This morning, I had occasion to visit my very first post on this blog. That was way back in June of 2007, almost 8 years ago. Yes, I've been blogging for that long. Not as regularly as some, but I've been hanging in there.
This post, among other things, announced a bit of my motivation for starting the blog: I had just gotten a fellowship. And just in the nick of time: I had tenure review staring me in the face and one lousy article plus one revise & resubmit (one that I didn't know at the time would plague me for a full year). And I needed to finish a book.
So I figure that chronicling the first-book process would be cool, and that I'd actually have time to do it. And I did.
And then my post-tenure malaise set in, and blogging declined for... oh, half a decade or so. Inspiration waned. For everything. Until... one magical day, the shape of the next book -- the one that had been digging in its heels -- appeared fully-formed in my head. And I wanted to write it. But how? with what time?
And so I applied for fellowships again. Two long-shots.
And I got one.
So, next year, I am off to Fancy-Pants Institute (FPI) to write, write, write. A book, one hopes.
And maybe even a few blog posts.
14 comments:
Woooo!
Excellent news! Congratulations!
Congrats! That is truly awesome!
Wooo!!!!
Congratulations!!!
This is just such good news! I hope Book #2 comes together at FPI! I spent a year there (the year I was denied tenure) and it was so good to be surrounded by smart people! An eminent scholar in your field (kind of) said that it was a place with "good acoustics". That's not bad!
I hope you find next year as energizing and inspiring as this year has been for me. Congratulations!
Wonderful news! Congratulations!!
Congrats! Sounds like it'll be a great year. Is your time at FP part of a sabbatical (+ fellowship)? Or just because you got the fellowship?
Thanks, everyone! Susan, I'm looking forward to the new intellectual environment -- I've got smart people where I work, but none of them are anywhere close to my field.
And EarthSciProf, it's separate from sabbatical (I'm not eligible for another year or two), straight-up fellowship, with my Uni covering the difference. I sometimes complain about my uni, but as long as you hit them up when the cupboard isn't *completely* bare, and you jump through the administrative hoops, they do come through.
And I know that's not true everywhere. Let's say FPI offered me, oh, say, half to three-quarters of my salary, and expected my university to pick up the rest. I know that there are many TT jobs out there that would congratulate me on my achievement and then send me off to fend for myself on half-salary. Which, in practical terms, means that fellowships are unfeasible. And there are one or two semi-prestigious ones that pay so little that my uni *won't* cover them unless you combine them with a sabbatical.
Hooray! I look forward to it all - book and blog posts!
Woot! Don't forget to let me know when you get there!
Congratulations! And I'm so glad your institution supports you enough to make this possible, too.
Great news!! Congratulations!
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