?
Julie
1. Write as much of chapter as possible, ideally close to full draft.
2. Send PhD student comments.
3. Read a chapter for a colleague.
4. More bits of boring work admin.
5. House/life admin: holiday prep, nephew's birthday, reply to some emails.
6. Self-care/fun stuff: lunch with friend, find holiday reading, exercise, journal, keep going with sleep, watch more T de F.
Susan
1. Finish reading dissertation, prepare for defense tomorrow late afternoon (time zones from BST to PDT mean an 8 hour range...)
2. Try to get to the library for a few hours of microfilm tomorrow
3. Order documents for Scottish research (which has now expanded to another library to help a friend in the US).
4. Keep up with administrative stuff, keep planning events for start of semester. (This will be mostly early morning/ evening stuff)
5. Have fun! Enjoy walking, even if it does rain.
I don't have standard recipes because as soon as I DO have a recipe, the brain-squirrels start to resent it and not want to do it that way - I'd say it's more like the skills you pick up as a "good plain cook." Things like "onion cooks slower than garlic, so don't put them in the pan at the same time" or how to make an omelette, or a basic set of baking ratios like 4:1:1 for scones (flour/fat/sugar) and 3:2:1 for shortbread. And I do tend to make a basic set of slides for each module (cover page, module outline, summary, section dividers, any repeated things we do like structured discussions, and make choices of colour/icons/images) and then make each class in a copy of that basic slide deck. But I do like to modify things every year (and the "best practice" for what is good slides for students with SpLDs keeps changing too).
ReplyDeleteLast week was just another week, and I was Not In The Mood for work! This week, yippee, I'm on annual leave...
1) building better habits: one creative thing with the hands, keep reading for pleasure, start a new yarn project, journal, play D&D more paint by numbers, yes, not yet, no, no - the nibling was at LARP and my other game is on summer break
2) environment: do week's chores. Sort out post pile of doom no, no (did it today)
3) blocks: two teaching blocks - one sorting out the laptop, second looking at the module I am now fed up about not really - much faffing and a trip to the IT hub led to me being loaned a second laptop which won't even log on (I have to log on to it for the first time on campus, but no one reminded me of that...), so THAT was fun), and I did sort out the first class for the module plus I had a meeting with the other people teaching on the module & we made some decisions...which I documented and emailed straight off to them so they can't say they didn't remember...
4) writing: do some more work on the collaborative paper with a deadline, two re-reviews for journals (sigh).yes, one done
5) grad students: Only ONE meeting this week, in the diary at least. And maybe no paperwork? MAYBE? only a little paperwork... and a fair few emails...
THIS WEEK
Annual leave! So only setting goals in the first two categories.
1) building better habits: one creative thing with the hands, keep reading for pleasure, start a new yarn project, journal, play or prepare for D&D
2) environment: Sort out post pile of doom. do simple financial chores/make list for complicated ones. book gutter fix. at least three house chores. Decluttering person at last (I hope). Car service.
Yay for leave!!! Hope you get to do some of the things you really want to!!
DeleteYour course approach gives me ideas! I usually use a document to plan classes, but I wonder if slides would help me visualize things and move stuff around more easily. I may try that. Thank you! And I hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing week.
DeleteSeconding Daisy, yay for leave. Hope there is rest and fun stuff.
DeleteFor papers I have to start with the data – I write mostly from the middle out, data first, and then figures for data, and then what we refer to in our field as “dreaded Figure 2” which is always the hardest and most complicated because it has to show everything you are writing about in detail and has to be beautiful and concise and also readable at page size and so on… Once that one is done other things fall into place. Of course there are edits but the first draft is critical. One of my co-authors can only go in order – introduction first, then the rest in sections, so her introductions are always works of art, and fit nicely with my data sections. I cannot write without the data and the figures…
ReplyDeleteFor course outlines I start with the calendar and dates and put in all the laboratory things first, then everything else fits around that. This year I’m radically changing to order of things for two classes so it will be an interesting experiment. Tension is around deciding what goes first, theory vs. practical… I’ve tried all permutations of theory first, this year I will do practical first and sprinkle in theory at appropriate points, kind of like basil, or cheese, or toasted nuts…
I’m having a bit of a summer-is-over-panic, but in reality I do have some time left… But, I am now officially department head for the foreseeable future with the real one off sick, and I have to do my promotion dossier, and learn a bunch of new music for September concerts… And I just inherited a big mess in a committee I was supposed to babysit while real owner is away, but turns out things cannot wait so I’m on for everything. So, summer is now relegated to afternoons on the deck and maybe some early morning beach time. I will fit in a tiny but packed trip with kid this coming weekend, so that is nice.
Last week’s goals
Accounting from trips DONE
Giant meetings with many committees DONE
Write web articles, now just annoying SOME DONE
Majorly overdue review ALMOST DONE
This week’s goals
Write documents resulting from giant meetings
Finish web articles
More awkward meetings
Finish much overdue newsletter
Work on student projects with all of them
Process and send away samples
Finish overdue review
I will join you in the it's-almost-over panic, though I do not have so much on my plate as you do. That's a good lot of DONE, though, congrats on that! Sorry to hear about the committee mess.
DeleteAlmost over panic here, in solidarity. Also, a good lot done, and I think learning new music sounds fun (as opposed to the committee of doom.)
DeleteThat sounds like a lot on your plate. Hope the new music compensates for all the tough stuff.
DeleteNooo to end of summer! There's still a month! But yeah, I hear you. I like how you're planning bits of summer into your days, though--I need to do that!
DeleteI realized when I was telling my husband about some obnoxious thing Word was doing that I have a process for writing scholarship that involves what might charitably be called an annotated bibliography. Not that I assemble a list of things I want to read, read them, and summarize in a few sentences their main arguments. Hell no. I keep a document with a proper bibliographic entry for each item that seems related to a given topic, and then write reams of notes about anything that stimulates my thinking. Sometimes it's quotations I want to use, or ideas that seem important, but then I go on to question the statements, to say "if that is true of my text, then the implications are Y, but if it's not true of mine, why is it true for her text but not for mine?" and so on. In other words, my argument develops from arguing with other people in this bibliographic document. It seems to me that this is a slow and clumsy process, but it's what I do, and is a great example of how I write both quickly and slowly. I can always sit down and write some quotations and some commentary on them, with comparisons to a text I'm working on; but letting those thoughts grow into an essay with an original argument can take quite a long time.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- try to figure out some sort of "syllabus" for the rest of summer (interim due dates, etc): NO, I'm giving up on this one. Things that truly have to get done by the time classes start will get done, and lots of other stuff will slide, and there it is.
- one campus day, meet with grad, spend 30 minutes tidying my office, scan essay and return book (yes, again, different book): YES, YES, NO, YES. There was a veeeeerryyy long meeting with other faculty that et the whole day. It needed to happen, but I would have been glad to have it be shorter.
- swim x 2, yoga x5, cardio x 3, do PT exercises 2x/day: YES, +/-, YES, MOSTLY (I think I managed 2x/day more than half the days)
- identify and contact reviewers for edited volume: NO (oh great Cat, please help)
- take notes on articles read 3 weeks ago STARTED! 650 words.
- create syllabus for one to-be-proposed course: NO, but I finished off the last one by adding learning objectives
- organize the guest room closet and shelves: YES!!! Not yet completed, but I unpacked two boxes, have another box of stuff to go to Goodwill, and I threw out some things.
- think about fall courses: YES. I need another physical activity besides visiting a church and writing with quill pens.
- make some measurable progress on 2 research projects (M and W): YES for small amounts of measurable.
ALSO: attended a couple of online conference sessions; light housecleaning b/c our cleaners skipped; changed fluorescent tubes in 2 laundry-room fixtures; about 40 minutes of weeding.
New goals:
- one campus day, meet with grad, spend 30 minutes tidying my office
- swim x 3, yoga x5, cardio x 3, do PT exercises 2x/day
- identify and contact reviewers for edited volume
- take more notes on articles read last month
- create syllabus for one to-be-proposed course
- finish organizing the guest room closet and shelves OR start on my study
- think about fall courses
- make some measurable progress on 2 research projects (M and W)
- do some other Life Stuff and/or tedious work tasks
I'm fascinated by the way you write, and I think it's a great way to be constantly in conversation!
DeleteThat's such an interesting way to write! I do have something a little similar in that I have what I call a research notebook, which is divided up by key themes/questions, two or three of which are maybe already at the stage of being the basis for journal articles, while others are more along the lines of 'useful background'. I use it to jot down ideas, examples and brief references to readings I can come back to that have useful material. It was a response to brain fog and never remembering what I've read from one week to the next. Maybe more along the lines of 'recipes to try' than 'tried and tested meals', though.
DeleteYay for research progress!
DeleteYour writing process sounds like an absolutely fascinating organically evolving conversation... what a cool way to think!
"Recipes" for work: not sure I have one for writing articles (but I tend to start with a bad introduction so I can frame questions, but it gets revised when I've written the meat of the article when I know what I'm actually saying). For syllabi, I tend to write out the class meetings/ weeks, then map out the semester in broad strokes, and then start filling things in. I am teaching a course this semester which I've taught before, and the thing that changes are the visitors to the class; more substantive classes change every year...
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Finish reading dissertation, prepare for defense tomorrow late afternoon (time zones from BST to PDT mean an 8 hour range...) YES, it was good, he passed, DONE!!!
2. Try to get to the library for a few hours of microfilm tomorrow
NO
3. Order documents for Scottish research (which has now expanded to another library to help a friend in the US). TRIED, but no. I could not order in advance. But it's fine. (currently in archives, waiting for last batch of documents.)
4. Keep up with administrative stuff, keep planning events for start of semester. (This will be mostly early morning/ evening stuff) MOSTLY, I THINK. THere is still another few shoes to drop and more work on events, but that can wait until I get home.
5. Have fun! Enjoy walking, even if it does rain. DONE / One day of mist & drizzle, but otherwise OK. walked about 12 miles a day, and in Scotland that's never on the flat. Managed to get chased by a backhoe down a hill at one point. The last day was challenging (even my much more fit friend thought it was challenging) and (having decided we'd finished climbing for the day) when we saw a longish steep hill, it got named the "Oh, sh*t hill" in honor of my words when I saw it. My poles broke and on the last day, my boot died. But it was fun.
Goals for what's left of this week:
1. Get whatever I can out of archives today
2. Try to figure out what shoes have dropped that I have to pick up re admin jobs
3. Start planning events for year
4. Finally get back to microfilm
5. Enjoy theatre, meeting with friends, etc.
6. Figure out last working week here.
Glad the walking was fun. Hope last weeks go well.
DeleteThat sounds like a successful walking trip!
DeleteI feel as if I have a recipe for an article, or at least a sense of what sort of shape one should have and what goes in each section . . . and yet it's curiously hard to work with that shape when I've done the reading and have the argument more or less worked out. Class planning is much easier because it is so finite and so bounded by things like number of class meetings, number of weeks, number of minutes to a meeting. In theory one could start out like that with a piece of writing (40 paragraphs, three for the intro, two for the conclusion, so 35 divided into, say, five sections, leaves seven paragraphs per section) but it never, ever, works like that in practice. Section three combines with section four and they still come in at five paragraphs, whereas section five balloons to twelve and I want to cut it in two but there's no obvous place to do so . . .
DeleteAhem. Anyway. I hope the research went well, that the planning is successful (and not many shoes have been/will drop), and that you have a lovely time with your friends and at the theater.
So glad the walking trip was fun! And that it did not rain much... The backhoe chase sounds like an adventure!
DeleteHope all the archive work went well.
That's a curiously hard question! I think because I never know how to start an article, and yet I do it, somehow. I know that one way "in" for me is to start with a close reading, but to get to that point, I do need to have some kind of idea of where I'm going.... I try outlining but always abandon that, so I think that "outline and abandon outline" are actually a part of my process now.
ReplyDeleteI'm late on here, so here goes. Last week:
1. Finish uncle's memoirs - NO, they are SO LONG and his punctuation is SO WEIRD sometimes
2. Housework projects (clean garage and/or wash windows) - YES, BOTH!
3. Finish reading research-ish book - YES
4. Yoga retreat this weekend! Drinks with friends on Wednesday! - YES! I woke up on Saturday night/early Sunday morning with a bat in the room where I was sleeping, though, which has caused some disruption this week.
5. Clean up email somewhat - YES
This week, I spent Monday morning at the ER getting the first round of rabies post-exposure shots (this is something that it's strongly recommended that you do if you wake up in a room with a bat, FYI). These are only administered at ERs, so it involved quite a lot of waiting (and reading for pleasure, so that's something!). I have an appointment for Round 2 tomorrow, and then Rounds 3 and 4 are the subsequent Mondays. It's a Whole Thing, and since the odds that I have rabies are vanishingly small, it does seem a little ridiculous, but...better this than dying, right?
Anyway, goals:
1. FINISH uncle's memoirs. Yesterday I spent a really long time integrating all the photos, so I'm very close now. 600 pages!
2. Read book for upcoming course; work a little on syllabus
3. Figure out August travel plans, such as they are
4. Questions for student's upcoming exam
5. Dissertation defense (this morning--not optional--but I'm putting it on here anyway)
6. Pick up some supplies for beer brewing; my stash is alarmingly small!
Yikes on the rabies shots! This is one of those experiences that divides the UK and the US: I regularly sit on my patio in summer on warm evenings watching the bats and thinking how cute they are, as opposed to worrying that they might kill me. Hope the shots don't come with horrible side effects, and glad the rest of the week was productive.
DeleteWow! I've heard that about bats in the room, but I find it hard to believe that a person could sleep through being bitten by something as large as a bat: they're not mosquitos! Fortunately the question has not come up for me, but I agree, better treated than dead. It does make the yoga retreat sound less fun in retrospect, I admit. I hope the rest of your week goes well.
DeleteYikes for rabies shots... worth getting for sure but not the most pleasant.
DeleteI love the "outline and abandon" segment of your writing process! Finding out what does not work is also very important... I feel like putlines for me are often just pretent work that feels like it should be helpful but rarely is...
I'm with heu mihi, this is a hard question! I think for a humanities person a lot of my work is actually more like Daisy's, in that I usually have some quant stuff which determines what I'm arguing to some extent. I have to have a rough outline, even if just section headings and an order (which often gets moved around) then, like Susan, I start with a kind of placeholder introduction and write from there, but often with marginal notes to myself along the lines of 'add examples' - the writing equivalent of 'taste and add salt', I suppose. A module handbook, as we'd call a course syllabus, tends to work round what assessments are due when, what needs to have been covered by X, etc, then it's usually 'which readings will be the best ingredients' for this class. For lectures, I'm not sure I have a process - usually lots of notes which get whittled down to something that works in 50 minutes. I do often start with an image or provocative quotation or example, which I can then use as a way into key themes/questions.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Write as much of chapter as possible, ideally close to full draft. - ISH. Not that full, but a good outline, quite a few sections, and at a point at which it's 'parked on a downhill slope'.
2. Send PhD student comments. - YES
3. Read a chapter for a colleague. - YES
4. More bits of boring work admin. - YES (hopefully done)
5. House/life admin: holiday prep, nephew's birthday, reply to some emails. - MOSTLY, YES, YES
6. Self-care/fun stuff: lunch with friend, find holiday reading, exercise, journal, keep going with sleep, watch more T de F. - YES, YES, SOME, SOME, SOME, YES (except Paris stage, as we were at in-laws who all wanted to watch the football instead).
This week:
1. Read and comment on two grant applications. - DONE
2. Send a few work emails to tie up some loose ends. - DONE
3. Final holiday prep.
This week is weird and truncated. I am officially still working today and yesterday, as I knew there were a couple of grant applications coming in that I needed to deal with. We were at my sister-in-law's house from Sunday until today, however, with all of my husband's family, so I worked around various meals, activities and general chaos of thirteen people and a dog. Tomorrow and Friday I have taken as holiday and will hang out with my kids and sister and partner in London before we fly to Iceland for a week on Sunday. So no goal setting on Sunday, as I will be airborne or trying to figure out Icelandic supermarkets. Keeping fingers crossed for whale spotting, Blue Lagoon not being closed due to volcanic eruptions and weather not being too terrible.
Last week sounds excellent! I hope you and the kids enjoyed the time with their dad's family, and that you have a wonderful trip to Iceland, with just enough excitement of the good kind.
DeleteYay for all the fun things with kids and family!
DeleteI am deeply envious of anyone's Iceland trip!! That is a top 5 wish list destination for me... Not only because of the volcanoes but they help!!
My prof for first-year, gen-ed geology loved volcanoes and I feel like we saw several movies about them. Maybe not as many as it seemed . . . perhaps it was just his enthusiasm that made them seem like more!
Delete