2026 Session 1, Week 10

 

This week's prompt is brought to you by Morgana: what do you know (or "know") that doesn't actually help, or could help only in different circumstances than the ones you're stuck with? Morgana knows that food comes from the refrigerator, and will jump in there when a human opens the door. Without opposable thumbs, however, she's stuck at this point, and has to go back to looking pleadingly at the human. Your answer could focus on writing, or you can take this as a more general question, as you please!

Goals from last week:

Daisy

Read completed thesis
Edit undergrad chapters
Two article reviews
Learn new music

Dame Eleanor Hull

--1-2 hours writing/research on each of 5 days
--prep for language groups
--write two letters of recommendation
--book April travel
--request money for one conference, along with some other administrivia including reading grad applications
--find some reviewers
--replace at least one electronic device
--at least four hours on the garage or other household tasks
--bake scones and/or do some other creative things
--get a massage
--gym at least 5x, yoga at least 4x
--remember to look at calendar/lists every day

heu mihi

1. Draft second mini-talk
2. Italian
3. Don't drown

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
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) prepare materials for experiment week for the first years (they design and carry out their own experiment and if they take it seriously it can be a lot of fun learning)
RESEARCH.
a) continue to progress modelling work
b) referee journal article
c) read paper draft for former senior PhD student
d) spend an hour on the revision for the revise and resubmit paper
e) finish and submit small teaching project grant application

Julie

1. Research and writing: finish reading book for Big Article and organise some material, write two sections for book chapter, do one day on review article.
2. Meetings about teaching next year - try not to use too much emotional energy.
3. Review a postdoc application.
4. Book travel for conference and seminar next month.
5. House/life admin: Mother's Day gifts, meeting with financial advisor, book flights for summer holiday, plan Easter weekend away, maybe find a chair for spare room.
6. Self-care/fun: read, exercise, journal, Netflix (finish watching Bridgerton, don't judge me), video call with friends, enjoy time with brother and family in their new house this weekend 

Susan

1. GRADE PAPERS I DON"T WANT TO GRADE
2. Finish stuff from office and room of doom
3. Organize garage so junk guy takes the right stuff.
4. Plant a few more things in the yard
5. Clear all counters in the kitchen
6. Organize packing for trip
7. Book hotel for trip

2026 Session 1, Week 9

 Happy International Women's Day!

Today's prompt is inspired by a Hilary Mantel essay, and also follows on quite nicely from Dame Eleanor's last week: how do you know you've finished? Mantel is commenting on finishing Wolf Hall, the first in a trilogy of novels, so in one sense, very much not finished. She comments that, with historical fiction, she can claim it's when the last facts are on the page:

'We arrive at 6 July 1535. Thomas More is executed. The paperwork is done; the head is spiked on London Bridge; his prayer book is examined for blood splashes and disposed of. And Henry VIII goes on his holidays.'

If anyone else has read Wolf Hall, you'll know there's far more to the ending of the novel than these bald facts. But the point is that there are choices to be made about when we end things: do we simply run out of time before a deadline? Do we decide that there is enough evidence to answer the question? Has the experiment been fully written up with nothing else to say? Or are we simply at the word limit and making painful decisions about what to cut and if so, does the cut stuff linger on?

But beyond that, as Mantel also discusses, is the phase of revisions and corrections, and spotting of mistakes at the last minute. I imagine for most of us as academics, that phase is dictated more by editors' and publishers' deadlines. How disciplined are you at knowing what to revise and correct and what to let go? Is finishing harder than starting?

Mantel's essay is here, for anyone interested (it's very funny)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/nov/15/hilary-mantel

It's also published in a posthumous collection of her essays, A Memoir of My Former Self. A Life in Writing.

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
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) deliver week 6 of teaching
b) finish preparing materials for the "guest slot" and the AI session and review materials from last year for other class, sigh
c) read methods/results chapter draft for Junior MSc by Research thesis
RESEARCH.
a) continue to progress modelling work
b) referee journal article
c) spend an hour on the revision for the revise and resubmit paper
d) work on small teaching project grant application - get peer review done, start actual online system (sigh)

Dame Eleanor

--1-2 hours writing/research on each of 3 days
--prep for language groups
--finish second round of grading
--book April travel
--request money for one conference
--find some reviewers
--work Admitted Student event
--gym at least 3x, yoga at least 4x
--remember to look at calendar/lists every day

Susan

1. Keep up with teaching
2. Grade papers that come in tomorrow
3. File expenses for two recent trips
4. Email institutions about papers that should go into an existing collection.
5. Figure out good hiding places for things that need to be hidden.
6. Get rid of some of my hats :(
7. Keep up with exercise
8. Have some fun.

Daisy

Read and edit student chapters
Help with accepted paper revisions
Do the marking dammit!
Article review
Go for at least 3 walks

Heu mihi

1. Finish mini-talk #1 (revised and everything)
2. Write 3 pages of nonsense, bringing me to a total of 5
3. Write academically or creatively x 5
4. Deal with various journal-related issues
5. Plan summer travel!
6. Italian and exercise.

Julie

1. Research and writing: one day on each project, fourth day to whichever needs the attention most.
2. Seminar and meeting.
3. House/life admin: son's physio appointment, try to get him a hair cut, plan and book some more summer travel, book a family event for Easter, book some conference travel and accommodation, finances, decluttering, return library books.
4. Self-care/fun: read, journal, exercise, Netflix, dinner Friday and Saturday night with different friends (Saturday is a cookbook club I'm doing for the first time), video call with other friends.

How I start

 In clearing things out, I came across this Peanuts strip that I clipped years ago, and it seemed relevant to last week's prompt.

2026 Session 1, Week 8

And here we are in March, with meteorological spring beginning now, and astronomical spring coming in a few weeks! I particularly want to hear about the fun things or travel you did last week, OK?

I'm cheating a little with this week's quotation: it's something I planned to use in class and then didn't, so you get it instead.

Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, 25:

"You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up."

I feel that rather a lot can be covered by that "anything," including outlines, notes & quotes, list & gist, or free-writing of the sort that JaneB and I practice. Sometimes just opening a file and naming it can be a good first step. How do you get started?

Goals from last week:

Daisy

Adjust course plans for yet another snow day
Read and edit student chapters
Process data
Write abstracts
Catch up on marking
Awkward conversation

Dame Eleanor Hull

--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

heu mihi

1. Draft mini-talk #1.
2. Write 5 pages of nonsense.
3. Request funding for event(s)
4. Review grant proposals
5. Exercise & Italian

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
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

And sort out presents and a card and mail them to my sister for her birthday!

Julie

1. Enjoy the break!
2. Meet with mentee on Friday.
3. Finish some primary source analysis.

Susan

1. Get things organized for Graduate Visitation Day, which is a three alarm fire right now.
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