Well, well, well. We survived another writing group. Did you meet your main goal? Did you meet last week's goal?
Before we get to that, this is just a reminder that the next writing group is being hosted by Dame Eleanor Hull over at her place. The group she is hosting will be significantly different than this one, with DEH asking that participants focus on one piece of writing. Her group will provide a place for "public accountability and acknowledgment of interim goals met." JaneB has offered to host a kind of tandem writing group where participants can discuss more general goals, work process, OBW(hatever), etc., similar to what has happened in this particular writing group.
When I offered to host this group, I thought that there were enough of us ABDs or ECRs in the previous groups that it might be beneficial to have someone coming from that perspective co-hosting, particularly because my co-host is mid-career and could provide a counterpoint on behalf of those of you who are not ABD/ECR. I also, perhaps naively, hoped that as someone who struggles with the writing process (which is new for me because I never struggled as an undergrad, during my M.A., or during the first two years of my PhD) and, therefore, reads a lot about that topic, I might be able to provide some helpful new ideas or reminders of old tricks to those of you further in your career who might be stuck in a writing rut. Sometimes a change in perspective can get you out of a rut, after all. Certainly, when I could only offer questions, not solutions, others in the group did; however, if anyone feels as if they did not get anything useful from this group because of my particular perspective, I apologize.
Writing groups are what the participants make them and I, for one, am grateful for the increased sense of community I gained from this particular group. I could write it off as saying I've been feeling particularly isolated this semester with no real, physical academic community right now, but I think academia can be a lonely place, as a lot of you have said or shown in these groups and on your blogs. As I said over at JaneB's, I really felt as if you all acted as a support system for me and cheering me on through my successes and my struggles and I hope you felt the same from me/us in return, if that's what you wanted from the group. I could not have handled the stresses of the semester - writing, teaching, and personal, a lot of which didn't even get mentioned in the group, if you can believe that - without the support from all of you, so thank you all.
Enough of that. Let's celebrate the end of this group and all that we've done. Here it is - the final roll call (original 15 week goals included - sorry if you changed yours and this isn't up-to-date):
Amanda@ladyscientist: no check-in
15 Week Goal: completely finish two fellowship apps, get halfway through a third, turn my dissertation intro into a minireview, write my final section of TheReviewThatNeverEnds, and any other small writing projects that come my way
Amstr (writing account): 1) write 1500 words (or more!!), 2) read 3 articles, 3) notes on 5 articles (or more), 4) make office functional and call electrician to put in safe outlets.
15 Week Goal: finally finish the darn dissertation!
Bardiac: no check-in
15 Week Goal: working on a paper for the Shakespeare association, and also working on moving a paper from conference to publishable
Contigent Cassandra: finish & give lecture; continue grading; regroup/plan final push on chapter (including, if necessary, asking for a 1-2 week extension well in advance of the May 1 deadline. That's more professional, right?)
15 Week Goal: complete a chapter for an "approaches to teaching" volume (we'll call this the T chapter), due 5/1, and to keep up with freelance assignments. If I have any additional time, I'd also like to finish the J article that I was trying to finish last fall, and make some sort of progress on the P project, but, based on past experience, that seems unlikely
Dame Eleanor Hull: polish 1000 lines of translation and send it to my team. Review the companion-piece against the journal's style sheet and send it. Allow self 15 minutes a day with MMP-1.
15 Week Goal: finishing and submitting the MMP is my main goal, and if I finish it before the end of the group I hope I can declare a new goal.
Danne: 1) write first thing in the morning and 2) work on my PhD for at least three hours a day
15 Week Goal: read and take daily notes of my reflections and the progress I'm making. I want to work at least 3 hours a day, 6 days a week on my thesis
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: no check-in
15 Week Goal: finish up article O, which I researched and got close to completion in the last group, for submission. I then have article O prime, the offshoot from article O to flesh out, complete and submit
Good Enough Woman: Spend a hour each M and W mornings reading secondary text, order two books from ILL.
15 Week Goal: "Finish draft of Chapter 5, Draft Chapter 3, Revise article"
heu mihi: Do what's on the to-do list. Finish the sucker, really.
15 Week Goal: get a workable draft of the article finished by the end of April. What I'd like to do is write 5 hours a week, plus fit in some reading time as needed
humming42: 15 minutes a day.
15 Week Goal: work on the reconfigured book project, which now includes some incremental steps like drafting a survey, getting IRB approval, and applying for a travel grant
Jane B: a) outline the results and discussion sections for the Paper That Wants To Be Written, and b) spend time with the Stupid MSc Paper - let's say three lots of ten minutes, as a goal.
15 Week Goal: make measureable progress' - I want to be able to report actual numbers in terms of papers moved from one key developmental stage to the next
Jason: no check-in
15 Week Goal: I need Chap. 4 & Chap. 1 drafts. Ideally, the Chap. 4 draft will come together in the next few weeks (sent to advisor by end of Feb.)
Jodi: Seriously finish the chapter because this is ridiculous.
15 Week Goal: 1000-1500 words/wk
kiwi2: Again, read and take notes on two papers a day for my exotic synthesis. Also write 500 words this week, to start putting some ideas together.
15 Week Goal: "conference talk to give in two weeks and have a big pile of analysis to do for this over the next week- hence, my first goal, is - do this. All week.
2)Paper X from the previous writing group needs reanalysis of one section (arggh), and general rewriting. Its a collaborative effort, and I am anticipating writing will drag on for some time although I would like to submit, like, immediately.
3)Paper Z, I want to finish the analysis of one dataset, and the writing of these results (probably two paragraphs max.). I am half way through this, and would like to just get it done.
4) There are other projects too that I want to get done, but I will focus on the above first, and then concentrate on two hours of writing a day. I think if I can achieve this, the other pieces of research will also fall into place"
kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: no check-in
15 Week Goal: 6000-word article due on the 1st of April, of which I have done a fair bit of research (much of it spinning out of my PhD thesis (aka dissertation), and about 2500 words written and bits(?) of a novel if possible)
luolin88: 30 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday
15 Week Goal: write and submit an article
Matilda: revise my plan for a new paper.
15 Week Goal: 1. Finish an article A. 2. Finish an article B. 3. 15-minute writing every day
meansomething: no check-in because of travel
15 Week Goal: continue to devote time each week to poems (drafting new ones while continuing to revise the sequence); to find a publisher for my second book ms.; and to experiment with breaking out some pieces of the lyric essay draft, possibly as shorter pieces on their own
metheist: incorporate the new ideas about gesture into my chapter.
15 Week Goal: finish chapter 4, write my introduction, edit, and defend. Also, I want to work more on embracing the present, not obsessing on the past or worrying about the future.
nwgirl: no check-in
15 Week Goal: Finish revisions of two chapters
Pilgrim/Heretic: no check-in
15 Week Goal: write 21,000 words by April 26
profacero (Z): finish and submit both abstracts
15 Week Goal: to reserve time daily, 25 minutes if that is all there is but ideally 2.5 hours. That is it, 25 minutes to 2.5 hours, 7 days a week, no vacation ever (on vacation, 25 minutes), and ideally closer to 2.5 hours most days
Susan: no check-in
15 Week Goal: first, a plenary talk at a major conference outside my discipline in late March, and second, a draft of a piece for one of the "companion" volumes that speaks to some of the conceptual issues of the book project
tracynicolrose: Finalize Frameworks for presentation; tackle citations in BE; continue with new MS matrices
15 Week Goal: work on 3 new papers this semester: BE paper, Methods paper, and HT paper. My aim is to get a decent draft completed on all three so I can submit over the summer
Zabeel: revisit article and make plan of future work
15 Week Goal: to get the book manuscript finished and submitted to press (finish final 2 chapters and conclusion; edit all for consistency; incorporate comments as they come in). I'd also like to finish converting a conference paper based on a new topic into an article
Love the title! I've put up a post about the group I'm hosting this summer over at my place, here, if anyone is interested. I will report in later...
ReplyDeleteThanks, JaneB! I'll start us off this week, it seems, if only because I need a break from grading.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goal: Seriously finish the chapter because this is ridiculous.
Achieved: Yes.
15 Week goal: 1000-1500 words/wk
Achieved: No.
Analysis: I channeled J. Worm again and pushed my way through it. I'm not entirely happy with the state of the chapter right now, but I was when I stopped yesterday. Now I've thought of a few tangential bits that I could add, but don't necessarily need to add. I sent it off to the supervisor for his opinion on whether those tangential should be included or if it's ok as is without those bits.
As for the 15 week goal, whatever. It happens and I won't beat myself up over it. I've made a lot more progress in this particular writing group than in previous ones, so I'll just hold on to that for now, get through a pile of grading this weekend, move on the next chapter, grade finals, and get back to writing for the rest of the summer. Joy!
This week's goal: finish and submit both abstracts.
DeleteAchieved: finished and submitted 1, worked on 2 but it is turning right into an article mss., bypassing abstract stage.
New goal, for next week: carve the abstract out of it, send. Depending on what this feels like, continue with this article mss. or start on the original one, based on abstract and grant proposal finished earlier this semester.
Analysis: I could have gotten further if I had not had so much other work this week and/or if I were confident enough in said other work that it did not exhaust me so much. So I have to work on those things, but writing itself went well and real progress was made. I have to work on those other things, to support writing, and allow writing confidence to support them. (My writing problems are not writing problems ... my other problems manifest as writing problems.)
15 Week Goal: to reserve time daily, 25 minutes if that is all there is but ideally 2.5 hours. That is it, 25 minutes to 2.5 hours, 7 days a week, no vacation ever (on vacation, 25 minutes), and ideally closer to 2.5 hours most days.
Achieved: missed a few days and did not make it to 2.5 hours most days, but generally speaking quite good on this.
Analysis: thanks to this year's writing groups, including this one, it was my best academic year ever in a long time. I am finishing with a glow of achievement and inspiration rather than just with fatigue.
Thank you Jodi and JaneB!!!!!!
Congrats on finish the chapter, jodi! Time to celebrate!
DeleteZ--congrats on the Glow of Achievement! "best academic year ever in a long time" deserves some celebration.
DeleteZ - I echo what Amstr said. "Best academic year ever in a long time" is fantastic, as is finishing the group inspired. Congratulations!
DeleteWow, Jodi and Z, congratulations!!!
DeleteCongratulations to you both! Getting that chapter sent off is a great accomplishment, Jodi, and Z, sounds like a great way to finish the semester! Now, if only you could bottle that feeling, you wouldn't even need a job, you could live on the profits from selling it...
DeleteJodi--Finishing a chapter in a semester when you were also teaching strikes me as a solid achievement, whatever your original goals may have been. I know I've said this before, but I honestly believe that setting and then missing unrealistic goals (either at my own behest or on the urging of others) did as much as any other obstacle to slow my progress on the diss. I realize that sometimes one can't avoid participating in unrealistic goal-setting -- a sibling who works in publishing claims that academics are so bad at estimating how long writing something will take in part because we're pretty much required, at every level, to underestimate by at least 50% the time it will take to complete a project in order to get funding, the go-ahead to continue, etc., etc. -- but if there's any way to set realistic "shadow" goals for yourself, based on what you've actually managed to do in the past, whatever you may need to tell others, that might be a good idea.
DeleteThe other thing not to underestimate is the amount of energy that uncertainties about employment can consume, and the relief it can be to have any sort of sustainable job. That's my only explanation for how I managed to finish a dissertation while teaching a 4/4 load, when I didn't during several years that often, once the dust settled, worked out to 4/3 or even 4/2. I'm not sure how I would have done with a 9 to 5, 50 week a year gig, but if it didn't require too much mental energy outside the office, I think even that might have been an improvement over adjuncting.
And Z, congratulations on carving out regular time for writing, and finishing with a glow of achievement (and clear forward momentum)! It does, indeed, sound like a good year!
DeleteI'm sorry I dropped off the face of the internet. No excuses, just an apology.
ReplyDeleteI do want to thank you all for the encouragements and sense of community here. This was my first attempt at an on-line writing group, and I found it helpful.
So, thank you all!
Finding it helpful is all that matters!
DeleteGlad we could help!
DeleteLast week’s goal: read and take notes on two papers a day for my exotic synthesis. Write 500 words.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: four papers read. 500 words written, but not on the exotic synthesis! Paper X is finally at the final iteration, now with the final author, so incredibly close to submission (I hope). So I am calling that a success.
Next goal: To actually submit Paper X.
And to finish the analysis on Paper Z (another of my long lost goals) so I can send to my co-author. this goal was waylaid, but I am ready to work on it.
Commentary: I love the accountability of writing group, and the weekly goal setting. I have made enough progress on my goals, as well as achieving other peripheral goals, to feel ok about the progress of the research. I have also enjoyed channelling another persona who is decisive and focused. My next goal though, is to really focus on paper writing and submissions (rather than, for example, grant writing) - that last 5% of the work which takes so much effort and focus. I am excited because I now have a few projects at this stage, so if I can keep focus hopefully it will pay off with submissions.
Many thanks for an interesting, diverse writing group, Jane B and Jodie. Best wishes to all my other co-writers.Kiwi2
Yay for 500 words, and SOME papers read - progress!
DeleteGetting Paper X to the final author sounds like a success to me!
DeleteLast goals: revise the plan for my new paper
ReplyDeleteAchieved: well, not really.
Analysis: I took too long time for class preparation.
15 weeks goals:
Well, at first I planned to finish two papers, both of them I had done some work and I thought I would have to do only some revising work. What I have done is only one paper, and another is even not started yet. Still, I am happy with the result that I actually finished and submitted one paper, thanks to this group.
I heartly thank you, Jodi and JaneB, for hosting this writing group. I really, really appreciate it. Every time I enjoied reading your posts, which have been inspiring in many aspects, and also other people's checking-ins. You see, it is sometimes difficult for me to write in English what I really want to express, but I am satisfied that I have not dropped off because of the language problem. Thank you, Jodi and JaneB, thank you, other co-writers!!! Best wishes and good luck on your future writings!!!
One paper done is great progress in a busy semester!
DeletePreparing for classes is like housework, I find... it expands to fill all the time available and pushes at the edges, wanting more. It's greedy! But 'not really' implies you got SOME work done, which is more than none and therefore a Good Thing.
You've had a good semester! Getting a paper done is a big win!
DeleteClass prep, as I've learned this year, will suck up your life, if you let it, so one paper done is a big deal! Congrats!
DeleteCongratulations on getting the one paper in! That's an achievement in itself.
DeleteAnd yes, class prep seems to eat any amount of time you let it. Can you streamline at all?
Zabeel:
ReplyDeleteGoal: revisit article and make plan of future work
Achieved: yes.
Analysis: this article is a bit of a sticking point for me -- I need to get ti done and submitted and move on. Hopefully I'll manage this in the next 3 weeks, but I'm finding it a bit of a struggle. Coming back to it this week after a couple of months away was good; I can definitely see where the work needs to be done, but I also realised that there's a long way to go.
15 Week Goal: to get the book manuscript finished and submitted to press (finish final 2 chapters and conclusion; edit all for consistency; incorporate comments as they come in). I'd also like to finish converting a conference paper based on a new topic into an article.
Analysis: the book ms is done and submitted, so that was a major milestone. The article isn't finished, but it was probably always going to be a stretch.
So thanks to everyone in the group, and especially to the hosts. It's really helped me stay on track and focussed in a term when I've had a lot of competing claims on my time.
You got the book ms done and that is huge, so congratulations again!
DeleteBook manuscript (!) plus some momentum on the next project sounds pretty good to me. I'm glad you can at least see what the article needs, even if it may take a bit longer than anticipated to finish.
DeleteI am stunned to realize that as recently as 15 weeks ago I thought the MMP was a single essay. But here it is: "15 Week Goal: finishing and submitting the MMP is my main goal, and if I finish it before the end of the group I hope I can declare a new goal."
ReplyDeleteIt's true that I decided soon after that to split the damned thing up. As of this afteroon, the part about Thing One (MMP-1) is at 5700 words (close readers might recall that I had 4K to 6K words for MMP-2, which is on the sidelines for now). I need to write about 4 more body paragraphs (which may be 6 or 8, but I have 4 topic sentences standing in for them), and then I will have a messy rough draft that will require an introduction, conclusion, lots of work writing and tidying long footnotes, and further conversation with other scholars. I expect it will come in at 10K or 11K words by the time I get all of that done. I think most of that 5700 happened this semester; that's less than 400 words per week, but a lot of thinking, outlining, and reading early modern documents had to happen to get there. So I am glowing with achievement, even though I'm not done-done yet.
The last week's goals: polish 1000 lines of translation and send it to my team. Review the companion-piece against the journal's style sheet and send it. Allow self 15 minutes a day with MMP-1.
I am still shamefully neglecting the translation project and still dreading line-editing the companion-piece against the journal's style sheet. I'm just too obsessed with the MMP-1 to put it down for long. And proofing just seems so tedious compared to the lovely messy archival and MS work I get to do with my tamed octopus.
I really need to do some thinking about how to manage multiple projects. Possibly it will be easier to juggle when I don't have teaching in the mix. Possibly I need to devote myself to just one thing for a week or two at a time. Not sure.
Anyway, thanks for all the fish (seems appropriate to echo Douglas Adams given my octopus metaphor), and I'll look forward to seeing some of you chez moi in mid-May.
Well, you can clearly see progress in your work, even if the progress has rather messed up your original goal! All that transcription and translation alone deserves a glow of achievement...
DeleteYou still achieved so much this semester on your multiple projects AND you finished your transcriptions early. You definitely deserve a glow of achievement.
DeleteSounds like major progress (after all, the various octopi need to be disentangled from each other, and relegated to separate tanks/projects, before one can even consider ideas like alternating projects by week, day, etc. ). And, as always, there's the question of where the reading/transcribing/finding sources fits in. Those are essential scholarly tasks (and make life for later scholars much easier, if perhaps a bit less exciting), but they don't seem to get a lot of notice/respect in the writing-advice books.
DeleteSo I had two projects, which was not my intention. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goal: Do what's on the to-do list. Finish the sucker [conference paper], really.
More or less accomplished; some revision still needed, but close enough.
15 Week Goal: get a workable draft of the article finished by the end of April. What I'd like to do is write 5 hours a week, plus fit in some reading time as needed.
Accomplished: Workable draft, yes, although I haven't looked at it in about a month. Did read some articles and one substantial book relevant to my topic. I'd forgotten about that 5-hours-a-week-of-writing goal; I think I met it...once? Twice? Clearly, that was unrealistic this semester, as I adjust to Work While Parenting (and 12.5 hours a week of hired childcare, and a baby who only recently started napping for more than 30 minutes at a time).
Thanks for hosting! This was a big help--I certainly did more than I would have if I hadn't had the weekly check-in.
Congrats on getting the conference paper pretty much done *and* convincing the baby to nap for longer than 30 minutes at a time! That's a big deal on it's own, I think.
DeleteLast week's goals: 30 min T TH
ReplyDelete15 week goal: write and submit article
Accomplished: Neither of the above
Analysis:
For this week, I knew I'd be busy and hoped that a specific goal would help me set aside some time for writing. Instead, I spent the week trying to keep up with everything else and ignoring my writing when I might have had time for it.
Another part of the problem may have been that I knew I would not finish my 15 - week goal of writing and submitting an article, or even my revised goal of revising a different paper and submitting it to a new journal (a tired, grumpy "why bother" and me to tired to look for Dame Eleanor's anti-bugge spray).
When I look back over my weekly check-ins, I see a disappointing number of weeks with no writing. On the other hand, given how OBE I've been this semester, I'm happy for the time I did manage to put in. In the old days, it would have been a lost semester, and I'd be starting the summer trying to figure out where I'd left off months before. Thanks to the group, I'm in a better position to get writing this summer.
Thank you, JaneB and Jodi for hosting!
Sounds like a typically stressful second semester to me... glad to hear that you feel that you've got value from the writing group and are now set for a summer with more writing in it! Some semesters, just showing up each week to writing group and remembering that those longer-term projects exist and deserved attention is quite an achievement in its own right, so you need to congratulate yourself for that at least.
DeleteAnd hooray for being in a better position for writing this summer!
DeleteLast week’s goal: 15 minutes a day
ReplyDelete15 Week Goal: work on the reconfigured book project, which now includes some incremental steps like drafting a survey, getting IRB approval, and applying for a travel grant
achieved: The math worked out this week, that on the days when I engaged with the book project I ended up spending 45 minutes to an hour, doing some organizational tasks that I had penciled in for the next two weeks’ deadlines.
I got IRB approval and built the survey, which needs a few more tweaks. I also applied for a travel grant and need to submit a bit more information for final approval.
analysis: Jodi and JaneB, thank you, as well as the others here who have provided a tremendous network of support. I know that without the writing group, I would have made absolutely no progress on the manuscript, and would instead be self-condemning about all my wasted time. Looking forward to a summer full of writing.
Sounds like you set a realistic goal for the semester and have got a long way towards achieving it - one glow of achievement! Wishing you all the best for a really productive summer!
DeleteThat's an amazing amount of progress! I hope the summer brings more of the same for you (and all of us)!
DeleteLast week's goal: Spend a hour each M and W mornings reading secondary text, order two books from ILL.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: Yes!
15 Week Goal: Finish draft of Chapter 5, Draft Chapter 3, Revise article.
Accomplished: Ha! I did finish a draft of Chapter 5, and it is nicely parked on a downhill slope. I am just now taking up the research for Chapter 3, and I didn't touch the article.
Analysis: In general, I've found myself slower on first drafts than I intend to be. There always seems to be more percolating time involved that I anticipate. But I only have one more new chapter to draft (unless I really change up the structure of the diss, which might be necessary), so I hope things will go faster in the future.
JaneB and Jodi, I really appreciate the time that you have taken to read and respond to almost every comment, and I really appreciate the way you have supported each member of group, regardless of their particular project or state of mind, and regardless of the challenges going on in your own lives. Thank you so much!
A glow of achievement for this week, and for the semester - sounds like you've not just got a lot of your goal completed but have learnt something more about how your own writing process works and how you need to plan time, which is really valuable information. Only one new chapter to go - wishing you a productive summer and a speedy submission of the whole darn dissertation!
DeleteI'm glad you found it helpful. I do hope you join JaneB's group this summer, if only because I need the inspiration from you to get to the last chapter of my dissertation. I didn't get two chapters finished this semester, either. But even if you don't join, good luck!
DeleteSounds pretty good to me! As I said in response to Jodi's check-in, I honestly think that finishing a chapter (or a substantial part thereof, and starting another) is probably about as much as one can expect when also juggling other major work/commitments. For whatever it's worth, if you can avoid any major changing-up of the structure of the diss., I would. A done diss. is a good diss. Tell yourself (and your advisor, and anyone else who needs to be convinced) that you're saving it for the book (and that, with the advent of digital dissertations, publishers want book manuscripts that are substantially different from the diss. origins, so at least some good ideas for major revision that occur during the diss-writing process might best be saved for the revision to book manuscript).
Deletegoal for the week: a) outline the results and discussion sections for the Paper That Wants To Be Written, and b) spend time with the Stupid MSc Paper - let's say three lots of ten minutes, as a goal.
ReplyDeleteachieved: a) done for the moment; I've got all the first stage results and have planned out exactly what to do to achieve the second stage results; the outcomes of those will affect the final shape of the discussion. But definitely made progress! b) spent time with it twice, as a paper copy, and actually feel like it's coming together a bit, which was nice...
15 Week Goal: make measureable progress' - I want to be able to report actual numbers in terms of papers moved from one key developmental stage to the next
achieved: I wrote four conference abstracts which weren't on my lists. but were useful research writing. I also made measureable progress on three papers: Paper-with-many-authors has gone from 'waiting for comments on second draft' to 'polished, all figures properly drawn, submitted to first-try journal'. Paper-with-MSc-Student (aka stupid paper and many other negative terms) has gone from 'partial zero draft' to 'second draft' and thanks to the steady picking-away at it I do feel much more confident that it is a paper worth writing, and that will get written. Paper-that-wants-to-be-written has gone from 'research idea on a list' to 'formal work plan, half analyses done, paper outlined, all figures known and planned'.
analysis: I hoped for more, of course, and I had some pretty poor weeks when I got almost nothing done AND got sullen and pouty about it, which is both immature and unproductive, but overall I'm pleased with my progress. As several people have already said, writing group has helped me to come back to my work each week, helped me keep in touch with it, and enables me to start the next part of the year with some sense of achievement and familiarity with my research rather than in a mood of recrimination for wasted time and having to reacquaint myself with every project from scratch,
Whilst working on single pieces at a single time has a lot to recommend it, I've been writing for long enough to know that it isn't often feasible for me, and rather than bemoan that as a reason for not doing as much as I hoped, I've come to embrace working on multiple projects for the many positives the approach brings. I am more of a 'go with the flow' person than a 'plan everything to the nth degree and stick to the schedule like glue' person, which is a positive asset sometimes as an academic!
Thank you everyone for your support and engagement with this iteration of the writing group; the hosts may set a few ground rules but it's the engagement of the members that makes a group, and this one has been encouraging and supportive throughout. Depending on the ground rules for the 'Autumn' group, I may be back there (hope so), but I have a patchwork of tasks to deal with this summer rather than a single piece to commit to, so won't be over at Dame E's for the 'summer' iteration.
As Jodi mentioned, I'll be hosting a (first?) iteration of a 'Top Left Quadrant' group over at my place (see this post for more info) for other people in the same position - hopefully all the good things about writing group will carry on there as well as in the new 'summer' writing group.
How did you get all of that done??? Your list was long! It seems like you snuck all of that in somehow. Anyway, once again, thanks for hosting with me and, if it works well and we need one, I'd be happy to host a TLQ group in the fall.
DeleteThat sounds like a lot to me, too. And I think that it's valuable to have a sense of what works for both you and your discipline (especially since a lot of the writing-advice books may assume somewhat different conditions/disciplines). I like the idea of being able to define both parts (pretty easy in the STEM world, I suspect, with it's mostly-standard section headings) *and* stages through which most papers will go; that must be helpful in setting goals and tracking progress (and helping students learn to do the same).
DeleteLast week's goal: finish & give lecture; continue grading; regroup/plan final push on chapter.
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: finished and gave lecture; continued grading.
15 Week Goal: complete a chapter for an "approaches to teaching" volume (we'll call this the T chapter), due 5/1, and to keep up with freelance assignments. If I have any additional time, I'd also like to finish the J article that I was trying to finish last fall, and make some sort of progress on the P project, but, based on past experience, that seems unlikely.
Accomplished: still working on the chapter (and will probably need to ask for an extension; the new goal is probably to finish before the beginning of the summer writing group, though I will probably begin that by setting a goal and then announcing that I will be "away" for a week or so, since my most urgent need right now is a real break). All I've done with the J article is propose it (successfully) as a conference paper; the P project has been pretty much completely dormant (unless you count its providing material for c. 15 minutes of last week's lecture). The freelance assignments have mostly dried up for the moment, which was probably a saving grace in terms of preserving sanity & avoiding exhaustion this semester (fitting them in really did make the fall more frantic), but I really hope some opportunities will appear over the summer (and there is apparently some hope of that).
Analysis: if one of my ongoing goals is to get a realistic sense of how much I can get done (and under what conditions), then I can count the "if I have any additional time" note above as an achievement in that direction (and I think at least one person warned me that perhaps I should just set one goal). The chapter has moved a bit more slowly than I planned in part because it involves so much looking-up of things; it's more like some of the freelance pieces I've done, in involving a lot of reading in the secondary literature and boiling down relevant background, once semi-mastered, to a few sentences, than like either the J or the P projects (which involve much more extended close reading). However, this chapter will be more visible (by virtue of how it is published, and who else is contributing) than the freelance/reference projects on which I've been working, and feels more "mine" (I chose the topic, and can choose the form/approach), so I care more about the results. I don't think I'll volunteer to do a piece like this again anytime soon (at least not one that isn't very directly related to work I've already done), but I certainly have every intention of finishing. Still, it's useful to know that, in addition to not being the most prestigious form of publishing (pedagogical essays never are), it seems to be more time-consuming than some other things I've worked on in the last year or so.
Jodi and JaneB, thank you very, very much for hosting! Although I can see the virtues of a writing group that deliberately dons blinders to some of the events, contexts, etc. by which we are often overtaken, the better to focus on the writing (and so will be participating in DEH's group this summer), I also think it's difficult, and possibly dangerous, to entirely ignore contexts, especially for those of us who aren't on the tenure track. While the "why am I doing this again?" question can be paralyzing at times, it's also an important one (even though/if there are no absolute right or wrong answers). And I do hope that such questions can be discussed, at least occasionally, among the tenured/tenure-track and those of us who may never be on the tenure track, but nevertheless maintain an interest in continuing our research and writing. Like it or not, our jobs (or lack thereof) are probably what the future of humanities study looks like, and coming up with some sort of model that continues the tradition in some form is going to require such conversations.
DeleteI'm also interested in questions of juggling priorities, and since I'll be doing some of that over the summer, I'm also looking forward to processing that part of my experiences over at JaneBs (while also learning a bit more about STEM writing practices).
I think figuring out how to be more realistic in what you can achieve is a big accomplishment and an elusive one more often than not. Glad you found the group helpful!
DeleteApril 15:
ReplyDeleteGoals: 1) write 1500 words (or more!!), 2) read 3 articles, 3) notes on 5 articles (or more), 4) make office functional and call electrician to put in safe outlets.
Accomplished: 1) wrote 1100 words (and change), 2) read 3.5 articles, 3) notes on 3 articles, 4) tidied office and started electrician hiring.
Analysis:
I made good progress at the start of the week, but started getting overwhelmed as the week went on. I need to get better at doing small chunks of work--say 15 or 20 minutes of focused writing time and then a break. I’m gearing up for a push for the next few weeks, and I think I’m in good shape. [note: I just did a quick 15 minutes of writing to prove I can do it, and I got 300 new words.]
15-week goal: finally finish the darn dissertation!
Accomplished: I’m so so so close. One last chapter to finish drafting, and then clean up.
Analysis: I was understandably derailed by some personal stuff at the beginning of the semester. Add to that a “rewrite and resumbit” on Chapter 2 from my secondary advisor. I’m over the discouragement now, and focused on getting what I need to done before my kids are out of school for the summer. It looks like I’ll be defending in September (committee availability), so I’ll have to summer to make the necessary minor revisions and format everything correctly.
Thanks to JaneB and Jodi for hosting! I’ve appreciated the accountability of checking in and the encouragement from all of you.
What fantastic progress! Congratulations!
DeleteI'm so happy for you and how close you are to finishing! Good luck and keep us posted!
Delete15 Week Goal: continue to devote time each week to poems (drafting new ones while continuing to revise the sequence); to find a publisher for my second book ms.; and to experiment with breaking out some pieces of the lyric essay draft, possibly as shorter pieces on their own.
ReplyDeleteBecause I stumbled on my weekly goals most weeks, it's truly heartening to stop and reflect that I did make progress on all these fronts, even during a particularly challenging semester. Thanks for being here to provide accountability and reinforcement!
I'm glad we could provide the encouragement! Congrats on so much progress!
DeleteLast week: 1) write first thing in the morning and 2) work on my PhD for at least three hours a day
ReplyDeleteAccomplished: I worked 21 hours this week, which is great, although due to teching obligations and other things I didn't necessarily write first thing every day.
15 Week Goal: Complete the transfer and keep working even as a PhD candidate in free fall. Read and take daily notes of my reflections and the progress I'm making. I want to work at least 3 hours a day, 6 days a week on my thesis.
Accomplished: The transfer to the new university has been officialized and I'll start working with my new supervisor this week, so my major goal has been reached. The group helped me stay engaged with my work at a time when there was no solid ground for me, and I'm only getting back to normal now. I did not always work as well as I wished, but I did get important work done. If I join the next iteration of the writing group, I'll be happy to have a writing-oriented goal. It wouldn't have made sense to me over the last months, though, so I was glad to be able to set different types of goals to maintain work habits.
Thank you very much Jody and JaneB for your encouragement, it was a pleasure to be part of the writing group!
Sorry for not checking in last week - I think I've gone off the writing rails for the end of the semester, although I'm still thinking about the project, and have a good plan for the summer. I did get over 10,000 words written, so about halfway to the goal I'd hoped to reach; hoping to get back on track in a couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Jodi and JaneB for hosting; it was great to meet some new folks, and enjoy the company of old friends, and I congratulate you all on work well done this semester.