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