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.

I love my students!?

I'm taking an extreme risk here by even thinking it, but...the majority of my students did the reading for the second day of class. Can you believe it? I can't! We had a discussion! In class! And they could answer my questions! Correctly!

I walked out of class feeling this odd feeling - like I was impressed. They read. They talked. It was surreal. This was not how my last semester started at this school. It gives me hope.

(Yes, Friday that hope may get pooped on, but for two days I get to bask in the glow of a successful class. Yay!)

Resolutions...blargh

It's January 13th and I have already broken all of my resolutions for the New Year. For starters, here I am, online, when I'm not supposed to be. I also worked today, when I wasn't supposed to do so. Yoga? Pfft. Don't make me laugh!

DHWI was fantastic, but it was really difficult to get everything done this week while I was in class all day every day. I learned so much that it was definitely worth it; I can't wait to get started on the project in my head. Anyway, classes start tomorrow. TOMORROW. My syllabus is done (what a nightmare - I was indecision personified), the course site is done, my nails are painted red (my favorite), and my outfit is picked out. I know the nails and outfit sound silly, but I'm not a morning person and need to have that stuff done ahead of time, plus, the less stress on the first day, the better off I'll be.

My reading resolution is the only one going well so far. Great Gatsby? Done - that's one. I also finished Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird"- that's two. Yes, technically that is not a "for fun" kind of book, but, you know what? It's my resolution and I can count whatever I want! I needed writing inspiration and finally got around to reading this, after one of my committee members told me about it over a year ago. I need to pick this week's book and fast! I'm thinking about Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point." That's not my idea of a fun read, but it's been on my list for years, so I should probably just get it out of the way. Coincidentally, I came across this post on (where else?) twitter today - I told you I'm breaking resolutions left and right - and am inspired about sticking to this and fitting in reading time wherever I can.

Next week aka tomorrow I'm back on the resolution train again!

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?

A Reading Year

On Twitter yesterday, someone said they only read 52 books last year. FIFTY-TWO BOOKS. My mind was blown. Someone read fifty-two non-academic books in a year. I may have managed to read ten or fifteen books at most.

I used to be one of those people, though. I used to read two or three books a week, even during my M.A. This PhD, however, has killed my interest in reading anything that is not immediately necessary to my research or teaching. I look at books or articles all day long. I do not want my down time to be time spent looking at books. This hasn't stopped me from buying a ton of books to be read later; bookstores are like crack, after all. When I do read non-academic books now, they tend to be favorites that I've read before, partly because if I'm going to take time away from my work, I want to be assured that the return on my investment (of time) will be worth it.

I miss reading for fun. I miss falling in love with a book. I miss wanting the book not to end. I also just miss taking time for myself that is just for me - not for school, not for work, not for my parents, not even for, bless his fluffy heart, my dog - just me. Mr. "I only read 52 books this year and want to make sure I read more next year" made me realize that I can commit to reading for fun more. I'm going to read 52 books this year. That's just one a week. That's fine. I can do that. I don't need to watch as much bad tv as I watch. Goodbye, TLC! Hello (again), literature!

First up is "The Great Gatsby" for a few reasons. First, it's short and I want to finish it by Sunday. I also haven't read it since middle school and all I remember is that I didn't like it, so maybe it needs a second chance after more than twenty years. In addition, it's said to be inspired by Fitzgerald's time in Delaware (where I'm from) with all the drunken parties, so that's something. If you're going to be in Delaware, it's probably best to be drunk. Mansions only make that better. Finally, I know I'm going to cave and see the movie when it comes out, so I should probably refresh my memory of the story.

Any recommendations?

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!