The End of AcWriMo!

That's all, folks! How'd you do? Did you accomplish your goals? Create some habits to help you write all year long?

I hope you all had a better end to AcWriMo than I did. I think I wrote 500 words these past two weeks and most of that was last week, not this one. Life took over this week and nothing was done. 

Still, I learned a lot about what I need to do to finish the monster. I found out that planning exactly when and what I will write works for me, at least right now. A year ago, it didn't work so well, but more structure seems to help these days. I still need to work on making the writing a priority that doesn't get swept aside in the face of more immediate needs, like grading or emails or lessons.

Despite the fact that I only accomplished one of my goals - the introduction - I wrote more this month than I have in a long time and I feel like I'm in a good position for December and beyond, too. 

I'm going to count this as a success because I really, really need one right now.

Let's celebrate with a little Queen, shall we? 

AcWriMo Week 4

It's week three! How are we doing?

What were your goals for this week? What did you achieve? What do you want to achieve for next week? How will you get there?

If, like me, you feel a little underwhelmed by your AcWriMo progress, remember the immortal words of Bob Marley:

"Get up, stand up! Don't give up the fight!"

AcWriMo Week 3

Ack! We're halfway through AcWriMo, but I'm not halfway through my goals. Where has the month gone?

Let's evaluate, shall we? For me, I think I'm going to stick with the detailed schedule. I've also found I really need to have my writing planned out ahead of time, preferably for a few days at a time (even better - for the week), not just the next day. That way I can visualize the impending disaster of not getting that day's writing done.

How was your week? How's the month going? What has worked for you? What hasn't? What are you thinking about changing?

AcWriMo Week 2

All apologies to everyone waiting to check in! I scheduled this post for the wrong date. Clearly the first week of AcWriMo took a toll on me!

How are things going for everyone? Did you meet your goals? Come across any stumbling blocks? Want to curl up in your bed like a little baby? No? That was just me?

Here's a general idea of what to discuss, if you need a reminder:

Last Week's Goal:
Last Week's Daily Goal (if you had one):
Plan of Attack (if you had one):
Achieved (ie did you meet your goals? Did your plan of attack work?):

This Week's Goal:
This Week's Daily Goal (if you have one):
This Week's Plan of Attack:

Stay tuned - I'll post my own meager accomplishments as soon as I figure out why my students can't see their exam grades. This is not my week for technology!

AcWriMo Week 1

Welcome, everyone! To kick off AcWriMo, we are going to keep this short and sweet. After all, we have writing to do. Don't forget to sign up on the AcWriMo spreadsheet!

Let's just start with a short introduction of who you are, your goal for the month, your weekly goal, your daily goal if you have one, and, again if you have one, what your plan of attack is to accomplish your goal.

I'll start us off. I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Guelph's Centre for Scottish Studies. I'm also an adjunct and struggle with balancing my teaching responsibilities and the need to finish my never-ending dissertation.

AcWriMo Goal: write the introduction and finish the second chapter of my dissertation.
Weekly Goal: 2100 words added to chapter two, outline introduction
Daily Goal: 300 words per day

Plan of Attack: I don't normally do this, but I created a very strict schedule this week because it's going to be a crazy grading week and my weekend is busy with family/friend time (for once!). I scheduled two hours of writing Friday, Monday, and Wednesday; one hour on Sunday; and three hours Tuesday and Thursday to make up for no time on Saturday and a short session on Sunday. For Friday, Sunday, and Monday, I plan on simply adding notes from three sources I haven't included yet. Also on Monday I will look at the other sources for the chapter to determine which ones I need to work with the rest of the week. I'm hoping that the detailed schedule I created will help me focus more and get distracted less. I also built in time for all those annoying things that pop up every day that drain my time and energy for writing, so I guess I'll see how this goes.

What about you? What are your goals, your plans? Are you going to be as tightly scheduled as I am or are you taking a looser approach?

AcWriMo Writing Group???

Many of you know November is AcWriMo. If not, you can read more about the details here, thanks to all the hard work of Charlotte Frost and others.

I volunteered to be an ambassador for it this year because I find I need to force myself to recommit to my writing and keep missing out on joining my regular online writing group. While I hoped to run an in-person writing group, no one at my school has committed to the idea yet and, well, the month starts Friday.

If anyone out there is interested in a month-long AcWriMo writing group, join me here every Friday in November for extra motivation. All you need to do is commit to a small goal, add it to the comments below, and join the larger AcWriMo movement by signing up on the AcWriMo spreadsheet. You can also join the conversation by following #AcWriMo on twitter. The tips and tricks are always very helpful!

If you're like me, saying you will commit to writing is easier said than done, so this time I'm making up a writing schedule for the month. By the end of the month, I plan on being a writing god. Join me?

Jorge Cham is a genius.

What a Year, eh?*

It's been a year since I left Canada and moved back to Delaware to live with my parents. I fled for a lot of reasons, but the big one was poverty and it caused most of the other problems. Paying tuition, rent, utilities, food, and all of Dewey's vet bills and prescription bills...it was all too much. My savings were gone (no surprise after five years of grad school), my funding ran out the year before, and I really just didn't see any way to survive on my own any more. I was at the end of my rope. I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to pay rent or buy food.

Over a year of this stress turned me into an emotional mess. I cried. A lot. I slept a lot. I curled up into a ball on the couch a lot. I felt as though I would not be able to handle any more problems that came my way. I was on the edge of a breakdown for a really long time. All of that added up to seemingly insurmountable writer's block, too, making the dissertation a frustrating reminder that, at 35, I am a failure both as a PhD student who can no longer write and as an adult who can not support herself and has to move back in with her parents.

This past year has been brutal, even with the help of my parents. They have been more than generous, helped out more than I ever wanted, and did all of this with a "we're so happy you're home" attitude that is truthful and meant to assuage my guilt but does not. I had to go back to waiting tables, working for the same company I worked for when I was sixteen. That was humiliating and yet here I am, working at the same place this summer because the money is too good to pass up. I found out more than I wanted about how precarious and soul-crushing life as an adjunct can be. I did not get to go to my best friend's wedding in the Bahamas, despite the fact that she's been my best friend for thirty years and she is more like a sister than a friend. I have basically spent the past year either at work or on my parents' couch, being unable to afford to do literally anything.

Still, I have had some successes. I presented at the MWCBS and the NACBS. The NACBS was a huge success, with a lot of networking and, more importantly, great feedback on my paper from scholars I really admire. I attended DHSI last summer and DHWI in January, thanks to scholarships and funding from my school. I taught two new classes and, despite some hiccups, really enjoyed the classes and my students, who mostly seemed to reciprocate, aside from a couple (one in particular) Negative Nellies. I'm going to DHSI next week, thanks to another scholarship, and in just over a month, I'm presenting at a Jacobite conference in Paris (again, thanks to funding). The NACBS, DHWI, DHSI, and the Paris conference have all been part of my master plan for years now and it feels amazing, if a little frightening, to actually see that plan become a reality.

The best part, though, is that my writing mojo is back. It's back! Not only am I writing, but my supervisor actually seems to like what I'm writing. He said it was "mature and authoritative," among other compliments that I can't actually remember right now. The pressure from my supervisor leaving for a new job in Scotland is immense and I do still panic that I won't get finished in time, but at least it is helping and not throwing me into a terrified, immobilized stupor, balled up on my couch, like I would have been in last year if this had happened.

The change in my mental state is something I did not expect. I am not expecting to collapse in a heaping puddle of tears at the slightest setback, offhand comment, or if I don't hear from a friend for a few days. I'm no longer terrified of failing, of disappointing my supervisor, my family, myself. Don't get me wrong - I still have a lot of self-doubt, but what grad student doesn't? From all the blogs I read, forget grad student, what academic doesn't? Still, I am recovering from financial disaster and I am writing. Both of those are things I would not have thought possible a year ago.

I owe all of this to my parents. Without them, none of this would have been possible. I doubt they know how grateful I am, unless they understood that all the cooking and baking I've done this year has been my way of thanking them. At least now they can read about how thankful I am.



*Despite my best efforts, "eh?" used to, and still does, pop into my conversations. What's that all aboot?

Writing, Writing, and More Writing

It seems as though I am making decent progress on the chapter revisions, which were not too many to begin with, thankfully. The Montgomery Plot is kicking my butt, though, and making me not like it. It just won't fit into my chapter nicely, but it has to and so I've sat here for hours, struggling with it, trying to get it to play nicely because tomorrow is the deadline for these revisions and I can't afford to take longer on this chapter right now.

It doesn't help that I'm stressing about this because I have plans for tonight (for once!) and those plans start in roughly two hours and I still need to shower and get dressed and pack for the night. Perhaps a break to shower and pack will clear my head and I will come back and kick the Montgomery Plot's butt. Whining just a little bit about it has already helped, so did signing up for JaneB's writing group, which leads me to the entire point of this post...

As a reminder, Jane B is hosting the Top Left Quadrant writing group for the summer. Don't forget to sign up if you're interested. It starts this weekend!

Writing Group Week 16 - That's All We Wrote!

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

Week 14: Rounding Third

Forgive the baseball analogy, but it's that time of year and not a minute too soon. Go Yankees!

Now that that's out of the way, in all seriousness, we are quickly coming to the end of this writing group. (Fortunately, Dame Eleanor Hull has offered to host the next incarnation of the group for those of us who need/want it.) Is anyone exhausted by the semester? Is anyone exhausted by trying to squeeze in the all-precious writing that we swore to protect at all costs, but perhaps we were not as vigilant as we could have been or the universe thought we were hilarious with such a vow and decided to prove just how wrong we could be? Yeah, that's me.

I struggled to even come up with a topic for the week because I am just so tired, but then I remembered a post by Kathy Steffen I read a few months ago about getting your writing back on track and one of my favorite tips was "Print out motivation quotes or writing affirmations and tape them to your computer so you will see inspirational words every day." This writing group, for me at least, is all about inspiration. I do, however, have a secret love, the best writing coach ever, that I thought I would share. Some of you may know him from the tv show Friday Night Lights, but some of you may not because you do not have the television interests of a fifteen year old girl. Meet Academic Coach Taylor. He can be hardcore, but it's all out of love. My laptop, iPhone, and desk are all littered with ACT pics.

He speaks the truth.

He can be a sweetie.

He can be...less sweet.

He can also be an enforcer when he needs to be (or when you need him to be).

Those are just a few of my favorites, but Academic Coach Taylor has loads more to say. Feel free to share anything you find particularly inspiring, but, otherwise, let's keep writing! We're almost there!

Quick Tank update for those of you asking - he had his stitches out yesterday, despite an obscene amount of whining and hysterics about going back to the vet (not uncalled for in his case, but still!) and then the precious boy actually gave the vet tech kisses while she was removing his stitches. So upset and still so loveable! Anyway, he's fine and here's a picture of the little muffin his first night home after the surgery. He looks absolutely thrilled to have to wear that cone, doesn't he? He's not the only one to be glad he's done with the cone.

Roll call!


Amanda@ladyscientist: Finish fellowship application.

Amstr (writing account): re-park diss. downhill.

Bardiac: no check-in

Contigent Cassandra: make continued progress on writing and/or research, alternating back and forth as necessary (and switching off with preparation for the mid-April lecture). get the tax tasks completed well before April 15th.

Dame Eleanor Hull: submit final draft of companion-piece. Continue at least one hour of research a day, 3 lines of transcription and 50 of translation. Return to MMP-1 and write another 2-3 paragraphs.

Danne: no check-in

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: Begin the survey question creation for article B.

Good Enough Woman: Write conference proposal on new shiny topic.

heu mihi: Read through Kzoo draft; fix what's easy; list what needs doing.

humming42: submit May abstract, touch manuscript every day

Jane B: a) continue to do something research-like first every day, b) write up what I've done so far with the simulations, outline what the next step is (I am embarrassingly bad at parking computer stuff on a downhill slope) and outline the paper they're going to turn into and c) finish the damn draft of the wretched paper with the MSc student.

Jason: no check-in

Jodi: Write a ton Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully finish the revised first chapter by Wednesday. Grade exams by Friday.

kiwi2: Final draft of grant proposal, one pager and summary. Send paper X to collaborator B. Start gathering data files for next paper all in one place. I am also involved in a conference this week, giving a paper and chairing, so the last goal could be over ambitious.

kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: no check-in

luolin88: Complete the requested revisions for the article. Time: 30 mins TWTh and 1hour Friday.

Matilda: revision of my paper

meansomething:  1) 5 12-minute sessions; 2) 1 ms. submission; 3) 1 mag submission

metheist: T/R 7hrs and MWF 1-2hrs

nwgirl: no check-in

Pilgrim/Heretic: LOOK at the damned thing at least 5 minutes per day, even if I don't write anything

profacero (Z): Spanish version of abstract, write and send.

Susan: Catch up with teaching.

tracynicolrose: Finish drafting Frameworks presentation; draft BE discussion

Zabeel:  well, Finish paper.

Writing Group Week 12 - Productivity Hammer

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

Writing Group Week 10

Hello, everyone! I just went to check in and there was nowhere to check in, so I'm thinking JaneB must be even more sick than I am. If you follow her blog, you'll know she's been struggling. I'll post the writing group here this week. Apologies for the delay!

I'm borrowing this week's theme from Dame Eleanor Hull, who graciously stepped in to give everyone a place to check in. It's a continuation of last week's theme of happiness in writing. As DEH said, for those of you think happiness is too much to ask, "then think about comfort or contentment. Maybe you could make your desk more inviting, or associate writing with something more pleasurable, even something as simple as a good cup of coffee or tea in a mug of your favorite color. Try one small change in the direction of pleasure, and see what happens."

Roll call!

Amanda@ladyscientist: no check-in

Amstr (writing account): 2000 terrible words of Ch. 4; 500 words of conclusion; photocopy ILL and organize research for Ch. 4. (Bonus: type up some notes.) Exercise.

Bardiac: no goal set

Contigent Cassandra: continue making at least incremental progress, writing M, W, and perhaps Sa; do whatever research/retrieval is necessary to have the materials I need at home over Spring Break; keep up with the grading so as to be able to devote Spring Break to writing (and a bit of rest).

Dame Eleanor Hull: At least 1 hour a day; 10 lines of the IPM; start checking Chunk 2 of the translation (at least 1/2 hour, 3 times); check in at least once with MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-3, and try to do one concrete thing for each of them (this can be something as small as "write one sentence").

Danne: 1) write at least a page of notes a day. 2) Go on spending 3 hours a day on research 3) Read current book on space 4) If a positive answer is received from the new uni, schedule a day off for reading, and celebrate.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: Read Chapter Three of WYJA

emmawriting: no check-in

Good Enough Woman: The usual. Get up at 6:00am M and W so I can read/write for an hour (and run for 20 minutes) before the day gets rolling. Then work two hours on Friday. It's *possible* I'll have a hotel night on Thursday, but I'll have to see how the week rolls out.

heu mihi: I want to write on 3 days, make notes on a recently finished book, and start reading a related book.

humming42: finish and send in conference abstract/draft to panel chair

Jane B: one 30 minute session

Jason: no check-in

Jodi: 2,000 words (again) with 60 minutes a day MWF and 3 90 minute blocks on Thursday. Order ILL books to get here in time for spring break dissertation blast. Update cv.

kiwi2: revise polish intro

kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: no check-in

luolin88: 15 minutes Tuesday, just to get going again;

Matilda: 30 minutes Friday

meansomething: 1) Four 12-minute sessions 2) One book ms. submission

metheist: T/R write all day and MWF at least one hour

nwgirl: Finish revisions on one chapter.

Pilgrim/Heretic: 1,500 again, though it's going to be a challenging week

profacero (Z): Finish other application, finish abstract for conference, actually finish those 500 words or more.

Susan: no check-in

tracynicolrose: Submit TS paper (dependent upon co-author); revise LM paper for new submission; write abstract for Frameworks presentation; work on BE findings.

Zabeel: Section 3 of article.

Writing Group Week 9

Welcome back, everyone! I have had a wretched week and, in addition, am battling to keep my voice because I've come down with a stupid cold. After barely making it through class on Wednesday, I decided to show a documentary in class today. It was a total cop-out, but coughing and hacking is not conducive to discussion and I couldn't stand the thought of that happening for four classes in a row.

I'm handing this week's discussion off to all of you, though, with apologies. Here's a post from The Three Month Thesis with tips on how to be a happy writer (I don't think it should be limited to thesis writers alone). Read the post if you'd like and comment away if anything strikes your fancy as, perhaps, something you need to keep in mind or something that's worked or hasn't worked for you. We've talked about quite a bit of the same ideas already, but the last tip, about staying connected, reminded me of kiwi2's comment last week on using "slices of life" as rewards for achieving goals and how messed up of an idea that is, which it is, but a lot of us do it and some of us are worse off because of it. And, yes, I recognize that this is very similar to last week's theme (some of you late posters had some great comments, by the way!), but I'm hoping you'll forgive me because I'm sick and my brain isn't functioning and I really, really need a nap.


Roll call!:


Amanda@ladyscientist: no check-in

Amstr (writing account): 2500 words of Ch. 4; type changes to intro and rewrite chapter summaries; 500 words of conclusion; photocopy ILL and organize research for Ch. 4. (Bonus: type up some notes.)

Another Postdoc/living academically: left the group?

Bardiac: no goal set

Contigent Cassandra: continue both research and drafting, writing on M, W, and Sa mornings, and researching/retrieving on at least one of Tu/Th (but not overdoing any of the above).

Dame Eleanor Hull: At least 1 hour a day; 10 lines of the IPM; start checking Chunk 2 of the translation (at least 1/2 hour, 3 times); check in at least once with MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-3, and try to do one concrete thing for each of them (this can be something as small as "write one sentence").

Danne:  1) write at least a page of notes a day. 2) Go on spending 3 hours a day on research 3) Write a short presentation for the doctoral group 4) If a positive answer is received from the new uni, achedule a day off for reading, and celebrate.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: Read Chapter Two of Wendy Belcher’s Writing Your Journal Article.

emmawriting: My goals for this week will be to simply start emerging out of last-minute mode: a)Surveys finalized and started collecting; and b) list of recently ignored responsibilities made, and some traction gained.

Good Enough Woman: Two early mornings, M and W, an hour each. I should probably focus on re-reading the chapter to find big whole and problems with what I've writing so far. Also, two hours of article research on Friday

heu mihi: no check-in

humming42: I really do still want to apply for travel funding this week

Jane B: find 30 minutes every day that I am in the office for something research related.

Jason: 1000 words-to-draft; make damn sure that goal #1 is prioritized; 2 hours with analytic sources; 2 hours with contextual sources

Jodi: 2,000 words

kiwi2: same as last week: work on the exotic synthesis. Break it down to: a) read and take notes on 5 of the relevant documents and b) incorporate these notes into the rough structure. And, touch it every day, even for 5 minutes.

kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: Write 3,000 words

luolin88: 15 minutes TWR, 30 minutes Friday

Matilda: read a few articles and revise my conclusion. revise footnotes.

meansomething: 1) Four 12-minute sessions 2) One book ms. submission (AND GOING TO MEET THEM THIS WEEK)

metheist: T/R 3hrs

nwgirl: no check-in

Pilgrim/Heretic: 1,500 words.

profacero (Z): NEH, 1 other application, update vita, abstract for conference, and those 500 words or more.

Susan: left group?

tracynicolrose: Work a little on the TS paper so it doesn't go stale, write the final abstract

Zabeel:  Finish chapter 5

Writing Group Week 7: distracted living

Something interesting popped up on Twitter today that changed what I wanted to talk about this week. Evidently, a professor is claiming that sleep-texting is becoming an issue. Mind you, there haven't been any studies  done on this; she's basing her claims on anecdotal evidence. But sleep-texting? Really? I may be somewhat addicted to my phone (can you blame me after five years of a truly terrible phone when I lived in Canada??), but I love sleep a lot more than my phone. I love sleep almost as much as I love my dog. Combine the two and I'm so happy. Days when he cuddles up with me for a nap are my favorite days.

Anyway, that article, while annoying, did get me thinking about how the world is so connected and how addicting that connection can be. Some people can't make it through a meal without texting, tweeting, checking email, or whatever. There's a constant fear of missing out on something, anything. I'll admit that I can be bad about this, particularly when I'm struggling to write and even more so when I'm grading because, ugh, I'd rather be doing just about anything than grading. Vacuuming is better than grading. I used to have days that I had to force myself into a corner and handwrite because I can't be trusted to be on the computer and not get online, checking my email 600 times in an hour. That's not as terrible as it seems because the editing process is built-in when I then have to type it up later. I've also found it really helpful to go somewhere without wifi to work, though it's getting harder and harder to find such a place these days, even where I live in the sticks. So, I thought it might be helpful if we shared our best strategies, cool little applications, etc. for avoiding distractions like the never-ending barrage of email, the wonderful blogs that a lot of us write, or the awesome timesuck that is all the wonderful kittehs (Colonel Meow is my favorite) and oh, the puppies! on the interwebs. (Don't forget to check out the pandas and penguins if you click on that last link. Never forget the penguins!)

I personally have forbidden myself to check my email until I review my daily goals, which helps set the precedent for the day that email is not the most important thing. I've also been using David Allen's inbox zero idea from his seriously life-changing book Get Things Done. Maintaining an empty inbox has meant, for me, that I no longer have this overwhelming crush of emails that linger in the back of my mind all day, every day. For my arch-nemesis, the internet, on particularly bad days when I'm just too weak to stay off of it myself, I have come to love the internet blocker, Freedom. There are other internet blockers (usually with free trials), but this is just the one I've been using because a fellow Mac-user recommended it. It's saving my dissertation.

So, what about you? Any particular favorite techniques, applications, or drastic measures (who was it that escaped a writing weekend in a cabin?) you've taken to guard your oh-so-precious writing time? Is sheer willpower enough for you or are you, like me, a potentially distracted writer?

Roll call!


Amanda@ladyscientist: (1) Finish looking at the issue (2) Schedule my whole week with writing time and experiment time.

Another postdoc/living academically: no check-in

Amstr (writing account): 1) make notes for diss reorg., 2) see if I need to pull from intro to avoid repetition between intro and Ch. 1, 3) write for 4 hours (work more than this on other stuff, but at least 4 hrs. dedicated to writing)

Bardiac: do something, anything

Contigent Cassandra: take out sources/models for main project; look at them; plan

Dame Eleanor Hull: Increase to 1.25 hours a day officially (I think I'm already there). Do the companion-piece revisions on Tuesday; prep for them on Monday (make sure I have the right books etc). Start checking the other chunk of translation and work on that for at least 1/2 hour, 3 times. Transcribe 6 lines of IPM. Keep reading/outlining MMP-1 and MMP-2

Danne: 1) write at least a page of notes a day. 2) Spend 3 hours a day on research 3) Use new tracking system. 4) If a positive answer is received from the new uni, take a day off for reading and celebrate

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: Read Chapter One of Wendy Belcher’s Writing Your Journal Article

emmawriting: left group?

Good Enough Woman: no goal set

heu mihi: Start again. Keep trying. 5 hours. Write or fiddle with the MS on 3 days. And try, at least once, to *not* prioritize teaching, service, etc. over research. Just once.

humming42: edit conference paper

Jane B: MSc paper: rough-drafting the interior bits (methods and results) by the end of the week plus making a list of the figures and things to do for the rest of it.

Jason: 1000 words-to draft; 2 hours with analytic sources; 2 hours reconsidering Ch. 4 outline; writing group post Friday

Jodi: 500-1000 words

kiwi2: To revise the introduction for Paper X (again!), redo my tiny bit of analysis. Another 15 hours work on the exotic synthesis. Perhaps if I break it down a bit more to: a) read and take notes on 5 of the relevant documents and b) incorporate these notes into the rough structure.

kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: no check-in

luolin88: time:15 minutes MTWTh, 30 minutes Friday. task: plan and revise

Matilda: finish the paper

meansomething: 1) Four 12-minute sessions (Sunday, Monday morning after teaching, Tuesday morning before homeroom, and Thursday after lunch). 2) One book ms. submission

metheist: 3hrs on T/R and a total of 1000 words

nwgirl: 1). Finish GT section; 2). Work 2-3 hours on non-teaching days and 30 minutes each on three teaching days; 3). Check-in with writing group.

Pilgrim/Heretic: 2,000 words

profacero (Z): find files and write the abstract and write my first page; word count goal 500

rented life: no check-in

Susan: no check-in

tracynicolrose: Draft abstract(s) for Toronto conference; 4th of 4 (level 1) analysis memos for MS paper; do some reading for Methods paper

Zabeel: 1. Proof read Appendix 1; 2. Plan revisions for chapter 6; 3. Do first 5 pages of ch. 6 revisions

What now?

I just realized my lesson plans for the week are all done. Friday's exam is at the printer. I don't have anything to do for the upcoming week and it's only Saturday. I'm often finishing lesson plans the night before (who doesn't? wait - don't tell me!), so I'm kind of stunned at don't know what to do.

Oh, wait. There is that pesky dissertation. Good thing I have two days to write this weekend because I'm definitely behind on my goals for the writing group this week!

Still, it's a celebration!

Writing Group Week 5 (and my slow return to the land of the living)

Is it just me or has it been a really long week?

Last week's stomach bug kicked my butt and I'm still not 100%. Not only am I still exhausted, but my stomach just feels...off. It's not happy with me, whether I eat some delicious pizza (I only have so much willpower in the middle of winter) or whether I behave myself and eat salad or some fruit and veg.

This has made keeping up with the week difficult. I'm only just reading about all of your wonderful achievements from last week. I'm trying to contain my jealousy! What I've noticed in some of your comments and what I struggle with on an almost daily basis is the impact of failure, or just the fear of failure - for we are all excellent people and scholars, of course! - on our scholarly lives. This, of course, impacts our personal lives, as we overwork and overstress ourselves in an attempt not to "fail," to get that tenure-track job at a R1 institution, to publish our book or more books or more and more articles.

Coincidentally, just yesterday Lee Skallerup Bessette blogged about this same thing and its effect on her writing, (I hate getting scooped!) so maybe this is a good time to discuss our concerns about failure. Why are we all so obsessed with getting these jobs that EVERYONE knows barely exist? Why don't we let our goals change without being racked with guilt? Are we really just attempting to keep up with the demands of academia or is there something else that motivates us? For those of you lucky ones who have landed the "dream job," does that fear subside (perhaps after tenure)? How can we overcome that fear and put it to good use as a motivator, not an impediment, to our writing?

Roll call (should be up to date now - apologies that it wasn't yesterday!):


Amanda@ladyscientist: Write or read 30 minutes/day.

Amstr (writing account)1) read comments on Chs. 2 and 4; 2) make changes to Ch. 2 and send to 2nd advisor; 3) gather primary and secondary evidence for Ch. 4 and confirm structure; 4) read 4 chapters of Key Book. Bonus tasks: write some; read some more

Another Postdoc/living academically: no check-in

Bardiac: next week looks to be too busy with work

Contigent Cassandra: Deal with funding application; finish freelance piece; actually take out and look at books for main project, start planning it

Dame Eleanor Hull: Time: at least one hour a day, at least half an hour on translation and half on something else. Product: more notes on S book, get back to books on W and read/take notes. Do final edits and submit MMP companion-piece

Danne: 1) write at least a page of notes a day 2) Reading three chapters of spatial book 2 3) If a positive answer is received from the new uni, take a day off for reading.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: 30 minutes 5 days a week.

emmawriting: no check-in

Good Enough Woman: checked-in but no goal set

heu mihi: Finish the German? That might be about it. I've got an extra, very-short-term class to prepare, so I'm looking to be busy.

humming42: submit the paperwork

Jane B: a) incorporate the comments from other authors into paper A, do a first cut at reducing its length (let's say 4 sessions of about 0.5-1 hour each).  b) type up the outline for what is now paper D derived from this week's freewriting and send an email to my colleague about their part in finalising the analysis plan.

Jason: 750 words-to-draft; 6x250; 5 solid hours with analytic sources; post writing group report by Saturday.

Jodi: If I'm still alive, I need 1000-1500 words

kiwi2: Work on the one page draft so it is a reasonable standard and send to at least one other colleague for review

kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: Write 1,000 words (can be rubbish) on the article. Read the book for review.

luolin88: 15 minutes on some kind of writing/research MTWTF.

Matilda: finish (or nearly finish) the paper

meansomething: 1) Five 12-minute sessions (may include two or three on prose); 2) Send out ms. to other publisher.

metheist: dedicate 3hrs on T/R, and hopefully an hour on MWF. Write a shitty first draft of my conference paper, which is an offshoot of a diss. chapter.

nwgirl: 1). Re-group. 2). Review research journal. 3). Work 4 hours each on two non-teaching days. Work 30 minutes each on three non-teaching days. 4). Review progress and check-in with writing group on Friday.

Pilgrim/Heretic: 1500 more.

profacero (Z): some writing every day, 25 minutes to 2.5 hours. Ideally I can get the 2.5 hours Saturday and also Sunday, but I will not scare myself by saying I must.

rented life: possibly leaving the group?

sophylou: no check-in

Susan: traveling but goal's for following week are: Finish the review, and get going on one of the many books I have on my desk!

tracynicolrose: Complete at least 1 analysis memo for MS paper; edit findings section of BE paper; find a new journal for rejected TS paper; read for Methods paper

Zabeel: no check-in

Writing Group Week 3

Welcome to Week 3! How's it going so far? Did you build on your successes from last week? Slip a little bit? Were you like me and were totally OBE and had to laugh at your ever-hopeful goal as the week flew by in a blur?

I've been thinking a lot about what one of our members said for their overall goal that they wanted to focus on their research, not the teaching this semester. That's really been nailed home for me since my classes were abruptly cut. I don't make enough money to devote as much time as I did last semester on my teaching. My writing completely fell to the wayside and I don't want, nor can I afford - literally and figuratively - for that to happen this semester. Still, I like my students already and I want to do whatever I can to help them succeed. I just can't give so much of myself to teaching and lose my overall focus. I sense that there are more than a few of us in the group who struggle with the same problem. Does anyone have any ideas on how to maintain your concentration on what you value most when faced with teaching, or other, demands that derail us all? I'm not necessarily talking about OBE, although family and service issues certainly can be huge timesucks. How have those of you who meet/exceed/almost-meet your goals managed to stay so focused and committed to your writing? In other words, help!

Another reminder of the reporting format, please, to help out your hosts:

Paragraph 1: last week's goals (see list)
Paragraph 2: what you achieved
Paragraph 3: analysis/comment of what worked and what didn't
Paragraph 4: next week's goals
Paragraph 5: comments on the weekly topic or whatever you want to discuss

And now, roll call!

Amanda@ladyscientist: (1) Finish the entire application, (2) Submit the application, (3) Read and annotate the referee paper.

Amstr: get through 1/2 of the research left, and 3000 words

Another postdoc/livingacademically: Finish syllabus for class and write 500 words a day on essay

Bardiac: Introduction written and begin working more closely with one of the plays.

Contingent Cassandra: continue planning; get out 2nd CFP reply; start semester with as much done in advance as possible

Dame Eleanor Hull: At least 30 minutes of work per day. Make final edits on the accepted with-minor-revision MMP-companion piece and submit it. Draft proposal to do with translation project. Print out other work to do with translation project. Set up new monitor and transcribe at least 8 lines of the Inquisition Post Mortem. Keep reading work relevant to the MMP.

Danne: 1) write at least a page of notes a day 2) finish the book I've started 3) add new items to bibliography

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: 45 minutes a day on the article.

emmawriting: a) dig into methods section of short-paper, maybe even get a first draft done; and b) incorporate the edits made by editors on rejected-paper, and think about the difficult edit they've suggested.

Good Enough Woman: Two early mornings for an hour's work each.

heu mihi: 5 hours. Try to get 500 new words written.

humming42: Submit IRB paperwork. A relatively simple form at my uni, and this is a no risk survey so really more a formality

Jane B: a) spend 15 minutes with paper A on three occasions and b) 2 x 15 minute free-writings (because they are satisfying).

Jason: 750 words-toward-draft; finish off big analytic source & get to 1-2 related readings; 6x250words. Same as last week, but reprioritized.

Jodi: 1000-1500 words (during the first week of the semester) to set a good routine for the rest of the semester

kiwi2: one more day of work on the talk: simple ANOVA, two nice graphs, send talk to collaborators, tweak. one more complicated analysis Second, one page draft for a funding application, and send to previous mentor.

kiwimedievalist/zcat_abroad: thirty mins a day on the article

luolin88: 1. read first chapter of Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks. 2)  30 minutes proofreading polished, but rejected paper that needs to be submitted elsewhere. 3)  30 minutes writing on new project.

Matilda: re-consider the structure and the argument of the article.

meansomething: 1) Four 12-minute sessions on poems. 2) Send out one of the January submissions (book contest). 3) Write a complete draft of a cover letter to an editor who offered to read the ms. 4) Finish a short writeup that's wanted for a conference program.

metheist: 4-5hrs on T/R towards my writing. I need to reread chapter 4 and determine where to fill in the gaps, make my argument clear, and determine the "hook" of the chapter.

nwgirl: Continue work on manuscript revisions: (1 hour on the 3 teaching days) + (4 hours on 3 non-teaching days) = 15 hours

Pilgrim/heretic: 500 words/survival

profacero (z): one syllabus this weekend, one Monday and Tuesday, and one Wednesday. also 25 minutes to 2 hours of research/writing every day. do not freak out about anything administrative or budget related that may happen on campus.

rented life: no check-in

sophylou: aim for half an hour of reading each day (emphasis on "aim for"), do at least an hour of brainstorming/writing about focus for ASC.

Susan: Get through one important book, and finish a lingering book review.

tracynicolrose: Submit TS paper and review the analysis on the conference presentation that will become the MS paper.

Zabeel: 1) seminar finished. 2) re-read chapter 5 and relevant primary texts and come up with a plan for revisions.

Behind already?

If you're looking for the writing group, it's over at JaneB's this week. I meant to post this yesterday, but a week at DHWI seems to have put me behind in a lot of things. Already. My semester doesn't start until Monday and I am already behind. That does not bode well. What happened to my resolutions to stay on track this semester? How does this happen?

Right. Well. Back to work now.

New Year, New Writing Group

Introducing the latest incarnation of a writing group that has been going on for, well, quite some time!

Jane B and I are the co-hosts of this group, so every other week the group will be held at her place. The group will run for fifteen weeks, with an additional celebratory check-in on the sixteenth week, starting April 26th. Check-ins will be open from Friday to Monday.

Here are the very simple ground rules for the writing group (with thanks and apologies to Dame Eleanor Hull for borrowing from her):

• Post every week, even if you were OBE. We are a support group, if nothing else; owning your shortcomings, and seeing others have to do the same, helps. Believe me, I should know! I'm still plugging away at writing groups, despite less than stellar results multiple semesters. If you won't be able to check-in for a week, just let us know; if you miss two check-ins, we'll have to assume you left the group because of the difficulty of two of us trying to keep track of everyone.

• Next week and every week please use the format we've used before. Paragraph 1: last week's goals. Paragraph 2: what you achieved. Paragraph 3: analysis/comment of what worked and what didn't. Paragraph 4: next week's goals. Paragraph 5: comments on the weekly topic or whatever you want to discuss. 

• Feel free to comment on each other's posts. We're all in this together, after all! (said in my best cheerleader voice)

To shake things up a bit, we thought that we could use this group to set people up with writing partners, if there is any interest. I can set up a Google Group, which will let people retain their anonymity (I think) but still post their work, so that their writing partner can read and provide feedback every week. Obviously this provides a higher level of accountability for those who need it, but it also requires a larger time commitment than normal for the writing group, which is why it's not mandatory. If you're interested, include it in this week's comments and I'll set up a Group if there is enough interest.

For this week, please post your fifteen-week goal and next week's goal. If you want to introduce or reintroduce yourself, that'd be lovely. I also thought it might help to start the writing group by thinking about making changes in our workflows or sharing ideas to increase efficiency and productivity. Some of you have already seen my earlier post about getting organized for the new semester. It was inspired, in part, by this post on Gradhacker on getting out of "triage" mode, which is exactly what I felt I was in by the end of last semester. Now I'm refreshed, reorganized, and ready to write! What about you? Any changes or reorganizing that you've done to get you ready for the new semester or new group or new goals?

It's goal time!

I'm watching the Steelers game, which, for now, they are winning. It's an end-of-year miracle!






As I've watched them score a couple of touchdowns, it did make me think about hitting my own goals for the year. (Sorry for the very lame tie-in - I'm sure there's a dreadful goalpost pun in there somewhere, but I'm too tired to make one. It took all I had to even realize I should write something about this!)

Of course, this means that I have to have goals and they should probably be more specific than just "finish my blasted dissertation!" That's obviously my main goal, but I do have others, such as finding a job or a post-doc for when I actually am post-doc, and also taking better care of myself, partly by getting back to yoga to help reduce my sky-high stress level. I normally dread making resolutions and don't do it anymore because I rarely succeed in keeping them, but this time I'm going in with a game plan, inspired in part by my previous organization efforts, some twitter friends, and also by this post by The Research Whisperer.

I took a break from all work this past week to refresh and rejuvenate. I wasn't doing any good trying to relax and still do a few hours of work a day all at the same time. Someone on a productivity chat on twitter reminded me that sometimes giving yourself time off completely actually means more for your productivity in the end. So, I ignored that little voice in my head screaming at me to put down Pride and Prejudice and read something for my dissertation. I persevered in my forced relaxation (sounds silly, doesn't it?) and did not get back to work and you know what? I feel SO much better! I'm actually ready to get back to work.

Today I broke out my giant dry-erase 4-month calendar and started setting startlines and deadlines for chapters and revisions. I love the planning stages of a project or regrouping for a project. Calendars are fun! Lists are amazing! Next step is gathering all those deadlines for fellowships. I'm even using Evernote to keep things moving along in an orderly manner, but more on that later.

All of this is all going to help with my biggest goal (aside from the dissertation, that is), the one that seems the most unattainable, which is to give myself one day off a week -  one full day with no work, no email, no facebook, and no twitter, which is somewhat ironic, since the same productivity chat on twitter reminded me of this Profhacker post on giving yourself a day of rest each week. My day of rest might not have the religious connotations that most of those contributors mention, but it does tie into my taking better care of myself/reducing my stress level goal, too. I want the glory of a day devoted strictly to me...and probably my dog. He's hard to resist.

Now that I think about it, pretty much all of my goals are all wrapped up together. Finishing my dissertation, finding a job or post-doc, taking better care of myself all tie into and result from each other. I will be so much better off mentally when the diss is done; ditto if I find a post-doc or (please, please, please) a job; and taking care of myself will help finish the diss and hunt for a job or post-doc. I do like nice, tidy loops like that.

But, back to the Steelers - they won! I'm hoping this bodes well for my goals for 2013!