It's Week 12 already. How, HOW, did that happen?
I'm not going to lie, I'm really worried about my dissertation. A lot has happened this semester and I let it come between me and my writing. It's my fault and I own that, but now I need to recover from it all and move forward with the dissertation. In other words, I need a Productivity Hammer.
This is no longer the time for gentle, easy 1,000 word count goals for me. I will never defend at that rate. I can't be ABD for the next job search season; I need my PhD in hand (or at least defended, waiting for graduation). Brute force and sheer determination are the only way this is getting done now.
I sense that I'm not alone in this. Is anyone else in need of a Productivity Hammer or perhaps Dame Eleanor's Mervaylous Anti-Bugge Power-Writer Spray? Some of us have already revisited the goals for the group. Some have revamped their routines to improve productivity. (By the way, the 3 90-minute work blocks a day are working great...if only I could use them all for writing!) What else are you going to do to finish strong for the writing group? How are you going to bring the pain on your goals for the group? (Bring the pain? I clearly have been watching too much wrestling with my little nephew.)
Before I forget, is anyone interested in hosting or co-hosting the next incarnation of the writing group to keep the forward momentum going for those who want it? Please say yes!
Roll call!
Amanda@ladyscientist: (1)Cut down research plan to 6 pages.(2)Write Career goals (3)Write RCR
Amstr (writing account): 1) Ch. 4 thesis statement and abstract, 2) Ch. 4 structure and topic sentences, 3) organize research and make a plan for Belcher Wk. 5.
Bardiac: no check-in
Contigent Cassandra: goal for 4/1: shitty but full rough draft of the chapter.
Dame Eleanor Hull: Companion-piece revisions and submission. At least one hour a day on research, focusing on IPM and translation, unless I really have my teeth into one of the MMP-pieces.
Danne: no check-in
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: moving boxes
emmawriting: no check-in
Good Enough Woman: no goal set
heu mihi: Fill in MS info for Kzoo draft (involves some research). Spend 1 hour on article draft.
humming42: Go to conference. Post online survey. Write other proposal and look for participants.
Jane B: Conveniently I have four conference abstracts (or maybe five?) due at the end of the week. So my goals for the week are two-fold: Do something research oriented FIRST, before I go on to the teaching and admin and everything, even if it's just for 15 minutes. And complete and submit four (or maybe five) abstracts. Sigh.
Jason: no check-in
Jodi: Power through starting (hopefully) tomorrow. I need 3,000 words to get a really good chapter finished and off to my supervisor. Work on the dissertation every day.
kiwi2: a first draft of grant proposal RD. A three page, but immensely dense proposal with a very high bar for success (daunting in itself). I feel tired at the thought, but have to go into battle for this one. And one day of work on the exotic synthesis.
kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: no check-in
luolin88: 30 minutes on Friday.
Matilda: Revise the paper and make a plan for another paper
meansomething: 1) 5 12-minute sessions of writing. 2) One book ms. submission. 3) One magazine submission
metheist: Get my nerd on at the conference next week. I haven't been able to do this in a year, so I'm excited.
nwgirl: Finish revisions on another chapter
Pilgrim/Heretic: 1500 words
profacero (Z): the abstract; decide about that second application and act or not; not hoping for any words besides the abstract but if I finish it I will rework it in Spanish, in a more sociological direction, and send to a second conference; send off state income tax, acquire deck materials, prepare and give lecture about Mexico City as laboratory of 21st century urban life (how did I get myself into this?) for on campus lecture series with audience of 200 or 300 people (why did I forget I was supposed to do this and what will I say?), more exercise.
rented life: no check-in
Susan: get the draft done
tracynicolrose: Finish submitting TS paper; finish application packet; read for BE paper, look at MS data
Zabeel: no check-in
Oops, I didn't check in last week. Not to worry because...
ReplyDeleteAchieved: One book manuscript finished.
Such a relief to finally get it finished. I thought it would be anticlimactic, but it's not.
Goal for next week: draft of conference paper.
Yay, congratulations!!
DeleteCongratulations!! That's very exciting!
DeleteThanks, guys!
DeleteMega-congratulations.
DeleteRe summer iteration: I am not sure yet of summer plans but I could maybe do it.
Awesomeness! Grand congratulations.
DeleteHurrah! (and I'm glad it's not anti-climactic). I'm also impressed that you're heading straight on to another task (but that's often what's necessary, and there's something to be said for making use of momentum when available).
DeleteAlways a pleasure to congratulate someone on finishing a book! Hooray!
DeleteThanks again! As for heading straight on 1. I have to -- otherwise I'll be standing up in front of a group of people, with nothing to say 10 days from now; and 2. I have spent the past 3 weeks looking for typos in work I wrote 2 years ago: I'm dying to read about, think about, write about something *new*.
DeleteCongratulations!!
DeleteZabeel, I'm hoping I can channel your "dying to read about, think about, write about something *new*" to help me finish the diss. I *really* want to move on to my next project.
DeleteI have a Glow Of Achievement! Yay! (About time).
ReplyDeletegoal: Do something research oriented FIRST, before I go on to the teaching and admin and everything, even if it's just for 15 minutes. And complete and submit four (or maybe five) abstracts.
Achieved: four abstracts written and submitted by the deadline, that's about 1200 words. And I did do something research-y every day... Monday, I started with 30 minutes (timer set) on the paper with the MSc student and ended up spending nearly four hours on research. That was the best day, more colleagues around and more students panicking about projects instead of spending the Spring Break a long way away from me on the others. Tuesday I did a rather desultory half hour on the paper but also wrote and sent a long and complicated email about research to WierdBugMan which needed careful composition, and has been on my list since before Christmas (and which has led to a productive exchange, phew!) and another long research email, as well as doing some teaching stuff and meeting students, and ended the day by facing up to the mess which is one of my personal bench projects - sorting samples, relabelling things, going through lab notes, working out what needs doing to produce a poster in the summer, and deciding that it was feasible and would be a good way to kick the project up the backside (which I need to do 'cos of outside obligations. Collaboration can be great and also a great source of guilt). Wednesday I only just got in in time for the 'in the flesh' (or rather in the coffee shop) writing group I coordinate, but that is KIND OF research activity, and I went from there to a meeting about 'piggy-backing' some research onto a project in Stationary Department which I think went pretty well, then... student meetings. And STRESSFUL barely-bloggables which I haven't worked out how to blog yet. So Thursday I was pretty demotivated, but decided I WOULD do my half hour at the bench instead of trying to write - and remembered again that bench work is remarkably soothing. I even got some actual writing done in the afternoon - drafted the two abstracts I was leading on and sent them off to the others for editing, and edited the drafts of the other two. Today, I started with bench work again, then went back into my office when the students started to drift in (about 11 am! Gah!), and got all the abstracts finished and sent AND met with several project students, and did some (teaching related) paperwork. So, if I interpret something research related relatively loosely, I met that goal too.
Analysis: It's break. The three people who most wind me up and make me feel inadequate have not been in the department this week (one's literally on the other side of the world, one's down at an off-site research facility and one's one of those people who is rarely around at all unless someone more important is visiting or there's a meeting they can throw their weight around at). I'm not teaching stats! I had a 'hard deadline' for the abstracts. All these things helped, and can't always/often be replicated. But committing to doing a half hour of research stuff FIRST definitely, definitely helped. I'd have to get up earlier to do it consistently in teaching time, but maybe it would be worth it, because Thursday would have been a write-off after Wednesday's stressful events, and today I didn't want to go to the office and was really narked that I had to (meeting), and could easily have frivvelled the day away talking to people and not getting stuff done (and then missed the deadline for the conference), but that commitment to 'just half an hour' turned both days into fairly productive ones. Long may it last...
continued:
ReplyDeletegoal for next week: first, do half an hour of research-related something every week day. second, get a rough - may be very rough! - draft of that paper with the MSc student done. Of ALL of it.
topic: Bugge Spray, I need LOTS of Bugge Spray. I'm really struggling to have any confidence in my identity as a researcher or to work up the nerve to apply for funding or submit papers at the moment (which is probably part of the issue underlying my writing issues this semester). I feel like I'm too old and too stuck at Northern Uni to salvage what's left of my research trajectory, that the obsession with funding only work that can bring in lots of matching industrial money or have 'impact' in all the non-BlueChip funding places, and the increasingly aggressive competition for Blue Chip money (whilst net amounts have been protected, 'efficiency' has led to fewer, larger grants being available, and those being targetted to 'young researchers' (defined as years since PhD) or 'established stars'), making me feel like there's little point going through the increasingly rigorous and multi-layered series of hoops to even be allowed to apply...).
https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/writing-group-week-2-bug-spray/
DeleteHere you go! Spray with abandon.
I have to admit that either a productivity hammer or bringing the pain would be completely disastrous for me. I'm all about the bug spray-brain tricks, little rewards, low meetable goals, and temporary challenges.
Congratulations on your Glow of Achievement! I am sorry you're having such a rough time getting up the nerve/energy to apply for funding. Even though I'm one of those ECR targets, I find funding applications terrifying because of a lack of confidence in my ability to express myself well in grant applications. I have confidence in my research (most of the time), but not in convincing people why it's worth funding. Either way sucks, I suppose, and funding applications are just a necessary evil, unfortunately, and with more and more cuts to education, it's only going to get worse.
DeleteYou are doing great. Don't think that way. I have these issues but you have to just decide to have the confidence of the young researcher and the established star. Decide you are an established star that is not being looked at, etc., and crown yourself with a glow of achievement.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that you have people around who make you feel inadequate, but so glad you've been free of them to feel strong and confident and do bunches of work! I've been grappling with my feelings about colleagues who make a really big deal about their research accomplishments and expect I should jump up and join their celebration. For a variety of reasons, I don't.
DeleteHurrah! -- for the many things accomplished, and, even more than that, for finding strategies that work, for both productivity and self-soothing (it's especially great to discover/remember a professional activity that is also soothing).
DeleteDare one hope that the middle week of the break (when at least some people will be distracted by religious observance and/or, perhaps, visiting family) will be even quieter? It seems like you really ought to be able to ignore the students during an official break, but I realize that that is not always necessarily the case, for a variety of reasons. If there is any precedent/support for doing so, however, by all means do that; I strongly suspect that your more research-focused colleagues are doing just that (which suggests that you really can/should do so, too).
Several years ago I applied for a job that was somewhat above my station, and which I didn't at all expect to get, because a friend advised me that it was worth it to get myself looked over by the relevant committee. I felt very self-conscious doing it, as though I were announcing to everyone that I thought I was better than I was. There were no negative repercussions, however, and more to the point, there were some very positive consequences, in terms of work and opportunities, that came out of that job application. The experience helped me shift my thinking a bit toward letting other people do the rejecting, if I'm going to be rejected, and not pre-empting them by rejecting myself. Which is to say: I think you should go ahead and apply. It's easy to overestimate everyone else's work and underestimate your own.
DeleteI think it's really hard to remember that a colleague's success does not impact our own success, particularly when said colleagues can be overly exuberant in their, um, celebrating. Grad students are notorious for this, but a lot of times this is just because the louder they brag, the easier it is to cover their own fears of not measuring up. I do like meansomething's advice:
Delete"The experience helped me shift my thinking a bit toward letting other people do the rejecting, if I'm going to be rejected, and not pre-empting them by rejecting myself."
Again, it's one of those ideas that is hard to remember when you aren't feeling overly confident about your work or your life or all of it combined, but stopping yourself (um, myself) from applying for funding out of fear of rejection is self-defeating, not to mention a self-perpetuating of negativity.
Finished the abstract, sent; wrote an unplanned spinoff abstract, sent; started research for planned second abstract; created and gave the talk, which was fun.
ReplyDeleteOther: mostly done, yes. Also: much very ornery service (I am on a big, bad committee, contentious).
Commentary: Research and writing are good for you like exercise, food, sex, they make you alive and put things in perspective.
Goal for this week, in terms of writing: Spanish version of abstract, write and send. Catch up with teaching and service things; this and other housekeeping -- books, files, computer files.
A Glow of Achievement award for you, too!
DeleteResearch is definitely an antidote to the Big Bad Ornery Committee!
DeleteResearch and writing are good for you like exercise, food, sex, they make you alive and put things in perspective.
DeleteI really like this. Satisfaction achieved through productivity/health-maintaining practices is a wonderful thing.
I am adding that maxim to "It is draining to do things poorly and energizing to do them well." You are becoming a star of my commonplace book!
DeleteI just wanted to "check in" to say-- please don't worry about keeping me on the list still-- it appears that despite my good intentions I'm just not together enough this semester to keep up!! Thanks for keeping my placeholder so long... I hope to join the next instantiation... good luck to all of you and thanks again for the hosting, encouraging words, motivation etc!
ReplyDeleteI hope you can join us next time. Good luck with the rest of the semester!
Delete2-week goal (in progress): shitty but full rough draft of the chapter by 4/1
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: progress, on both research (which continues to be the major time-consumer) and writing, though perhaps not so much as I need to have the desired rough draft by 4/1.
Analysis: I ended up not going away (the meeting to which I was going to travel was canceled), which is probably a good thing, though I can't claim that I've made very good use of the reclaimed time (and, of course, I lost the nice focused time of two long train journeys; Amtrak is a good work environment for me -- not quite good enough that I'm going to start buying roundtrip tickets to nowhere, but still a good one). I'm finding myself in overwhelmed mode, where I don't do well at accomplishing any goal (including taking a truly restful break) because I can't decide what to focus on next. While there's considerable logic to my goal of a shitty rough draft by 4/1, looking at other things that I absolutely *must* have done by mid-April (including a talk and taxes, which for various reasons can't be put off with an extension, at least not entirely, this year, and keeping up with grading), and keeping in mind that it's very likely I could get a week or two's extension on the chapter if necessary (it's part of a huge project, with many contributors, that has already undergone a number of delays), I don't think that dropping other things to get that shitty rough draft done by 4/1 really makes sense. So,
Revised goal: make continued progress on writing and/or research, alternating back and forth between the two as necessary.
Topic: as you may gather from the above, I'm not a big believer in the "productivity hammer" concept. It probably has its place, at the very end of a big project, when other things really can be ignored for a few weeks to a month to finish up. I certainly did that with my dissertation (but I also ignored/ didn't deal well with several things, even during that last month's push, that came back to bit me later, and I certainly didn't benefit by putting aside some other issues for years while I focused on finishing, always thinking I was 6 months or so away from being done). I also think that the single thing that most retarded my progress on the diss (and there were plenty of other factors) was setting/accepting unrealistic goals, and becoming discouraged/overwhelmed/shamed/paralyzed when I didn't meet them. So I guess I'm an advocate of letting both past experience and what one is actually managing to do under present circumstances be the guide, and setting steady but realistic goals, even if they result in really unsatisfying predicted completion times. But it's also possible that what works for different people varies by temperament, personality, etc.. The "what has worked in the past?" guideline is probably useful there; from what I've read of successful writers (not necessarily scholarly), they seem to fall into (at least) two groups -- slow and steady vs. all out push followed by substantial rest period -- and both approaches seem to be viable ones, but probably for different people.
I should confess that the Productivity Hammer has only been partially successful for me this week. You notice I haven't checked in yet myself? Yeah, there's a reason for that and it involves not meeting my goal yet for yet another variety of reasons, including a sick dog and my ongoing, seemingly never-ending cold/plague.
DeleteBut congrats on your forward progress!
DeleteForward progress is the key! And re-setting goals when life intervenes...
Deletegoal: Go to conference. Post online survey. Write other proposal and look for participants.
ReplyDeleteachieved: One out of four, but a good one. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference, even though it meant not finishing my presentation until the night before and panicking about arriving in time to present.
analysis: I don’t know what happened to my time this week, except that the OBE, which involves massive departmental conflict, seems to be eating a lot of it. And down time isn’t worth much for research and writing when you’re emotionally drained.
next week’s goal: I’m reverting to the unfinished goals of posting the survey, finishing the proposal and finding participants. There is also an abstract I’m considering for submission, due tomorrow.
Topic: I have really mixed feelings about this. One the one hand, I’m a person who often says that nothing inspires like deadlines. On the other hand, I also work bit by bit over time then put on a push to finish, but not always one I find satisfying. I will return next check-in with a culminating goal, as I’m not sure right now what I can accomplish during the coming six weeks. I do like the ending of ending big though!
I'm glad you enjoyed the conference. Hopefully that experience will overcome the department drama and help you end big!
DeleteKiwi2:
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goal: a first draft of a three page grant proposal. One day on the exotic synthesis.
Accomplished: A rough draft completed. Nothing on the exotic synthesis.
Next goal: Improved draft of the grant proposal. Draft of associated one page blurb and summary. Tweak paper X.
Commentary: I am glad to have a rough draft of the grant proposal. It still needs lots of work though- primarily thinking about, and improving, the content so it is coherent and persuasive. Still, I lost one and a half days to sickness and ended up with numerous meetings that took longer than anticipated, so it is amazing I actually got a draft done. Looming deadlines help I guess! Thus, the exotic synthesis moved down the line again. I have decided not to approach the ES this week, and instead to focus on getting the proposal draft up to an almost finished standard. Also, I want to do a few tweaks on paper X if possible this week with the goal of getting it submitted next week. As I have lots of small but essential tasks to fit into a short week (Easter!!), this will also be a challenge.
The productivity hammer: when I was finishing my PhD I did a very intense six month stint, where I girded my loins and worked very intensely. It worked, but there was a cost to doing that. I was absolutely and deeply exhausted when I handed in, and I had also ignored some personal things (eg fitness) that were important. So, although effective, at the moment I can’t imagine any other project where I would want to do that again. Having said that, I do appreciate writing retreats, and separation from the distractions around me. I find though that routines and habits do get me a long way, I am happier working in a more balanced way, and I am now very careful about burning enormous fires of energy that might result in self destructive patterns later.
It's wonderful to see so many people achieving goals this week! It's given me an impetus to try and make the last few weeks of the writing group count.
Congratulations on getting the draft of the grant proposal done!
DeleteLast week's goals: Finish submitting TS paper; finish application packet; read for BE paper, look at MS data
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: Submitted TS paper; resubmitted LM paper (it bounced back); finished application packet; minor reading for BE; drafted intro for BE and edited methods/findings
Analysis: Not a bad week but it felt like mostly organizational and busy work was accomplished and very little conceptual or heavy writing work. I miss that.
Next week's goals: Look at MS data; begin drafting Frameworks presentation; draft out BE discussion
You got a lot done! Busy work is annoying, but at least it's working towards a larger goal.
DeleteLast goals: Companion-piece revisions and submission. At least one hour a day on research, focusing on IPM and translation.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: (A) no; (B) yes: seven days of doing 3 lines of IPM transcription and at least 50 lines of translation.
Analysis: I have some kind of block on doing those revisions, clearly. Sometimes when I'm doing this, it's because a task really will take longer than I think it will, & at some level I am aware of this, so maybe I should think about that. I keep thinking I just want 2-3 hours on a sunny day, when I'm well-rested, and don't have anything else really breathing down my neck, and I never get that kind of time.
Next goal: Companion-piece revisions and submission. At least one hour a day on research, focusing on IPM and translation.
I'm very sorry to hear about your dog. I would say, try to avoid the worst-case scenario, whatever that is; don't do anything you couldn't forgive yourself for; and then try to pick the best remaining option.
One glow of achievemnt for getting B) done, at least!
Delete"I keep thinking I just want 2-3 hours on a sunny day, when I'm well-rested, and don't have anything else really breathing down my neck" oh, wouldn't that be nice! Once a week, say... we'd all do amazing amounts of everything!
Congrats on finishing "B". I too long for those 2-3 hours on a sunny day when well-rested. Oh, the things we could do. Instead most days it feels like walking up a muddy hill in a rainstorm.
DeleteLast goal: Chapter revision
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: Done.
Analysis: I'm struggling big time. The revisions are going well. I'm happy with the progress I'm making in spite of hell breaking loose in my department. I can't go into too much detail, but we find ourselves once again having to search for a new departmental secretary. The one we hired just a few weeks ago resigned for personal reasons. So in the midst of the craziness that is spring semester, we're having to carve out time deal with this mess. And we have a mess. Work that was not done or done incorrectly and work that needs to be done.
I'm not sure the productivity hammer will necessarily help. But I need to keep my head down and keep moving forward, or I'll never make the date on my book contract. Damn. So did not want to be going through the hiring cycle again.
Next goal: Revise next chapter. Protect my time, protect my time, protect my time.
Congratulations on getting the revisions done, especially in spite of your department drama! Good luck protecting the time!
DeleteOh, and I'm willing to host another writing group, if there's popular demand. (Or maybe this will spur someone else to offer! ;-) )
ReplyDeleteThere's demand! :-)
DeleteKiwi2
DeleteLoving the writing group. A wonderful help to keep honest and working toward small goals.Thank you to all past present and future hosts -
Amstr here: I'm happy to co-host the next writing group, though I'm just has happy to join in if someone else wants to host the whole she-bang.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals: 1) Ch. 4 thesis statement and abstract, 2) Ch. 4 structure and topic sentences, 3) organize research and make a plan for Belcher Wk. 5.
Accomplished: 1) sort of; bad drafts. 2) nope. 3) yes!
Analysis: Spring awakening over here--realizing how little I've done since Thanksgiving and how much other stuff I've got going on that makes it hard to work. I'm starting some Belcher stuff again--esp. writing down when I'm going to work and when I've actually worked. The next two weeks don't look to be super productive: one more week of huge landscaping project which requires me to decide lots of things I'm not good at deciding, and then a spring break family road trip (which might be semi-stressful in the middle). This week I've got to plan for the week after spring break so I have somewhere to start.
Goals for next week: 1) refine thesis and abstract, send to writing partner, 2) develop structure and bad topic sentences, 3) read 3 articles + take notes on 2 articles, 4) park on a downhill slope.
Topic: I prefer slow prep work, super intense writing periods, and then full rest. But my life right now can't sustain that cycle. I think I shy away from any intensity because of the way some intense months have gone in the past few years. But if there's a time when I should let intensity reign, it's now. I've got probably 4-6 weeks of work left for this final chapter, and 12 weeks before I HAVE to have it done. I haven't hired babysitters for summer, so when the kids get out of school in June, I'd better have the intense stuff over with. I also have a hard deadline Aug. 31 for defending; I'm pretty sure I won't be allowed any more extensions (in Sept. it will be 10 years since I started my PhD).
Congrats on the forward progress! You seem to need a Productivity Hammer, too, but, like me, not necessarily want it. Situations like ours suck!
DeleteAt least it will all be over by September... good luck with this last big push!
DeleteGood luck to both of you with that big push to the finish line.
DeleteFrom my end, it seems as if you've gotten *so* much done. Your comments make me aware of how much I'll still have left to do even when I'm so much closer than I am now!
DeleteShould you maybe consider some summer babysitting hours? Just a few? Or are the kids doing any day camp stuff?
I'm sorry things are sort of nutty, but I hope your yard is getting pretty! Hubby and I are terrible at home improvement decisions. That is why the shower in our 3/4 bath has been out of service for nearly two years. Do we redo the whole bathroom? Get a new insert? Save money to add onto the back of the house instead? Ah, let's just ignore it.
I was reminding myself this evening that even though it feels like I haven't done much in the past few months, I have done quite a bit of reading and I've revised Chapter 2. I think I'm comparing work lately to a quite productive fall.
DeleteI am considering one day a week. The kids are independent enough that we can have "work time" hours where I can actually get stuff done for short bursts, especially if it's formatting and proofreading rather than intense drafting.
The yard is getting ready to get pretty! I'm thankful today for designer-y friends who have been giving me much sound advice. And I've finally figured out what Pinterest is useful for: putting up things that catch my eye so my friends-in-the-know can choose the right thing. Birdbaths, and fountains, and benches, oh my! And though I hate all the choosing quickly, it will probably be much less painful in the long run than dragging it out.
We're usually in the "let it sit" camp, but we hired a landscape architect/project manager, and they started working before we had made any decisions other than okay-ing the plant plans.
I still think you've done tons this semester. If it makes you feel better, I'm always envious of how much you manage to achieve every week. Have fun with the yard!
DeleteLast week's goal: Power through starting (hopefully) tomorrow. I need 3,000 words to get a really good chapter finished and off to my supervisor. Work on the dissertation every day.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: I didn't touch the dissertation until Wednesday, unless you count picking up ILL books. Word count? I don't know - maybe 1,100?
Analysis: I give up. I'm still not over this cold. Tank - well, ugh. I was going to write more today just to meet my goal, but gave up because I couldn't focus and I'm fighting a migraine. I wonder why
Next week's goal: I have a week off because of Easter, starting Wednesday, but, with everything going on I'm not pretending the Productivity Hammer will work this week, so I'm shooting for 1,000 words and I'd still like to work on the dissertation every day.
Comment: Like I said, I don't think the Productivity Hammer will work this coming week. It certainly didn't work last week. Maybe you have to have an iron will to use the Productivity Hammer. I don't know. I certainly don't.
Thanks for all of your well wishes about Tank. We're going to go ahead with the surgery tomorrow and hope that he isn't riddled with cancer and the surgery will be all he needs. Pets are the best and the worst, all at once. They are so loved and so hard to lose.
Sometimes keeping going is enough - sometimes it's all that's possible. Here's hoping you have a productive week and good news from Tank's surgery...
DeleteI'm so sorry to hear about Tank. I hope you have good news.
DeleteLast week's goal: Fill in MS info for Kzoo draft (involves some research). Spend 1 hour on article draft.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: More or less. I did some research for Kzoo, and spent a good bit of reading time on the article; also worked a bit on revising the article. Think it's starting to take a shape?
Next week: Incorporate research into Kzoo draft. Read another 50 pages of article-related book. Spend an hour on article proper.
(This is too ambitious, most likely, but here's trying.)
And I'm so sorry about Tank. I hope that everything is okay--poor pup; he sounds like such a dear.
More or less is still good going at this point in the year.Keep going!
DeleteCongrats on getting the Kzoo paper to shape up a bit and good luck next week.
Deletelast week's goals: 30 minutes Friday
ReplyDeleteachieved: 50 minutes Friday, reading and taking notes. That's not my priority right now, but it was a relatively easy way to get going again. Rather than figuring out where to start on ms edit, I just had to delve into a book where I left off and try not to overdo the notetaking.
analysis/comment of what worked and what didn't:
I got re-started. Recognizing and dealing with some emotions helped.
This coming week, my Friday will be busy with a meeting, prep for the meeting, and a child with no school on Good Friday. I'll have to change my routine and goals a bit.
next week's goals:
15 minutes TWTH
comments on the weekly topic or whatever you want to discuss: I have very reluctantly come to accept that I often need an external deadline to get myself moving. I don't like it, partly because it feels like a character flaw but also because that kind of work is neither pleasant nor sustainable.
Congrats on exceeding your goal and getting re-started! Sadly, I'm also one of those who needs an external deadline to get moving and, you're dead right - it does feel like a character flaw. But so many of us need those deadlines and surely we can't all be flawed (like that, any way)???
DeleteLast week's goals: 1) 5 12-minute sessions of writing. 2) One book ms. submission. 3) One magazine submission
ReplyDeleteAchieved: None.
Analysis: This week just ate my lunch, as my husband Stubb would say. (In addition to the general intensity of the week itself, I learned I am a finalist for a thing I applied for, and that was a distraction, too. I expect to hear the outcome fairly soon.) I thought the weekend, being the beginning of spring break, would bring a chance to catch up, but it turns out I got the spring-cleaning impulse instead. However: this week is the first of two weeks off from SA, so:
Next week's goals: 1) 10 12-minute sessions of writing. 2) Two book mss. submission. 3) One magazine submission.
I don't like pain and am not very responsive to it. In pressure situations, I usually confess to a friend and get some support for coming up with a plan to get the thing, whatever it is, done.
Wishing everyone a Really Good Week! And a good outcome for Tank.
Congratulations on being a finalist - very exciting - and good luck this week!
DeleteLast week's goal: Did I forgot to set one? Whoops. It was the usual.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: I did my two early mornings or reading, and then I wrote for about two hours on Friday and one on Saturday.
Analysis: I'm getting accustomed to the time change, so the early mornings were slight easier. I also got up early on Saturday to squeeze in a little writing and a little grading because I'm swamped! I had thought I was going to have Friday all to myself to get stuff done, but my daughter was home sick, so there went that.
Next week's goals: Early mornings M and W, two hours Wed afternoon.
Commentary: I really want to send this chapter draft to my supervisor before I see her at a conference the week after next. But this week will be rough. Tons of work. Tons. Plus, the kids have spring break, and I don't, so I've got to work in extra duty with them. So, I just don't know.
Originally, my goal was to finish this chapter draft AND another one before the spring group ended. Now, I'll just be glad if I get this one done. The next one might have to wait for summer. But really. If I can send this draft off a week from tomorrow, I would be so happy. I'm in the process of weaving in an important thread that I didn't put in the first draft, and it's just not clean enough yet. It's also riddled with errors, I'm sure. I just don't know if I'll be able to get it ready. We'll see!
Sometimes baby steps just feel so small.
Every little bit you do is a step in the right direction! And all those steps really do add up!
DeleteSorry about sick girl. :( Kids home sick really messes with the work possibilities. I hope this week is focused and productive. Don't think about the whole--just the next thing that needs to be done. And then the next--but wait until you're done with the first.
Congrats on exceeding your goals! You impress me.
Another overachiever! Congratulations! You guys are so inspiring; this whole group is!
DeleteSomeone once told me that every step is made up of tiny little baby steps that we may not even recognize. At first, I wanted to punch him (I don't go in for a lot of words of wisdom, Confucius-style, particularly when I'm grumpy about writing and feeling overwhelmed), but...it's true and it's important to recognize those baby steps because they are progress and they are necessary, even if we prefer leaps and bounds. Anyways, good luck this week!
Sorry for omitting to check in last week. The Easter holiday is fast approaching and I will be away next week-end, so there is little I can do this week. I'd simply state this as my goal: Be clear on what I want to work on and what I plan to achieve when I come back from my trip to Paris, and start adopting the right frame of mind over the next few days.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Paris trip!
DeleteArgh! I completely gave up on this week, at least on writing - I'm doing undergraduate advising and preparing for an upcoming conference, so a lot of Things got done, but none related to my project. I did better at balancing these last semester, but there's more administrative stuff going on this semester that I'm in charge of.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I am being very good at maintaining other things like healthy eating, good sleep habits, and exercise, which often fall by the wayside under these circumstances. I hate that writing is the ball that drops first, but it's that or my health.
Not really sure about the Productivity Hammer - I think I side more with Dame Eleanor on that. In keeping with that idea, I'll set myself a small, more manageable goal this week (since the student and conference and administrative messiness is going to continue into the next two weeks): 500 words.
Also - sending many good thoughts your way re: Tank!
DeleteThanks so much! He's out of surgery, liver was fine, and should be home (fingers crossed) in a few days.
DeleteGood luck with squeezing in writing time with students, conference, and admin messiness!
YAY! Glad to hear Tank's doing OK!
DeleteHello! I think I am checking in late. I am sorry!
ReplyDeleteGoals: revise the paper and make a plan for the next paper.
Achieved: ghhhh. nothing.
Analysis: I moved house and also moving to a new job. I have to clear my office by next Wednesday, and I have to do it all alone. There are so many boxes at office, and still boxes around in my house. New job is starting in April and of course it needs preparation. Every morning I make a to do list and at the end of the day it seems the list becomes somehow longer...
Next goal: revise the paper. make a plan for a new paper. And tidy up my house and my new office.
It seems some people are very kind enough to host the next writing group. I really would like to join it. This on-line writing group really helps me to motivate, keep track, and feel encouraged. What I enjoy every week is reading other people's posts. Thank you for hosting, Jodi and JaneB!
No, seriously, I'm impressed you even remembered the writing group with all the moving. Good luck getting organized and working on the papers. You are a trooper!
DeleteAccomplished: Research plan is done (I'm awaiting edits), RCR is done, career goals is mostly done. I just need to revise the last one.
ReplyDeleteNext week: Finish all the small parts for the application (like the abstract, facilities, etc.).
Unfortunately that's all I have time for. Things are very busy around here. :(
Good luck next week!
DeleteI'm so sorry to have missed check-in, and so happy that Tank is okay!
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: moving 34 boxes of books.
Analysis:Twenty-six hours in a truck that vibrated like a paint mixer was not my idea of fun, but finally, everything I own is in the same town for the first time in over a year. My first day back at work, one of my staff came down with the flu. I had the flu shot, so I was only sick for three days, thank goodness.
Next week's goal: Start filling in the literature review for article B.
Topic: Thank you, Dame Eleanor for the bugge spray. I plan to use it liberally and often!
Happy for you! It’s nice that you keep track of everything you do and it is nice that you design your daily activities to manage your time very well. If you still have no plans for summer, I think you should already make one for it. Trust me you can write better when you are more relaxed and seeing new things also makes you feel more inspired.
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