There is a definite feeling of spring here, at long last. The crocuses are through in the garden, the daffodils won't be much longer and there are snowdrops out everywhere. And it is milder and drier. Hoping that either there are similar signs where you all are, or that they won't be much longer in coming. It sounds as if we are all finding this a hard session.
For this week, a quote (slightly paraphrased) from Virginia Woolf, on writing a diary. The quotation is from her diary, after reading back over previous entries:
'I confess that the rough and random style of it, often so ungrammatical, and crying for a word altered, afflicts me somewhat. I am trying to tell whichever self it is that reads this hereafter that I can write very much better [...] And now I may add my little compliment to the effect that it has a slapdash and vigour, and sometimes hits an unexpected bulls eye. But what is more to the point is my belief that the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. Never mind the misses and stumbles [...] I believe that during the past year I can trace some increase of ease in my professional writing which I attribute to my casual half hours after tea.' [Woolf usually wrote her diary after tea, before going out for dinner or other evening plans.]
How do the different forms of writing you do interact? Do some kinds of writing e.g. with pen and paper, or non-academic, like journaling, writing fiction, feel like loosening the ligaments? Alternatively, if you look back at writing you did a while ago, do you find yourself criticising it as 'rough and random', or are you able to admire the 'vigour'?
Last week's goals:
JaneB
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2
c) something gently social x2
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day this week IMPROVING MY
ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) 75% of weekly list of chores
b) make a sketch for the new idea for the shelving in living space
c) reschedule decluttering person session.
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) deliver week 4 of teaching
b) prepare class materials for sixthweek of teaching, with updating
c) make sure technical staff have all the information needed for the labs we're
doing in March and update the risk assessments (sigh. necessary, but
teeeedious).
RESEARCH. This all feels very repetitive but I AM making small bits of progress
each week, not just listing-and-ignoring!
a) work on the larger outline grant application - short sections to peer
review. Start putting materials onto the actual application website.
b) make a plan for restarting the modelling, check everything three times,
start them running
c) read and comment on fifth draft of paper from Foreign PostDoc
d) schedule a meeting for revise and resubmit paper; spend an hour on the
revision
e) resend emails about small teaching project
Dame Eleanor
--1/2 hour writing/research on each of 3 days
--finish notes on ILL book and return it
--more prep for future class activity; also prep this week's activity
--prep for language groups
--second round of grading
--book some travel
--find some reviewers
--gym at least 3x, yoga at least 4x
--remember to look at calendar/lists every day
Julie
1. Research/writing - aim for one day on each project, focus
on primary sources.
2. House/life admin: travel planning for next week, travel planning for summer,
financial stuff.
3. Self-care/fun: read, journal, exercise, Netflix.
Heu mihi
1. Rest. I fell on the ice yesterday and pulled a whole lot
of muscles in my leg (whacked my hipbone on the edge of a stone step--I'm lucky
I'm not in the hospital!), so I will not be exercising, other than some
stretching and maybe a run or swim on Saturday.
2. Draft one of the mini-talks that I have to give next month.
3. Keep reading Italian.
4. Begin organizing festschrift stuff.
5. Find some joy and pleasure.
Susan
1. Finish drafting review
2. Finish syllabus revision
3. Keep up with teaching
4. Send email to conference folks
5. Contact yard guys about project
6. Enjoy conference and big city
Daisy
Read and edit student chapters
Process data
Write abstracts
Try to prep some teaching stuff for next week
The reason for picking this quotation is that I think for me, any writing is better than no writing. I think just putting pen to paper, whether to write a diary entry or notes, loosens my ligaments. It's a different kind of writing: my journal entries are definitely rough and random, and for my eyes only. But the most important thing is to write something, as often as possible.
ReplyDeleteI do feel critical of earlier work sometimes, but more in the sense of feeling that my thinking has evolved since then. For one of the pieces I'm writing at the moment I've had to revisit my PhD thesis. I think if I'd done this a decade or so ago, I might be wincing, but now I have enough distance and have examined enough PhDs that I can see the thesis on its own terms and be kind to my naive twenty-something self. She did an ok job.
Last week:
1. Research/writing - aim for one day on each project, focus on primary sources. - MAYBE TWO AND A HALF?
2. House/life admin: travel planning for next week, travel planning for summer, financial stuff. - YES, NO, YES (new bank account sorted, registered for online banking)
3. Self-care/fun: read, journal, exercise, Netflix. - YES
It was a hard week, as anticipated, but we're through it, and I'm picking up slowly. Did a reasonable amount of writing, all things considered.
Next week:
We are off to Valletta tomorrow, for sunshine, hopefully. I therefore only have one working day this week, on Friday.
1. Enjoy the break!
2. Meet with mentee on Friday.
3. Finish some primary source analysis.
Valetta is lovely! Have a wonderful time! (I've only been there with students - I assume it's even nicer when not herding undergrads...)
DeleteCoincidentally, I just ran across that same Woolf quote somewhere else last week! Maybe in a post by Rachel Neumeier, or in Pat Wrede's archives. But your extract is longer and gives a lot more context. And to your younger self: okay and done is better than perfectly unfinished!
DeleteI love your kindness to your younger self. We need to do it. (I was really cross recently discovering that someone had targeted something I'd published in 2007 for what was wrong with it, and my reaction was, why?)
DeleteAll writing is good for the writing - word smithing takes practice. If I'm struggling to start the work day I freewrite starting with "I don;t want to do this because..." and frequently write myself to a solution or a way in to the task within a few minutes. I have been known to use https://writtenkitten.co/ on particularly Don't Want To days. My published papers often surprise me by how coherent they are - by the time I submit them I am so thoroughly sick of them I assume they are over-worked and grimy round the edges like the fourth roll of the same bit of pastry. And to be honest I enjoy all forms of writing except for late stage copy editing, the bit where the references all need to line up and all that.
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK:
was a slog, especially the pill wrangling. Final score was 10 pills in the cat, four lost, but Shoutypants was getting very wary and cross by the end of it and so was I. Fortunately on Friday the vet said the infection had gone, all was healing well, and we would reassess the need for surgery when he has his vaccinations in April, so we have a break from medication for a while.
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4 - three
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2 Crocheted during a meeting and doodled during D&D
c) something gently social x2 one thing
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day this week yes
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) 75% of weekly list of chores yes
b) make a sketch for the new idea for the shelving in living space no
c) reschedule decluttering person session. yes!
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) deliver week 4 of teaching yes
b) prepare class materials for sixthweek of teaching, with updating yes
c) make sure technical staff have all the information needed for the labs we're doing in March and update the risk assessments (sigh. necessary, but teeeedious).yes
RESEARCH. This all feels very repetitive but I AM making small bits of progress each week, not just listing-and-ignoring!
a) work on the larger outline grant application - short sections to peer review. Start putting materials onto the actual application website.yes - and sent it for internal approvals
b) make a plan for restarting the modelling, check everything three times, start them running we did. Then I began writing a section of the methods and found ANOTHER mistake. So we started over for the fourth time!
c) read and comment on fifth draft of paper from Foreign PostDoc half done. it is finally getting there!
d) schedule a meeting for revise and resubmit paper; spend an hour on the revision no, no - but I did send out the doodle poll
e) resend emails about small teaching project yes, one reply
COMING WEEK:
DeleteI am not enthused for it, but there is no specific reason to suspect it will not be a normal week! The weather has turned spring-like, or at least is forecast to (it's been raining here between sunny patches), so hopefully that will continue - and not be unnaturally warm! There's plenty of time for that later in the year...
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2
c) something gently social x2
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day this week IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) 75% of weekly list of chores
b) make a sketch for the new idea for the shelving in living space
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) deliver week 5 of teaching
b) prepare materials for the "guest slot" I have in some one else's module, and draft the using AI session I have to run
RESEARCH. This all feels very repetitive but I AM making small bits of progress each week, not just listing-and-ignoring!
a) finish and submit the larger outline grant application
b) check the modelling outputs, make a plan for the next few weeks whilst my collaborator is away on fieldwork
c) finish read and comment on fifth draft of paper from Foreign PostDoc
d) schedule a meeting for revise and resubmit paper; spend an hour on the revision
e) work on small teaching project grant application
Oh, and sort out presents and a card and mail them to my sister for her birthday!
DeleteBy cat logic, Shoutypants won, 4-10! I'm glad you can both have a break from the pilling. Thanks for the reminder about birthday cards (I have several friends with late-Feb or early-March birthdays, and the dates tend to ambush me b/c Feb is a short month). You really are making good progress on lots of fronts, which is nice to see and also encouraging.
DeleteI feel like I write constantly but it is 99% for work (everything from policies, advice, letters for everything, reports, evaluations…) and I have never kept a diary or journal of any sort. I think that energy goes into playing instruments? I do think the constant deluge of non-research writing makes research writing feel easier. Even if it is just because I do not have to take the feelings and opinions of any particular map area into account when I write about it…
ReplyDelete“Area X has consistently been under-performing in its specific geological job duties for the last 350 million years, literally nothing has happened here. It has shown very little initiative in the general area of deformation, and its volcanic eruptive potential is negligible. It does have great potential as a scenic look-off for tourists but its appeal is largely superficial and can be best described as all-style-no-substance.”
The only non-work, mildly creative writing I ever do is for this group (space opera for the win!) so it is a really nice chance to do something different.
.
Last week’s goals
Read and edit student chapters ONE MORE DONE
Process data NOPE, BUT LOOKED AT IT
Write abstracts HALF-DONE
Try to prep some teaching stuff for next week YES
What a week! It was fantastic for the theatre show, tech week was exhausting and we were there 3-11pm 8 days in a row but opening and weekend shows were great, and the kids were stellar. I bought the kid and myself lovely flowers for opening night of the show, and enjoyed every minute of it. I got very little work done besides the bare minimum (which was still quite a lot if I’m honest) and I do not care one bit, I can catch up this week, we only have Thursday through Sunday shows this coming week
We have a snow day today, might have another tomorrow, and even though it will wreak all kinds of havoc on my courses I’m taking it and enjoying my tea while working at home.
This week’s goals
Adjust course plans for yet another snow day
Read and edit student chapters
Process data
Write abstracts
Catch up on marking
Awkward conversation
I read your last two goals as "catch up on making awkward conversation"! It's true that conversation for the sake of it is something I try to avoid. I LOVED your geological-area assessment and would totally hang out there as a tourist, enjoying the superficial attractions!
DeleteHm. I've been writing in my diary regularly--almost daily!--in 2026, which is nice, although I also wonder (have always wondered) for whom I'm writing, when? But to the question: I don't know the answer, for me, but I like the idea of loosening the ligaments. And I really do want to move into more creative writing, because I enjoy it. Oddly, last week, after noting that I hadn't done any creative writing all term, I got a sudden idea for a completely different kind of story that I think would be a lot more fun than the one I'd been contemplating. Of course, I haven't (really) started writing it (jotted down a few sentences, is all). But maybe now I want to!
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Rest--Yes, and I'm feeling much better! I even went for a run yesterday. Still a little stiff in the hips and lower back, but mostly out of the woods.
2. Draft one of the mini-talks that I have to give next month. - NO!
3. Keep reading Italian. - Yes
4. Begin organizing festschrift stuff. - Yes, minimally
5. Find some joy and pleasure. - Yes--my son and I went to visit my mom Wed-Fri, which turned into -Sat because of snow on Fri. Now there's snow again. Lots of snow. *No* signs of spring here, I can tell you, although the birds do twitter in the trees sometimes! But I like snow, to a point.
This week:
1. Draft mini-talk #1.
2. Write 5 pages of nonsense.
3. Request funding for event(s)
4. Review grant proposals
5. Exercise & Italian
I think that's enough, since there are also a million non-negotiables (meetings, class prep, etc.) (and also shoveling! Sigh. I love snow, I hate shoveling).
I believe one philosophy about creative writing (or other making) is that it gives you energy to take into other activities. I think I'm a little afraid of it taking over my whole life, and I also find scholarly writing to be creative, so my characters and scenes tend to stay unwritten or at least exist only in notes. I'm glad your back is better, and that you had a good visit with your mom.
DeleteIf I'm not mistaken, you have had a LOT of snow! Keep listening for the birds!
DeleteI am an inveterate journaler, and like JaneB it's a way of writing myself into writing. It's not only getting over the don't-wannas, it's also that I have this peculiarity I think I've mentioned before, that lists are hard for me to create and think about, whereas I can easily write a narrative account of what I need to do, and in the process grasp that there are other related tasks that need to be done first. Sometimes the writing of a narrative reveals to me that I have been putting off Task X because it really will take a long time because of ancillary tasks X-i, X-ii, X-iii, and so on. And then I can make a list of items that I can work through and cross off! So I do like a list, but can't think list-ically before there's a narrative. (It is also impossible for me to write instructions as bullet points without first writing a narrative account of required actions--this really drags out creating assignments for students.) Anyway, back to the prompt, I think this does loosen the ligaments and often moves straight into freewriting about a project or remembering that I read something relevant if I can just trigger enough of a memory to track it down again!
ReplyDeleteHow I did (this week's story may all be in the ALSO category):
--1/2 hour writing/research on each of 3 days: YES, mostly on the next item:
--finish notes on ILL book and return it: YES
--more prep for future class activity; also prep this week's activity: YES; as of yesterday, done with the future complicated prep!
--prep for language groups: YES, aided by one being cancelled
--second round of grading: NO (but I did download all the entries that came in on time and e-mail the late people)
--book some travel: NO
--find some reviewers: NO
--gym at least 3x, yoga at least 4x: YES, and yoga x3
--remember to look at calendar/lists every day: YES
ALSO: caught up with all graduate applications (7?), read and scored 26 undergrad scholarship applications, finally got a headlight replaced and other car maintenance done, did a lot of crafty stuff in the b00k lab, read book for & attended mystery book group, gave Susan's notebook to TA who loved it and said she will use it for her next commonplace book, did some work on sample syllabuses for future possible classes in lab, agreed to direct a dissertation, received very helpful and generous feedback from long-suffering editors of that piece that was 8500 words in January. They even gave me an outline!
This week's goals:
--1-2 hours writing/research on each of 3 days
--prep for language groups
--second round of grading
--book some travel
--find some reviewers
--2 meetings (which have to happen, but I want to claim credit)
--gym at least 3x, yoga at least 4x
--remember to look at calendar/lists every day
So pleased your student liked the notebook! It was lovely! If I didn't have a stack of 10 partially used notebooks, I might have kept it!
DeleteWell, it's Tuesday morning (actually, now afternoon) and I'm finally checking in. I don't journal regularly (I have at times of stress and crisis, so maybe it's time again?) but so much of my writing is stupid emails. The number of emails is painful to contemplate. But I think my version of loosening the ligaments is that whenever I start writing something, I start an introduction of sorts. So I know where I come from and where I think I'm going.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Finish drafting review NO, sigh
2. Finish syllabus revision NO
3. Keep up with teaching YES
4. Send email to conference folks YES
5. Contact yard guys about project YES
6. Enjoy conference and big city YES
What can I say. The conference was good, I had fun in Big City, even taking a morning for a museum trip. I saw lots of friends. Altogether good. But I feel like I am SO far behind on life... And just exhausted.
Goals for this week (For reasons that are obvious below, Friday is gone, but no obligations today or Thursday, so I think this is do-able.)
1. Get things organized for Graduate Visitation Day, which is a three alarm fire right now. (I'm grad chair, but I'm also chairing a systemwide committee meeting at the same time, and trying unsuccessfully to delegate.) It's Friday, so it will happen.
2. Finish Review
3. Finish ms. proposal review that I promised for January 31. Only a month late.
4. Syllabus revisions
5. Read student essay that still needs lots of work.
6. Take time for clearing last bits of Room of Doom
7. Keep up with exercise and healthy eating
8. Do something fun at the weekend
Pooh, a month late is nothing! You're fine! And you've made huge progress with the Room of Doom! You have more YES than NO on goals for last week. It will all be fine, and like my meetings, Visitation Day will pass because it has to.
Delete