The Adventures of Notorious Ph.D., Girl Scholar

A little text, to go with the previous post's picture

2012-01-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

Here it is again:

"A coffee-house is a lay conventicle, good-fellowship turned puritan, ill-husbandry in masquerade, whither people come, after toping all day, to purchase, at the expense of their last penny, the repute of sober companions. [...] He that comes often, saves twopence a week in Gazettes, and has his news and his coffee for the same charge [...]; it is an exchange, where haberdashers of political small-wares meet, and mutually abuse each other, and the public, with bottomless stories, and heedless notions; the rendezvous of idle pamphlets, and persons more idly employed to read them; a high court of justice, where every little fellow in a camlet cloak takes upon him to transpose affairs both in church and state, to show reasons against acts of parliament, and condemn the decrees of general councils."

(Description of an English Coffee House, 1673)

Still not dead.

2012-01-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

But still not posting. Unless you're interested in my to-do list.* And face it: no one really is, except me.

The hiatus is not permanent. But I need to focus on getting my feet under myself for the next several days, so blogging will be nonexistent for a few more days.

In the meantime, here's a random recent photo. No story here except the truly beautiful light.

*And if you are interested in such things, look at the many, many tags to this post for a hint as to what my life's like these days.

Here's Why you Haven't Heard from Me Lately.

2012-01-13T12:06:00.001-08:00

December 19: Turn in Grades

December 21-28: Holidays in Puddletown

December 29: Chores. Sleep. Recover.

December 30-Jan. 4: chop-polish-chop AHA paper

January 5-8: AHA

January 9: See December 29, plus: buy groceries for fridge that has been empty since December 19 or so.

January 10-Present: ZOMG! The semester starts when?!? And two last-minute things dropped in my lap? That need to be done a week before that? And a new course? And three things that I was supposed to have done besides that?

Anyway, I'll be back when I can, maybe to talk about how I'm trying to lay the foundations for what I still feel will be an excellent year... and how it's a work in progress. In the meantime, here's a picture of something from Chicago:

This is just plain ridiculous.

2012-01-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I spent about 11 hours pruning and editing my AHA paper.

Today, it's almost noon, and I've done nothing. I seem to have used up all my ability to get any work done at all.

What the hell?

The problem with my current research topic

2012-01-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

...is that everything is about everything else, all at the same time.

This should be interesting.

More Optimism

2012-01-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling, way down deep, that 2012 is going to be a good year.

I'll probably have more to say on that subject in the coming weeks and months, but until that time, let me just take the opportunity to wish all my readers and fellow bloggers a happy new year. Thank you all for being part of the journey over the last few years. May your 2012 be filled with friendship, health, and contentment.

Declutter (an optimistic post)

2011-12-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

First off: I'm home from Puddletown. Christmas went off with very few hitches (and we are a family who loves our hitches).

But now is the time to look forward. I have good reason to believe that the next six months will bring a great deal of scurrying and exploding head syndrome at work, from the get-go, with no chance to pause and catch my breath. There are also some Very Good Things in the offing, though. And to prepare for both of these, I need to declutter.

Clutter, whether physical, digital, or mental, tends to make it impossible for me to work. I have a zillion and one three- to five-day tasks to get done in too little time. When that happens, my natural response is to practice denial about all of them. But, after many attempts, I've determined that this does not produce the desired result.* Furthermore, doing the Next Indicated Thing actually does produce results: The Thing in Question gets done, and I feel lighter.

So, today, on my arrival home, I am devoting myself to doing the major decluttering my physical and mental environments. This means 1) putting away the stuff from the trip; 2) sorting through the many piles of papers accumulated throughout my teeny apartment; and 3) making a list (long) of the tasks I need to accomplish in the month of January, and actually prioritizing them. The invisible 3b is for me to get started on the first of these tasks tomorrow.

And fair warning: this may be part of a semi-ambitious project to Finally Get My Shit Together. Notebooks have been purchased, anyway. But I won't say more about that now, for fear of overwhelming myself. For now, I will simply do the next indicated thing. And the next indicated thing, today, is decluttering. For now, that will be enough.

*The desired result being that the elves swoop in and finish my projects while I sleep, leaving them done, proofread, and neatly printed and collated for my perusal. They also have yet to repair my shoes.

Holidays in Blogland! (Presents for Everyone!)

2011-12-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I've just turned in the grading, and I'm doing laundry and tidying the house in preparation for tomorrow's trip to Puddletown. Have I done any of my holiday shopping? Yeah, well, that's what they get for holding Christmas so close to finals week.

But, I have managed to get my shopping done for you folks! So, let's see what everyone on my blogroll gets this year...

Belle gets a Manduka mat.
Clio Bluestocking gets a comfortable mattress.
Clio’s Disciple gets the game of her choice from the last ten years’ worth of Spiel des Jahres winners.
CM at Farm/Kitchen/Table gets a CSA box with no onions whatsoever.
Comrade PhysioProf isn't on my blogroll, but he gets a bottle of Jameson’s anyway. Just because.
Dr. Crazy and Another Damned Medievalist get the same thing: an Bluetooth-like device that detects the presence of administrative B.S. and replaces it with music. Two settings enable them to choose between soothing, and you-best-not-mess-with-me tunes, as the particular situation warrants. (Yes, everybody on my list could use one of these, but Crazy and ADM more than most, this year.)
Dr. S. gets new Wellington boots. And a Zeiss* lens.
Dr. Virago gets some awesome bedroom furniture for the new house – cool and unique, but not so self-consciously funky that it rounds the corner to stupid.
FSP gets… well, something sciencey. I don’t know what. But it’s really nice, and does something really cool.
Heu Mihi: I thought about getting her baby stuff, but then I decided that she’ll probably be getting plenty of that from others, so I’ve decided to donate her some sleep reserves for when the baby comes, and for before then, whatever delicious foods her heart desires.
Historiann gets (what else?) a toolbox.
Joel gets the secret magic word that causes his young son to immediately conk out for a 90-minute nap so he can get some writing done.
New Kid gets an airline-compliant bag that magically holds twice as many books and clothing than it looks like it ought to AND makes them weigh half as much, plus has a secret pocket that renders invisible all liquids, ointments and unguents – even those coming in sizes of greater than three ounces.
Prone To Laughter gets a stylish light jacket to replace the raincoats left behind at her previous job.
Squadratomagico gets an Alexander McQueen frock of her choice.
Tenured Radical gets the Hammer of Thor to slay all the trolls over at CHE.
Twisty Faster gets someone to wrangle those donkeys that keep showing up at El Rancho Deluxe.
WoPro gets a lucrative book deal.

And every single overworked, exhausted one of you gets this:

Happy Holidays!

*Corrected from "zyliss" -- they are the people who make fancy can openers, garlic presses, and the like, but not (so far as I know) camera lenses.

Puddletown Countdown

2011-12-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

Five days until I board a plane for Puddletown. Five days to grade, and maybe even buy a present or two.

I have a bit of grading to do before that happens, of course. And a few other things, too. And my family and I always end up getting into at least one dramatic scrape over the holidays. And I hardly have any of my gift-shopping done. But still: holidays in Puddletown! Comin' right up! Nieces & nephews! Awesome bookstore! Tree-decorating with dad! Hot chocolate while walking down my favorite streets! All manner of festive shit!

Yay!

A Tip for Would-Be Plagiarists

2011-12-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

Tip: If every paper you've turned in thus far has been rendered in English that might best be described as "incoherent," it's not a good idea to turn in a final paper where the prose is not only elegant, but is also generously salted with phrases in Latin and Koine Greek, plus references to obscure eleventh-century texts.

And especially not when most of the passages come from a book on your professor's shelf, dealing with an area that you know she is conversant with.

Just sayin'.

If you really loved me, you'd do it.

2011-12-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm on campus until 9:30. I have no food in the fridge, and have not had time to shop for a week. There is also no food worth eating on this campus. And I will get home around 10 p.m., and I will be cold, and there will still not be any food in the fridge.

Would one of my readers like to come by and fix me dinner, to be waiting for me when I get home?

Writing Your (Undergraduate) Paper in Seven Days

2011-12-08T22:29:00.000-08:00

First: There's a bit of a plagiarism meme going around (see Flavia, Tenured Radical, and most recently, Dr. Crazy, for that sixth sense that catches things that the software misses). I've got an old post on the subject here, so I won't belabor the point, except to say that running across plagiarism makes my heart sink.

But I've got a nice thing to share, too. It may even be related to plagiarism, because I'm sure that at least some plagiarists take these drastic measures because they get up against the wall on a deadline, usually due to poor time management.* They see a paper that seems really big to them, and they put it off because it just seems too big to face today. And tomorrow, it's worse. And eventually, they're up against a deadline, and they either turn in a crappy paper, or get all desperate and do Something Rash.

If there's one thing that this writing group (along with bitter past experience) has taught me, it's that structure, and working incrementally on a regular basis, is my friend. Would this work for my students in a class where they work on a medium-length independent paper project? Sure, they have to turn in a proposal/bibliography, and then a revised proposal/outline, and there are conferences to keep them on track. But they could still put off the actual writing of the thing, with the results noted above.** So I worked up a little guide that I called "Writing Your Paper in Seven Days." I used that "Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks" book as a mental jumping-off point, and tried to think of the manageable daily chunks that a short-ish (6-8 pages) undergraduate paper could break down into, and I think I came up with something useful, and workable for even the most intimidated undergraduate. Every day has a suggested task, an estimated time-to-complete, a "what you'll need" list, and about a page of narrative instruction and tips. Bearing in mind that this is for students who have already developed a question and done the research, here's how it broke down:

Day One: Writing a strong thesis statement (15-45 min)
Day Two: Organizing your Ideas: Outlines and Topic Sentences (90 min)
Day Three: Writing up your Evidence Portion (4 hours -- may be broken up into two or more writing sessions)
Day Four: Introducing and Concluding (60 min)
Day Five: Putting on the finishing touches and smoothing out the Rough Edges (90 min)
Day Six: Productive Rest
Day Seven: Proofreading, and the Final Checklist (60-90 min)

I scheduled it so that the long day would fall on a weekend day. And I think this is adaptable for longer papers -- you'd just have to break the "writing your evidence portion" up into several days, each dedicated to a particular major section of their outline that represented 3-4 pages.

Granted, I'm sure that not everybody used it. And granted, I haven't started reading the papers yet. But I've had a couple of students tell me -- unsolicited, mind you! -- that this helped them organize their time and not let the bigness (to them) of the project intimidate them into putting it off until the last minute. So that's my big teaching moment for the semester, I think.

Now: Let's get grading!

*And sure, some of them plagiarize as a first resort, because they lack ethics. Grrrr... But I think that some are potentially decent students who dig themselves into a hole and don't know how to get out except by cheating. My "solution" can't do a damn thing about the former group, but it might help the latter.

**One of them did just that. I know, because when he came into my office less than 48 hours before the paper was due, not having even developed a research question yet (much less having done any research or developed a thesis statement), he flat-out told me, three times in the space of 15 minutes, that he was "just going to stay up all night Wednesday and get it done," and that "It's not a big deal." And this morning, I collected his paper -- all one page and two lines of it, completely thesis-free. ::sigh::

Another Yoga Story

2011-12-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

(yes, the writing group is up: go here)

I'm not sure if this one is a parable. But it's what's on my mind right now, so here goes:

I've been practicing yoga in a studio (as opposed to at home) fairly regularly now for a little over a year, and about two months ago, I started experiencing some really encouraging breakthroughs. I can now do a simple arm balance that had been my nemesis for the whole first year. I can get into a headstand with a bit of assistance past the sticking point. I've regained a great deal of mobility in my formerly-frozen shoulders -- even the super-stuck left one. I figured out the caturanga-up dog transition without letting my legs drop. I have become aware of the things that are holding me back (::cough:: core strength!), and have determined to work on those things. Most importantly, I have learned that getting a pose or a transition requires being willing to fail at it for a while, without giving up.

One lesson that I apparently have not learned, however, is the line between "not giving up" and "forcing it." This came to a head this past week, as I tried to push myself to another breakthrough on a particular forward bend, rather than just letting it come when it comes. And the sad result is that tonight, I felt myself just a hair's-breadth away from giving myself a serious hamstring injury.

So, I actually did something smart: I stopped what I was doing. I decided that a little humility and backing off for a week or two was a small price to pay for not dealing with a painful injury and six months' recovery time. I know my practice will keep improving, if I give it time, because that's what's been happening already.

But goddamn it: accepting that I have limits is hard.

Writing Group Week 12: Forward!

2011-12-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the end of Another Damned Notorious Writing Group! Congratulations for sticking with it to the end. We've had quite a run, no? Oh, and congratulations to Heu Mihi who, in addition to finishing a paper for her faculty colloquium, also spent the last twelve weeks getting a good start on another long-term project. (The coincidence of dates is suspicious, I know, but I promise you that ADNWG were nowhere near her.)

Heu Mihi's new project inspires me to use this last post to look forward, rather than looking back. Because, after all, writing is not like a class you take once, get through the homework, and move on. It's what we do. And hopefully, we've learned some things about that to take forward.

So, as you put in your Final! Reports!, here are a couple of ideas for things to contemplate, under the general heading of "heading forward":

Where is this particular project headed forward to? Is it someplace different than you thought it would? Me, I thought I'd be talking about food. Instead, I discovered something really intriguing about cities -- and something, incidentally, that makes this mini-project a slightly better fit for the larger one it's a part of. This also opens up an entirely new field of reading for me. I actually find this exciting... but I'd like a semester off to to it.
How are you heading forward into your writing agenda from here on out? How are you going to take what you learned about your own writing to set reasonable during-the-semester goals for making progress on your own? Those of us in teaching-heavy jobs can't be under any illusion that we're going to produce at the rate of our R-1 sistren, but knowing what we can accomplish and setting our own agenda (and sticking to it!) during the semester has the potential to readjust how we think of our writing, our jobs, and ourselves.

In any case, that's about it. I'm going to close with a picture of a houseplant of mine, and a parable:

Regular readers will remember that I am a Notoriously Phytocidal Dame. A few months ago, as I was ready to throw out what had become yet another a pot of dirt, one teensy little shoot shot up, almost a month after the last sign of life had expired. So I replanted what turned out to be two rootstocks (one of uncertain status in the being-alive department) in a smaller pot, and spent a month with a single little stalk coming out of the one root stock that was definitely alive. And then, for a few weeks, there were two more shoots next to it. And then, Thanksgiving morning, I woke up to the first sign of life from presumed-dead rootstock #2. And though the plant is far from robust at this point, it's healthy, and I'm nurturing what's there, happy to see it every morning, and looking forward to more in the future.

Last roll call (::sniff!::)

Adelaide [write a conference paper DONE!!!]
Amstr [revise and resubmit an article DONE!!!]
Another Damned Medievalist [write/revise a close-to-final draft of an article]: skim through two ILL books
Belledamesansmerci/Elizabeth [rough draft of a journal article]: finish the last three sections,
Bitterandjaded/Bittergrrl [finishing a dissertation chapter]: finish editing and getting the chapter to my adviser
Britomart [completing a draft of dissertation introduction]: Keep working on that background section. I’ve been alternating between time goals, word count goals, and section goals, but let’s try for word count next week: 1000 words.
Cly(temnestra) [write a book chapter]: complete update of old thing, and to finish detailed notes on bits of my chapter that need to be moved, referenced, translated, or whatever.
Contingent Cassandra [finish 2500-word section 2 of article draft]: add at least 500 words to the Section 2 draft, by writing on 2-3 mornings.
Dame Eleanor Hull [complete a chapter of the article-turned-book]: revise the chapter in light of comments from my RL writing group, who I hope will help with the conclusion. (Also, write a book review due at the start of December.)
Dr. Crazy [Finish a chapter draft begun this summer]: get all of my other crap done, in addition to hosting Thanksgiving, so that I might have a hope of accomplishing something in the last couple of weeks of the semester
Dr. Virago [draft a 7500-word essay for a contracted publication]: try to squeeze out another 300 words
Digger: spend a good solid 3 hours on it this coming week, and it will end up where it ends up.
Erika [write a complete & final draft of an article already underway]: grade all those papers students just turned in, commit 30 minutes / day in the morning to this project, and start conference paper reading for Paper due Dec 15.
Forthright [write two article-length pieces]: have article #1 completely finished.
Frogprincess [Final draft of the dissertation DONE!!]:
Good Enough Woman [write the first half of a dissertation chapter]: Read four articles, read 100 pages of primary text, write 10 original pages for the chapter.
Gillian [4 chapters of dissertation DONE!!!]: polish off those small changes and make a start on the big rethink and work out a strategy to get me through until my next annual assessment.
Heu Mihi [write paper for a faculty colloquium DONE!!]
Highlyeccentric/nakedphilologist [Draft one thesis chapter]: Let’s set myself to at least -start- on revisions of Chapter 1
Janice/jliedl [write a first draft of a chapter]: polishing the final draft
Lucie: [Complete a full draft of the PhD thesis]:Finish chapter y; don’t work on other things until this work is done
Luolin [finish and submit an article]: revise outline, including incorporating the new sources.
Katrin/StitchInTime [Turn MA thesis into book form]: new structure of the draft, and a new evaluation of how much work is left to do
Matilda [first draft of a journal article]: writing 800+ words ( this time I feel less ambitious than last week); spending at least 15-30 minutes for writing every day
Monks and Bones [turn a seminar paper into an article]: 1) Finish reading the dissertation (it’s relevant!) 2) Work for at least an hour five days this week on footnoting and planning expansions to conference paper.
Notorious Ph.D. [write a conference paper]: finish the draft
Salimata [write a conference paper DONE!!!]
Scatterwriter [revise three chapters of book]: start going through my notes on Zotero and making some updates to the Intro and Chapter 1, as well as reviewing a couple of my own articles in order to update Chapter 2.
Sophylou: [finish revisions on an article and prepare it for submission]: more brainstorming writing, more progress with difficult book, identifying other relevant secondary sources.
Stemi [First (very rough) draft of review article]: checked in, no goal
Susan [write a 7000 word commissioned essay]: One more read though and edit of the paper
Undine/Not of General Interest [Finish nearly done chapter and complete another]: finish the chapter
Zcat abroad/Kiwimedievalist [write an article]: Get moving on this second article – reading, writing, anything!

Week 11 absences:

Marie [finish turning paper into journal article]:
NWGirl [Revise one dissertation chapter into a book chapter]:
Trapped in Canadia [draft two chapters of the dissertation]:
Viola [writing an introduction and a chapter for thesis]:
Sisyphus [polish the rough draft of my article and send it out]

Writing group week 12: An extra week

2011-11-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hi folks!

I got so caught up this morning in posting my pumpkin cobbler recipe that I forgot about week 12. But ADM and I chatted, and decided that, what with the holidays and travel and all, it would be a good idea to postpone week 12 check-ins until next week. So: I'm going to put up the final post next Friday, to give us all (yes, me included) a chance to recover from the holidays and get those last few things taken care of on our projects. I hope you all had a good holiday, and we'll see you next Friday!

My favorite breakfast of the year

2011-11-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

... is pumpkin pie and strong black coffee, in the quiet of the morning the day after Thanksgiving.

You may have noticed that what you see there is not pumpkin pie. That's because I decided to try something different this year and go for a pumpkin cobbler. Why not, right?

Turns out, pumpkin cobbler is excellent. So, here's how you make it. Or rather, here's how I make it, because I've discovered that, while I'll go for the for-serious from fresh ingredients while cooking, I tend towards the quick-and-dirty approach when baking, and this involves processed ingredients. Feel free to go all from-scratch gourmet all over this thing, if you want* -- I'm sure you'll be rewarded with some excellent results. But the way I made it, it takes only 15 minutes prep time. Can't beat that with a stick.

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Make cobbler crust:

1 box yellow cake mix (set aside 1 c. for topping, step 4)
1/2 c. butter, softened at room temperature
1 egg

Cream together these ingredients, and pat into a lightly oiled 13 x 9 inch pan (you may want to lightly flour your hands for this step)**

3. Make filling:

1 large can pumpkin
1 can condensed milk or evaporated milk (the former will be sweeter; either one can be a low-fat version if you want)
3 eggs
2/3 c. (packed) brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Mix together filling ingredients and pour into pan on top of (unbaked) crust. Put the whole thing in the oven, close the door, and lower the heat to 350 to bake for the next half hour. While that's going...

4. Make topping:

1 c. reserved cake mix
2-3 Tbsp butter
1/4 c. (packed) brown sugar
pumpkin pie spice to taste

Cut together topping ingredients -- or give them a few quick pulses in a food processor -- until you have a nice crumble (if it sticks together on the sides of the food processor, you probably need to add a touch more flour; if it won't hold together into crumble bits, add more butter). Once the cobbler has baked for 30 minutes, take it out, and sprinkle on the filling, then immediately return it to the oven and bake it for another 30-45 min., until a knife in the center comes out clean.

Remove pan from oven and cool at room temperature for an hour before cutting (I think that 15 portions is about right for this size of a pan, but YMMV).

And now, between snapping that picture, and editing this post, I've already finished my piece this morning. And it was everything I'd hoped it would be.

[UPDATE: Historiann has tried this out using stewed fresh pumpkin, to rave reviews, though she finds it a bit on the sweet side, and decided that next time she'll use less sugar in the crumble. True enough: the cake mix used for the crumble has its own sugar, so you may not need to add more, but you'll likely want to add a tablespoon or two of flour instead to get the right texture. I also found that using condensed milk instead of the evaporated milk gave the filling a slightly fluffy texture, which I liked, but it did make it extra-sweet, so I'll probably reduce the filling sugar by half.]

*Fresh pumpkin? Cream rather than canned milk? Make your own batter for the crust? Grate in some fresh ginger? It's all good.

**The picture above makes it look like I patted the crust into the bottom and sides of the pan. I didn't. It would actually be impossible to do that, because you're working with a thick batter rather than a dough. But somehow, mysteriously, the crust creeps up the sides during the baking stage. I always knew that baking involved a lot of chemistry; now I see that physics also plays a role. Amazing.

Counting My Blessings

2011-11-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

I'm healthy, more than I deserve to be.
I'm employed, and make a salary that allows me to pay down my debts, little by little.
I have both my parents, both my siblings, and some ridiculously wonderful nieces & nephews that remind me about joy in life, in case I forget.
I have the privilege of making most of my own life choices, with only a few constraints, and I think I've fashioned a life that suits me well.
I find my work personally satisfying.
I have friends who care and appreciate me for who I am, and a comfortable distance from those people who do otherwise.
I have enough coffee to last me through the long weekend, a fridge full of food (mostly nutritious), and will be making a pumpkin cobbler tonight. And I haven't had to worry about running out of these things for many years.
I have several days before I need to be back at work, with my grading completed.
I don't have everything I want, but I have everything I need.

Happy thanksgiving, everyone. Here's a picture of a fish:

How Dragons Changed My Life

2011-11-22T23:50:00.001-08:00

Another Damned Medievalist has a post up about the recent death of fantasy author Anne McCaffrey. I'm glad she did, and she says it beautifully. I'm just reprinting here (with a couple of small edits) my own comment that I left over at her place, because reading ADM's post made me realize how much of an effect McCaffrey's books had on me:

I read the McCaffrey's Harper Hall series when I was… oh, eleven or twelve? And I was completely taken with the young female heroine. I hadn’t thought of the “damaged outsider” angle [NB: see ADM's post for an explanation of this], but it makes complete sense.

Sure, her books are a far cry from being "great literature." But they didn't have to be. If we exclude the work of Butler and LeGuin (a bit too heady for most twelve year-olds), there wasn’t a lot of that genre at that time that featured female protagonists — and especially not female protagonists who were valued for their skills rather than their beauty. For the young adult series, you can throw in the fact that the female protagonist was a young adolescent, and you've got some pretty powerful stuff for a girl my age. When I read these books, I felt like McCaffrey was writing for me, and (though I couldn’t have articulated it this way at the time) that there might be a place in the world for an awkward and kind of homely smart girl who never new what to say, how to dress, or how to fit in.

When I tell my students how I became interested in medieval history, I tend to point to the historical fiction on the Tudors and their ilk that I purloined from my mom’s library piles. But the more I think of it, the more I believe that it began with Menolly and all those bitty fire-lizards.

So: Thanks, Anne.

Week 11 is up!

2011-11-18T21:31:00.001-08:00

...over at ADM's place. We're coming into the home stretch, folks!

A Professor's Prayer for Mid-November

2011-11-15T22:09:00.001-08:00

To whatever gods may be,

Please, let me get through this week. Let me survive three more days of nearly back-to-back meetings and student conferences and frenetic grading to make sure that I'm prepared to give feedback in those conferences. Let me remember to finish the half-dozen 15-minute administrative tasks that I keep forgetting about, and that are way past due.

Let me keep my stress and anxiety relatively contained, lest it spill over into my interactions with students and colleagues and department staff. For lo, at this time of year they are all mightily stressed out as well, and none of my shit (well, very little) is their fault.

Grant me 5 minutes of grace every day so that I might shower. Let me not leave the house having forgotten to don pants.

Most importantly, let me hold it together just enough so the students don't see how close I am to dropping every last ball I have in the air. Let my colleagues who know damn well how close I am to dropping every last ball I have in the air forgive me, even as I forgive them for doing the same. Help me to maintain a semblance of competence until Friday at 6 p.m.

And I'll be fine then, I promise.

A Special Message for the Writing Group as We Approach the Finish Line:

2011-11-13T12:32:00.001-08:00

Writing Group Week 10: How Do You Feel?

2011-11-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

“There’s something exhilarating about being near the end of a project, or at least a deadline for one. I’m finding I don’t mind the late nights working, and I just want to fix that one last thing. There will be a time to stop, but I’m enjoying the final push.”
– Amstr

“I feel like, at the end of the article you are supposed to have your big climax with fireworks and all sorts of grand confusions, and right now it’s kind of a mess that doesn’t seem to go anywhere — waving a sparkler instead of showing off some big fireworks.”
– Sisyphus

I culled these two quotes from last week’s comments, and I think they sum up the polarities of reality and expectations as one approaches the finish line of a project. On the one hand, there may be a sense of triumph and amazement at our own ass-kickingness as we approach the finish.

Then there’s the other side: “Is that all there is?” We expect great things, and then when it’s finished, it’s just… finished. Myenh.

So here, at week ten, close to the end, this is what I want to ask: How are you feeling? What are you doing to reward or at least congratulate yourself? Are you underestimating what you’ve accomplished? Or, if you’re feeling like you didn’t make the progress you wanted because of matters that really were out of your control, how do you deal with that and moving forward – without invoking the concept of “failure”?

Talking about how you feel about your work is something that Belcher talks about in Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks. It is, in fact, the project of the first week. When I first did it, it struck me as a little hokey. “I am a get-it-done professional! What’s all this touchy-feely crap about anyway?”

But we sometimes forget that writing – even academic writing – is a creative endeavor. And like all creative endeavors, it can be emotionally draining. We never approach the new project or the blank page or the looming deadline dispassionately, do we? We care deeply, and no methodical to-do list (though those help us move forward) is going to change that. Nor should it.

Here’s how I feel: wobbly and uncertain. I’m about to present my first conference paper on a section of the new project, and it’s a high-profile conference. The paper is coming together – in fact, I met my goal of having a decent first draft, though without the conclusion I promised – but now that it is, I find myself beset by doubt again. Is this all too obvious? Did I say anything interesting? Have I reinvented the wheel? I console myself with the certain knowledge that I have felt this way before -- in fact, it's how I usually feel about my writing once it's done, and especially if it's a new-ish topic. But I’m also excited to see where this might be headed.

So, if you’d like to participate in a bit of writing therapy, tell us how you’re feeling. Then post your report and goals (mine is to get two new books skimmed and incorporate them in areas where the paper seems weak) as usual.

Roll call, with week 10 goals

Adelaide [write a conference paper]: Presentation is done!
Amcalm25/AMChristensen [finish an article]: choose an angle and just go with it
Amstr [revise and resubmit an article]: Make the Tuesday deadline, take some respite at the end of the week, and make notes on the areas that can easily be expanded to turn this into a dissertation chapter
Another Damned Medievalist [write/revise a close-to-final draft of an article]: attempt to survive this week’s shit explosions (figurative ones, that is)
Belledamesansmerci/Elizabeth [rough draft of a journal article]: Finish the second and third passages. Check Migne, or if the fates are smiling, a newer edition of the various Fathers
Bitterandjaded/Bittergrrl [finishing a dissertation chapter]: Write another 2000 words and meticulously edit the first 15 pages
Cly(temnestra) [write a book chapter]: draft chapter
Contingent Cassandra [complete a full draft of a journal article – note goal may be revised soon]: lengthen Section 2 by at least 500 words
Dame Eleanor Hull [complete a chapter of the article-turned-book]: print out completed work and edit it
Dr. Crazy [Finish a chapter draft begun this summer]: write 3 pages
Dr. Virago [draft a 7500-word essay for a contracted publication]: 500 words
Erika [write a complete & final draft of an article already underway]: reading the draft, and do a reverse outline; ILL the German and Italian sources
Forthright [write two article-length pieces]: write intro and set structure for article #2
Frogprincess [Final draft of the dissertation DONE!!]: revisit the introduction for final revisions, and try to stay sane
Good Enough Woman [write the first half of a dissertation chapter]: 1) read 30 pages of primary text, 2) read some secondary sources, and 3) type five pages of text
Gillian [4 chapters of dissertation]: continue working to have section ready to give to advisor, go through previous sections to get back on track
Heu Mihi [write paper for a faculty colloquium]: Finish the damn thing!
Highlyeccentric/nakedphilologist [Draft one thesis chapter]: 1500 words on section 3
Janice/jliedl [write a first draft of a chapter]: Last 800 words of the draft
Lucie: [Complete a full draft of the PhD thesis]: 5000 words, read two texts, more detailed plan for finishing.
Luolin [finish and submit an article]: incorporate citations from the reading and revise outline… without obsessing too much
Katrin/StitchInTime [Turn MA thesis into book form]: work at least 15 minutes a day on the book
Marie [finish turning paper into journal article]: edit the printed copy
Matilda [first draft of a journal article]: more than 2000 words on my project, and re-read related sources
Monks and Bones [turn a seminar paper into an article]: Talk to advisor, and work on outlining article version of paper
Notorious Ph.D. [write a conference paper]: finish off the last major section and write a draft conclusion, then edit the whole thing from SFD to presentable first draft.
NWGirl [Revise one dissertation chapter into a book chapter]: finish the spreadsheet inventory and the book proposal
Salimata [write a conference paper]: come up with that final, perfect paragraph
Scatterwriter [revise three chapters of book]: make the appropriate changes to manuscript, decide which chapter is next, and start revising whichever one it is
Scholasticamama [draft of an article]: Introduction and outline section on Abelard’s Logica Ingredientibus
Sisyphus [polish the rough draft of my article and send it out]: finish up the end of the article and make sure it is cleaned up enough to send
Sophylou: [finish revisions on an article and prepare it for submission]: spend some time reading, and try to make contact with people who support my wanting to continue with this kind of scholarship
Stemi [First (very rough) draft of review article]: 1) 500 new words in outline/draft document. 2) read paper sent by colleague
Susan [write a 7000 word commissioned essay]: fill in a few more of the footnotes, and try to clear the decks in terms of grading.
Trapped in Canadia [draft two chapters of the dissertation]: Make up the 2,000 words the computer ate last week [argh!!!]
Undine/Not of General Interest [Finish nearly done chapter and complete another]: 1500 words, writing every day
Viola [writing an introduction and a chapter for thesis]: start writing proper
Zcat abroad/Kiwimedievalist [write an article]: re-engage with article 2, get a list of outside sources to read, and try to work out a plan

Week 9 Absences:

Britomart [completing a draft of dissertation introduction]
Digger [write two book chapters]
Jennifer [finish writing a neglected article]:
Kris [write up a “full” paper and cut down to a 15-minute conference presentation]
Mike [write ch. 2 of dissertation]
Opsimathphd [turning a dissertation chapter into an article]

Why My Heart Sinks When One-Third of My Students Fail To Turn in Their Major Project Draft

2011-11-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Partly, it's sadness, for them.

Partly, it's frustration, because I work so damn hard to keep these students on track, giving them what the literature calls "all the tools they need to succeed."

Partly, it's puzzlement, because when we had our most recent one-on-one conferences (this is a conference-heavy class), they all walked out seeming to have purpose and confidence.

Mostly, though, it's the sure knowledge that, when I stick to my guns and refuse to grade late work, as laid out in the syllabus, their shame will turn outwards to anger, directed at me, and I'm gonna get hammered on the evaluations. By fully one-third of my class.

Fuck.

What's the Matter with Higher Ed?

2011-11-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Short answer: Money, and entitlement.

Wait!, you say. Whose money? Whose entitlement? Well, I suppose I could elaborate, but be warned: when it comes to educational inequity, I do tend to go on. So pour yourself another cup of coffee and settle in for ten minutes or so.

Ready? Okay, here goes:

Historiann's call for bloggers to address the question in the title of this post, in response to Tony Grafton's recent piece on the spate of books attempting to answer the same question couldn't have come at a better time for me. You see, just these past few weeks I've been considering the matter, prompted by the Occupy Wall Street movement, whose complaints about the systemic nature of economic inequality in the U.S. were recently reinforced by a report of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. I teach at a mid-tier public university, where most of our students work part- to full-time, and many are first-generation college students. Our faculty come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, but many have terminal degrees from elite universities, so they know their stuff -- we're hiring smart people. More importantly to the point of this post, many are the prodcut of undergraduate educations at small liberal arts colleges (my own had a student-to-faculty ratio of 12:1, I think), so they know what's possible with good teaching practices.

So if any institution should be positioned to help the 99-percenters (or let's call them 95-percenters, in the case of education) bridge the gap, it's us. And yet, because we are part of a large state system, and thus are dependent on shrinking public funding, we are instead emblematic of a two-tiered educational system that perpetuates that gap, and may even be widening it.

Grafton notes that most books critical of higher education fall into the trap of looking for the Bad Guy. Some blame entitled, lazy, out-of-touch faculty who can't be bothered to teach, and wouldn't know how even if they were made to. Others decry the ever-increasing number of administrators, vastly overpaid, blindly bound to a business mentality that has nothing to do with the mission of higher education, who impose reams of assessment paperwork on faculty in order to numerically prove that learning is taking place. Still others lament that today's students arrive at college coddled, unprepared, and aimless, and gravitate towards "pre-professional" majors that sell job training as education, and are short-sighted to think the goal is the piece of paper at the end, rather than the challenge and growth that gets them there. Grafton argues that all of these may be factors, but warns against the monocausal explanation, and for the most part, I think he's right.

Except when it comes to money.

On that note, Grafton also takes on the "rising costs" issue, as addressed by the authors he evaluates. But unlike those authors, he suggests that the high price tag at these elite schools often (though not always) pays for better educational quality for the students: wealth starting out will facilitate your entry into a more intellectually rigorous and nurturing (no, those two are not mutually exclusive) educational system.

To put it more bluntly than Grafton may be comfortable with: anyone who thinks that higher education is the last meritocracy is fooling themselves. I've seen a number of incredibly gifted students come through my classrooms. These students are here, rather than Oberlin or Williams or Swarthmore or Reed or whatever, because they don't come from a privileged background, and our in-state tuition is about 15% of what those schools charge. Some others arrive vastly underprepared for college, and struggle to get passing grades, and some fail to finish. But mostly we have a broad and varied middle of average students, some of whom have the potential to be very good, given the proper resources and attention. Over the years (and more often in recent years), I've seen some of them become aware of what they're being deprived of: "I've never had someone write so many comments on my paper!" "It's really frustrating to be the only person talking... I don't think that most people did more than a couple pages of the reading." "Wow! Thanks! That [half-hour one-on-one paper conference] really helped – I think I get it now." And heartbreakingly, one time, from a junior (or was she a senior?): "I've never been to a professor's office hours before – I guess I didn't know I could... or maybe I was a little scared."

Too often, whatever native ability these students have is not going to be properly nurtured, because in a university of over 30,000 students, where tenure-track faculty teach 80-150 students a semester without T.A.s or grading assistance or the like, and the lecturers who make up 50-60% of our staff teach much more than that (because at $3-5K a course, you've got to teach about 5-6 courses a semester just to make ends meet, often shuttling between our university and some other to do so, and your fancy Ph.D. and two bucks will buy you a cup of coffee), it's likely that nobody will notice that spark of brilliance in time to fan it into a flame before it dies. So the capable students coast, or they lose interest, and only rarely do they have a background of experience to know to push themselves, and to ask us for support when they do -- in other words, to demand for themselves what the five-percenters take as a given. In the meantime, they hold down 20 hour-a-week jobs to pay their ever-increasing tuition, and start to look approvingly at online courses because that would enable them to take on extra hours at work to foot the bill, since in institutions like mine, the students are picking up their own tab. And they emerge with an education that looks even less like the one their five-percenter peers receive. And so the cycle continues.

And the taxpayers and their elected representatives wring their hands, and say that the public universities are failing the students, and respond with more numerically-based assessment, and criticize faculty for spending what they see as too little time with students, and increase teaching loads and class sizes, and withdraw more funding, and leave administrations to rely more on adjunct labor and online classes in order to make budget. And so that cycle continues, too.

So what's the solution, for an institution like mine? It lies not in the professors, most of whom are committed to good teaching and good research (until they are too exhausted to do either) and who receive, at most, one course off per year for maintaining an active research agenda. Nor do I want to blame the students, most of whom have precisely the level of commitment and seriousness of purpose and focus on the journey rather than the finish line that almost all of us had at age nineteen. Administrators? Yes, we may complain of bloated salaries at the top, but the vast majority are paid middle-class salaries or less, and are trying to do the difficult job of making ends meet and serving the interests of students and faculty (both of whom can get a bit entitled from time to time) while keeping on top of the latest paperwork requirement to come out of the state capital, all on whatever shoestring budget the institution has to work with in any given year.

In my view, the solution lies in a state's voters deciding that they want to support high-quality education for all who qualify – and by "support," I don't mean buying a bumper sticker or clicking "like" on some Facebook page... or even writing a blog post, I suppose. I'm talking about the kind of support that you can stick into a bank account. This requires sacrifice, and, sad to say, this is not a political or cultural climate that favors personal sacrifice for faceless others or a commitment to the common good that extends beyond oneself and one's immediate circle.

In short: We have met the enemy, and he is us. The problem is indeed entitlement, but it's not that of students or faculty. It's a larger sense that we are entitled to the benefits of society without any corresponding obligations. As Grafton notes, "those already born into the wealthy and professional classes benefit disproportionately from the best educations." We can't rail about economic inequities á là OWS one minute, then demand cuts in public spending the next. We can't support obsessive multiple-choice testing and reports in an attempt to quantify learning, then complain that students don't think critically. We can't keep depending on low-paid contingent labor in huge classes, then blame professors and instructors for not providing the same education as an expensive small college provides. We can't increase class sizes or move to online educational models to save money, then wonder that students who go through this system aren't achieving the same graduation rates or post-graduation results as their peers at elite schools.

We find ourselves facing a choice: use education to expand opportunity and equality, or let it become another area where we let the wealthy have the best, and the rest can take whatever's left over. But let me underline something there: WE HAVE A CHOICE. We are not victims here, unless we choose to sit by and let short-sighted thinking undermine our most idealistic goals. We, as a society, need to take some accountability and realize that, whatever happens, we will get the system we pay for, and the results that we deserve.

'Tis the season (for making lists)

2011-11-03T19:50:00.002-07:00

Am I the only one who's reached the compulsive list-making portion of the semester?

I have so many things I'd like to do over the next week -- all of which will take approximately a day -- that I almost dare not speak them all out loud. Almost.

Check in at ADM's place for this week's writing group [UPDATE: It's up!], with my goal for this week completed.
Continue to write 400 words a day so I stand a chance of meeting my overall goals.
Plow through several stacks of grading, and get up to date on everything except the two small stacks of papers I received just today.
Repot one of the plants that seems to want more space
Get to at least three yoga classes.
Update a mailing list for That Thing I Edit.
Distribute TTIE to people on the list
Compile and research inevitable bounced deliveries of TTIE
Go through my e-mail inbox and stuff.
Vaguely tidy the apartment.

I'm nuts for even thinking about this. But maybe stating my goals in public will help me get through them. Stay tuned!

On Hair, Age, and Professional Image

2011-10-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, while visiting grad school town, I popped in to my old hair salon to say hi. Then, because I was long overdue for a cut, and I happened to be there, I asked if there was an appointment available. I didn't expect it, but there had been a fortuitous cancellation at precisely the right time, so I called it fate, plunked myself down in the chair, said "It's shaggy and messy and driving me nuts, and I don't want to go short-short, but other than that, I'll leave it up to your judgement." She took six inches off, and I walked out with shoulder-length hair that's much more manageable.

I also walked out with hair that, for the first time since about age 15, is my natural color -- a much darker shade than the one I've been sporting and maintaining (at great expense!) all my adult life.

Now, here is where it gets interesting (at least to me): I've been mulling the dye-it-natural transition for several years now, and for a reason that I find even more compelling than the expense: I've been starting to see some gray hairs (I am in my forties, after all). Not a lot, but not just the stray one every four months or so that marked my late thirties. And I dreaded the monthly maintenance that it would eventually require to keep myself from having a gray stripe down the middle of my head, come five or ten years down the road. So the plan has always been to dye it back to natural at some point, and just let the aging process happen.

But at least once when I shared this plan, I was met by something that could only be described as an intervention. Deep concern. Let me emphasize: This is a decision for me. I in no way disdain anyone else's choices to the contrary. I'm just tired of keeping up with it, and I'm thinking that this might be a nice way to ease myself into the second half of life. But I'm wondering how widespread the idea is that we, as women, should strive to not show our age, even in academia? Or is this just the product of the image-conscious place I live?

And do you think that going gray (which I anticipate will take plenty of time before anyone but me notices) has professional consequences for academic women in general?

UPDATE/CLARIFICATION (from one of my own comments, but I thought it bore repeating here): there are aging-related changes -- a new one every year, it seems -- that I'm emphatically NOT excited about. But at the rate of one a year, I've found I can adjust to each one before the next one hits. If/when they start coming more quickly, I may change my mind about this whole "aging" thing.

Writing Group is up!

2011-10-28T21:48:00.001-07:00

Hello all! I'm out of town for the weekend, but week eight of the writing group is up!

More Conference Etiquette: Can you bow out?

2011-10-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

Today, I received a query in the comments section of this older post on conference etiquette, and I thought it was relevant enough to deserve a post of its own:

While we’re on the subject of conference etiquette, I was wondering whether there is a lead time in terms of declining to attend a Conference after they give you a favorable acceptance letter based on the abstract you submitted? Or is this NOT an option at all and considered academic suicide?

Okey-doke. I'm going to give my take on this, but with the usual "your mileage may vary" caveat, and a request for my readers to chime in.

The short answer is: Try not to do this. The longer answer is: it varies. Here are some of the variables (and please note that these are based with my experience with U.S. conferences; other countries may have other unspoken rules):

If you have a serious medical situation, then people will understand. Or at least they should. Explain the situation, and be profuse with your apologies. If the conference rules allow, and you know a willing person, offer to provide a proxy to read your paper for you.
Some conferences have rules that specifically state that if you bow out after the program committee accepts you, you are barred from presenting for the next X number of meetings of that conference. Check that, and factor it into your decision.
If you bow out, it may not be "professional suicide," but you could get a reputation as someone who shouldn't be counted on (unless, of course, #1 applies), and you'll have to work to rebuild that reputation.
If your reasons are that you can't prove the thing you said you'd prove in your abstract, then write the paper that you can write. You won't be the first person to begin a talk by saying "My title states that I'd be talking about X. However, in the course of my research..." But if you do this, give the panel organizer & chair a heads-up (and an alternate title, if necessary) well in advance, so they don't look foolish.

In the end, it's all about professional courtesy. A cancellation (especially after the programs have been put together) will not doom a panel. But it will inconvenience the organizers, and if it's a competitive position, you may have taken up a spot for someone who could have used the opportunity. It is a thing to be avoided, if at all possible.

Readers?

Writing Group Week 7: Hitting the Reset Button

2011-10-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to week 7! Yes, I know it's technically ADM's week, but I realized that I was going to be out of town next weekend, so we did a swap: I've got this week, and ADM will take the next two, and then we'll be back on schedule.

Got it? Okay, good. So let's go:

Oddly enough, the topic for this week is exactly what it was last session at week 7: Goal resetting.

I was inspired by many of the comments from week six, in which many people realized that they'd been overly ambitious in setting their goals. Sometimes we need to push through to those hard goals if we've got a deadline, but sometimes it's worth re-evaluating what's possible to do, keeping in mind your other obligations.

So this is your chance to hit the reset button, if you want to, and reevaluate your goal for the 12-week session. Sit down, take stock, and let me know in the comments if you want a new goal for the session. Or, if not, maybe you want to use the comments to contemplate how you're going to approach the second half of the project to bring you closer to achieving your original goals. Is there something that's been holding you back that you can take care of so you move forward more smoothly?

And, of course, you should give your report, and your goal for next week.

For me? Well, I still need to finish that outline (and I'll check in to report that sometime on Friday). But then I need to devote the rest of the weekend to getting four other things (grading, a committee assignment, a newsletter, and an application for a course release) off my desk and out of my brainspace that I need clear to really move forward on the project. That's it. I get those done by Monday, and I can move forward.

Here we go!

Amcalm25/AMChristensen [finish an article]: 20 minutes/day for at least 3 days of writing, esp. on stitching stuff together
Amstr [revise and resubmit an article]: 1) type in changes to MS, 2) skim the research on two narrow topics, 3) write a brief lit review, 4) fiddle more with the intro, 5) attempt to incorporate secondary research into the article
Another Damned Medievalist [write/revise a close-to-final draft of an article]: No project goals this week; focus on catching up on everything else so next week can be back to the project
Antikate [revise a conference paper into an article & submit]: 30 minutes of writing every day
Belledamesansmerci/Elizabeth [transform a conference paper into a journal article]: (no goal set for the week)
Bitterandjaded/Bittergrrl [finishing a dissertation chapter]: Revise writing on this chapter into 20 pages for presentation on the 25th.
Britomart [completing a draft of dissertation introduction]: Get 10 more pages of introduction to in-person writing group by Monday
Cly(temnestra) [write a book chapter]: have a completed draft
Contingent Cassandra [complete a full draft of a journal article]: Write on at least two weekday mornings
Dame Eleanor Hull [complete a chapter of the article-turned-book]: Re-evaluate the various works in project to see which is going to be the most feasible to complete quickly
Dr. Crazy [Finish a chapter draft begun this summer]: write 2 pages and compose an abstract for a project-related conference
Erika [write a complete & final draft of an article already underway]: 350 words / day, and spend 30-60 minutes outlining, editing, or researching the article.
Forthright [write two article-length pieces]: 1500 new words of writing to get article #2 in skeleton form
Frogprincess [Final draft of the dissertation]: excused absence for high school reunion
Good Enough Woman [write a solid draft of a dissertation chapter]: 1) freewrite 10 minutes M-F; 2) Read 50 pages of primary text; 3) Read 2 chapters of Descartes; 4) Skim a 90-page article to see if it contains anything of value.
Gillian [3 chapters of my dissertation]: finish work on the first half of that chapter and get a cleanish draft done
Heu Mihi [write paper for a faculty colloquium]: Convert part 3's notes into paragraphs; deal with German article. OR: Work for 3 hours on the talk.
Highlyeccentric/nakedphilologist [Draft one thesis chapter]: Write every day (except Wednesdays) and attempt to finish off section 2
Janice/jliedl [write a first draft of a chapter]: complete research reading in a few free hours on Monday and Tuesday
Jennifer [finish writing a neglected article]: write 500 words each morning
Katrin/StitchInTime [No goal for the project]: finish work on the first half of that chapter and get a cleanish draft done
Luolin [finish and submit an article]: Read 2 1/2 articles. Take notes.
Matilda [revise a paper into a journal article]: continue to review related literature; write1000 words of introduction; work on strengthening structure of the piece overall
Monks and Bones [turn a seminar paper into an article]: 1) Reread seminar paper; 2) Keep working on the data to the extent necessary; 3) Write up a page of musings on what the article is going to look like on at least three occasions throughout the week.
Notorious Ph.D. [write a conference paper]: Make an outline
NWGirl [Revise one dissertation chapter into a book chapter]: research in archives
Opsimathphd [turning a dissertation chapter into an article]: 500 words per day mode, with the help of some additional reading
Salimata [write a conference paper]: 300 words/day for 5 days
Scatterwriter [revise three chapters of book]: 1) finish skimming the book from last week; 2) go through introduction and cut out anything superfluous; 3) think about how best to restructure the introduction
Scholasticamama [Transform a conference paper into an article]: Complete the planned 500 words
Sisyphus [polish the rough draft of my article and send it out]: read and incorporate the ILLs.
Sophylou: [finish revisions on an article and prepare it for submission]: write the 500-word abstract
Stemi [Complete and send off a review article ]: add Q*12 new words to the outline/draft document
Susan [write a 7000 word commissioned essay]: incorporate ILL reading; maybe a full draft by next weekend?
Undine/Not of General Interest [Finish nearly done chapter and complete another]: 1500 words on big project
Zcat abroad/Kiwimedievalist [write an article]: do some free-writing in an attempt to refocus

Week 6 Absences (some of these are planned-and-announced absences, but keeping track of two types of absences is getting complicated and might result in undeserved drops. So if your name appears here even though you announced your upcoming absence, rest assured that the only reason you will be dropped is if you miss two in a row):

Adelaide [write a conference paper]: (absent to visit parents)
Digger [write two book chapters]: (absent for family visit)
Dr. Virago [draft a 7500-word essay for a contracted publication]: (absent while lacking internet access; pre-reported a goal for week seven of 750 new words)
Kris [write up a “full” paper and cut down to a 15-minute conference presenation]
Lucie: [Complete a full draft of the PhD thesis]
Marie [finish turning paper into journal article]
Merryweather [write conference paper]
Mike [write ch. 2 of dissertation]
Trapped in Canadia [draft two chapters of the dissertation]: (absent for conferece travel)
Viola [writing an introduction and a chapter for thesis]

This is the thing that has been turning my scowls to giggles

2011-10-19T09:14:00.001-07:00

I did not make this. I don't know who did. A friend sent me the link last week. And in a Month of Many Meetings, it seems like just the thing to keep me from taking this all too seriously:

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!

Another Tuesday

2011-10-18T08:54:00.001-07:00

...finds me paying for a weekend of sloth. Not the kind where you think, "Well, I needed a day (or two) to just decompress." No, this was the kind of deep and prolonged sloth that has you feeling just sick about yourself, yet seems impossible to break out of.

I've tagged this post "procrastination," but even that is too dignified to describe my weekend. Procrastination implies that you did something. Saturday, I did go out for some recreation. But my couch caught hold of me sometime Sunday afternoon. And the only reason that I got off the couch and put on shoes yesterday was for a brief social engagement with friends at 8 p.m. Seriously: I spent from 8 to 8 on the couch. About an hour of that was spent working. Torpor soaked into my brain like black sludge.

Then, because of guilt, I got home from the social engagement at 11 and worked until 2. and then got 5 1/2 hours of sleep. And got up. And I'm trying to focus on what I can get done this day, rather than what I didn't get done over the past four.

((deep breath))

Here goes...

Celebrating Another Young Relative

2011-10-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

(First off: yes, week six of the writing group is up.)

I love being a crazy auntie. It's like having rental kids without all the difficulties of ownership. And I've talked a lot in the past about my eight year-old nephew B., who is crazy, exhausting, imaginative, frustrating, and excellent.

But today is niece T.'s ninth birthday, so this is her day.

I don't talk about T. much, but it's not because she's not worth bragging about. It's because she reminds me so much of myself at that age (though she has tons more self-confidence than I ever had at her age) that I feel like I'm talking about myself, which feels weird.

T. is by turns a silly kid and way more serious than most of my university students. If you read to her, she appears to be scowling. I used to worry about this, until I figured out that this was her "intense concentration" look. When I go back to Puddletown and we have "her" day, in which we can do Anything! She! Wants!, she picks things like the art museum, local historic attraction, or bookstore (I keep waiting for the day she says "zoo!" or "beach!", but that has yet to happen). Last August, when we went to the bookstore, she said, "Aunt Notorious... What's a novel?" I told her, then asked why. "My teacher says I should start reading novels, so maybe we can get one." She takes her hot chocolate made with soy milk, likes broccoli, and enjoys learning how to do things like cross her eyes (the teaching of which skills are traditionally left to the Spinster Aunt). She can also totally rock a pair of boots.

In the last year, she has learned to use chopsticks, gone to her first sleepaway summer camp, and dealt with being left to entertain herself while her parents worked with the two much more labor-intensive foster babies.

Happy Birthday, T. Auntie Notorious thinks you are awesome, and will only continue to get greater with every passing year.

Writing group week six: Calvinball! (or: Letting Go of a Rule or Two)

2011-10-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Week Six!

All right, so if you're still with us, congratulations on reaching the halfway point! But there's a danger in halfway points, and that's that you hit a slump. You're far from the beginning when everything was anticipation and possibility, but far from the end where fear and panic will push you. Worse yet, many of the things that were working to get you going or motivated might have stopped working.

Ack! What to do? Well, to take ADM's marathon metaphor in another direction: Maybe it's time for a game of Calvinball.

For those of you remember the now-defunct but truly wonderful comic Calvin and Hobbes, Calvinball is a "sport" where you make up the rules as you go along. It's not structured, but it looks fun.

So here's something to think about if you're in a slump: change one thing this week – something that isn't working for you right now. New writing schedule? New location? Freewriting rather than outlining (or vice-versa)? Sleeping an extra hour so you can write better, even if you start later? This might just be a one-week change, but it might be a way to shake things up for you, and get you excited again.

And hey, if things are working for you, then keep things as they are – if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

The only rule that I'm going to ask you to keep to is to report in with your progress, and set a goal for next week.

(And just a note: I'm going to be traveling a bit this weekend, so I'll be giving feedback, but probably just once a day, at the end of the day.)

Have fun this week!

Adelaide [write a conference paper]: mostly offline, so anything is a bonus
Amcalm25/AMChristensen [finish an article]: at least 40 minutes/5 days of writing this week
Amstr [revise and resubmit an article]: 1) add argument-related sentences to the beginning and end of each paragraph; 2) write a lame intro that gives some space to critical context; 3) tighten up the lame intro into passable; 4) 4 articles and 2 books: read/skim, annotate, possibly incorporate
Another Damned Medievalist [write/revise a close-to-final draft of an article]: re-look at books, compare patterns in data, look at problems and comment on how gender contributes to them, with luck, turn this into 500 words by Friday. (bonus goal)
Belledamesansmerci/Elizabeth [transform a conference paper into a journal article]: traveling for family stuff
Bitterandjaded/Bittergrrl [finishing a dissertation chapter]: 1) 2000 words on the work I just read. 2) Meet with my adviser to talk about the direction the chapter is going in.
Cly(temnestra) [write a book chapter]: very rough draft of chapter, work out a plan
Contingent Cassandra [complete a full draft of a journal article]: focus on reading
Dame Eleanor Hull [complete a chapter of the article-turned-book]: Finish revising fellowship application and send it; if there is time, list what the chapter still needs
Digger [write two book chapters]: Zero Draft of Why Wheels 3/7 days
Dr. Crazy [Finish a chapter draft begun this summer]: VACATION!!
Dr. Virago [draft a 7500-word essay for a contracted publication]: 500-600 words, but may not be able to check in
Erika [write a complete & final draft of an article already underway]: write 30 minutes / day at minimum, and even better at 250-350 words / day.
Evan [write a conference paper]: no precise writing goal [deadlines shifted? -- ADM]
Forthright [write two article-length pieces]: 400-500 words a day and check in more to help out in comments [Forthright, that would be so amazingly awesome! -- ADM]
Frogprincess [Final draft of the dissertation]: finish revisions for chapters 1 and 3.
Good Enough Woman [write a solid draft of a dissertation chapter]: Finish the 30 primary sources pages I didn’t do this week, read two chapters of Descartes, and write the first 500 hundred words of the new chapter, just to start seeing where my mind is.
Gillian [3 chapters of my dissertation]: Finish research on 1/2 of next chapter
Heu Mihi [write paper for a faculty colloquium]: FINISH the Latin, look at that German book that’s in my office and determine its relevance, and begin converting part 3′s notes into paragraphs.
Highlyeccentric/nakedphilologist [Draft two thesis chapters]:gain with the process goal, some work every day; and hopefully to add at least 1000 words to the draft (2 if lucky).
Janice/jliedl [write a first draft of a chapter]: take notes from three more research sources.
Jennifer [finish writing a neglected article]: My goal for this week is to write 500 new words and to read 3 new articles.
Katrin/StitchInTime [Do we have an overall goal for you?] read through one book, return at least five
Kris [write up a “full” paper and cut down to a 15-minute conference presenation]: taking week off
Lucie: [Complete a full draft of the PhD thesis]: 500 words a day, starting my day with writing. Sticking with this every day and not having any day completely lost.
Marie [finish turning paper into journal article]: clean up what’s been written.
Matilda [revise a paper into a journal article]: again, reviewing the related literature following the week 5 section of WYJA; 500 +words of my draft.
Merryweather [write conference paper]: another 2000 words by the end of this coming week, or ideally a total 3500
Mike [write ch. 2 of dissertation]: Gather everything for part II and re-read take notes.
Monks and Bones [turn a seminar paper into an article]: work on project five days; get myself to a point with my data-crunching where I’ll be ready to start doing some preliminary writing the following week
Notorious Ph.D. [write a conference paper]: Go through law codes
Opsimathphd [turning a dissertation chapter into an article]: work on the argumentby writing at least 500 words every day
Scatterwriter [revise three chapters of book]: continue trying to cut down my mammoth Chapter 1, and skim a recently published source to see if any new ideas need to be incorporated into this chapter.
Scholasticamama [Transform a conference paper into an article]: write 500 words -- in the rain, on a plane, in a box, with a fox, in a car, in a tree... the words will be so good, you see!
Sisyphus [polish the rough draft of my article and send it out]: incorporate all the stuff from ILL
Sophylou: [finish revisions on an article and prepare it for submission]: format according to submission guidelines
Stemi [Complete and send off a review article ]: 1) At least 30 minutes writing or reading on project, 4 of 7 days. 2) 500 new words in outline/draft document.
Susan [write a 7000 word commissioned essay]: Filling in gaps and beginning revisions
Trapped in Canadia [draft two chapters of the dissertation]: finish this chapter, outline my chapter on Jacobite women, and start reviewing my research for the Jacobite women chapter [may not be able to check in]
Undine/Not of General Interest [Finish nearly done chapter and complete another]: finish 1000-word review
Viola [writing an introduction and a chapter for thesis]: edit per my supervisor’s advice and to continue fleshing out my overall project for a meeting
Zcat abroad/Kiwimedievalist [write an article]: finish revising article for re-submission

Week 5 Absences:

Antikate [revise a conference paper into an article & submit]
Britomart [completing a draft of dissertation introduction]
Inafuturelife [transform seminar paper into a conference paper]
Jamilajamison [finish writing the M.A. thesis]
Luolin [finish and submit an article]
NWGirl [Revise one dissertation chapter into a book chapter]
Salimata [write a conference paper]
Synecdoche [Finish conference paper]

A variation on the cute & fluffy theme of the previous post:

2011-10-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Voice of Reason appreciated the intent of the gift of puppies, but pointed out that this was not a universally applicable gift, as not all people facing stress care for puppies or dogs of any kind. So for those of you out there who feel this way, I give you the following alternative:

For VoR's comfort and convenience, I have made these kittehs hypoallergenic.

As I explained to VoR, this version of the soothing thought is actually a double gift: not only do you have the soothing fluffy cuteness; if your life/work/institution/government goes from mildly frustrating straight to Hell, you've already got the handbasket for transportation!

Heartless?

2011-10-10T14:19:00.001-07:00

Today, writing another set of e-mails to students who had not cited their sources, or had not submitted copies to the website, or who missed the conference appointments last week and needed to schedule one this week, I found myself thinking of how much easier my job would be if I didn't make endless accommodations, and could bring myself to just slap a zero on those puppies and move on.

Puppies. Let's think about that for a moment....

Ah. I'm feeling much better now.

Writing Group, Week Five -- Git on over!

2011-10-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

The writing group is up. I'm not signed in yet, because I'm determined to finish my goals this week, so I've extended "this week" into the weekend. But I'll see you all there shortly!

Want to (legally) beat your spouse? Move to Topeka!

2011-10-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, you could move to most anywhere in Shawnee County, whose district court, due to lack of resources, no longer prosecutes domestic violence cases, and instead mandates that the (equally cash-strapped) municipalities prosecute them. But Topeka, so far as we know, is the only such municipality contemplating politically pushing back by actually decriminalizing domestic violence entirely, as part of a move to kick back all misdemeanor prosecutions to the state.

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this. What I'm not going to engage in is some knee-jerk Midwest-bashing. I lived in the Midwest on two occasions for a total of over 8 years of my adult life -- long enough to know that every part of the country has good people and bad ones, and most are a mix of both, just trying to get by. But still... on first reading, all I could do was make inarticulate noises in the back of my throat. And even on deeper thought, I'm going to be unable to form a coherent essay with a thesis statement (other than this). So here are my bullet points:

Budget cuts are bad. Our public resources are strained. But is telling a person who has been brutally beaten by her or his spouse or partner that such conduct is no longer prosecutable where they live really the most sensible way to save money?
Perhaps Topeka is trying to use this as a lever: "Budget cuts have forced us to immediately release batterers, who statistics show will most likely repeat their behavior. We don't want to do this. This is putting human lives on the line. So we need more resources, or we need counties and the state to step up. We're sending a political message on behalf of women!" But in the real world, messages don't mean shit when you're living in constant fear in your home, if you're not in a hospital bed or in the ground.
And of the many things that counties and states have shoved off on municipalities (just as the federal government offloads its responsibilities onto the states), why is it women* whose bodies are being put on the line?
That was a rhetorical question.
Poverty and frustration with long-term unemployment increases the incidence of domestic violence (especially male-on-female domestic violence). There are complex cultural reasons for it tied up with American notions of masculinity. But the point is that the same massive long-term recession that is behind this move to decriminalize domestic violence is simultaneously going to cause rates of domestic violence to double or triple. So protections for women are disappearing at a time when they are likely to need them more than ever.
The Topeka mayor assures his constituents that anyone who thinks that decriminalizing domestic violence means that said violence will go unpunished is "dead wrong." How, precisely, will punishment be effected if it's no longer a prosecutable offense in the municipal code, and if the D.A. has already taken a pass?
Why the actual fuck is domestic battery only a misdemeanor? Here's an idea, Topeka: go ahead and save money by refusing to prosecute misdemeanors (not an ideal solution, granted), but legally bundle that decision with another one to reclassify domestic battery as a felony.**

Enough. The upshot is that the Topeka city council is seriously considering making it no longer a prosecutable offense to beat somebody up… as long as it's somebody who lives under your own roof. This is making me sick.

UPDATED: I've just written a professionally-worded e-mail to the Topeka City Council. Their general contact info, as well as contact info for the mayor and individual council members, can be found here. I encourage people to get involved however you see fit. As a suggestion: bear in mind that the most effective political communication is concise, to-the-point, and avoids ad hominem attacks. (So, yes: I wrote them under my real name and took out the swears...)

*Yes, I know that women are not the only victims of domestic violence, and I know that men are not the only perpetrators. But since 84% of spouse abuse victims were females, and 86% of victims of dating partner abuse at were female, I'm gonna go with the argument that women are the ones being treated as expendable here.

**Joel, who knows about such things, notes that the power to do this does not lie with the municipalities. Fair enough. But I still maintain my original outraged question: Why the actual fuck is domestic battery only a misdemeanor -- in Topeka, or the state, or anywhere, for that matter?

The thing I actually said to my students in class yesterday

2011-10-05T13:20:00.001-07:00

...after the fourth incredibly long pause in which I waited for someone to speak up in discussion:*

"There's something you need to know about me. Every morning, I practice twenty minutes of silent meditation. I also practice yoga 4-5 times a week. So not only can I outlast you in sitting here without saying a word; I can do it standing on one leg."

*To be fair, this class is not normally like this. But yesterday appeared to be the day that everybody figured that someone else would do the reading and talking. And for what it's worth, they laughed. But I think they'll come prepared next time.

Happy Dance!!!

2011-10-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's payday!!!

It is, in fact, entirely possible that a tenured person in her forties should not still be living paycheck to paycheck. But hell, I've never known anything else, so it's not like I'm feeling the lack. Besides, think of that monthly rush of joy I'd be missing!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm headed out to the bank...

Writing Group, Week 4: Look at this neat stuff I found!

2011-09-29T21:27:00.001-07:00

Welcome back, everyone! Thanks for checking in last week, and a special shout-out to those who checked in more than once so they could offer their fellows comments and encouragement.

Week four's check-in is upon us. I note that last week there were a large number of absences. The same thing seemed to befall my classes last week, so perhaps it's something in the air. Or maybe gettin' it done, week in and week out, has started to weigh on some people. But since that's what we're about here, I thought that maybe it's time for a little pick-me-up to revive the flagging motivation. So here's what I'd like to suggest for a discussion topic: What's one cool thing that you discovered this week? One thing that made you go: Oooh! Neat-o!, and got you excited about your project, even if only momentarily. Feel free to geek out -- we're all a bit weird here, after all.

Here's my story: This week saw me reading about... pirates! Arrr! Pirates! And I'm finding the reading amazing and cool. Here's one nifty thing: when we think about pirates, we think of two ships at sea, firing cannon at each other until one sinks or is boarded, after which much swash is buckled, booty is taken, legs are pegged, etc.

But this is about medieval pirates.

So: No cannons.

It was a small revelation, and one that was totally obvious once I looked at it for even half a second, but it totally rearranged my mental picture of pirates, who were now firing mounted crossbows instead of cannons, and ordering their prey to take down their sails by shouting at them, of all things.

I thought that was cool.

All right, now to the goals. My goal was to read at least 3 articles and one book, take notes daily, and write at least 500 good words towards the paper draft. Well, I did all that... except for that daily note-taking. If I'm not writing daily, I'd like to be note-taking daily, just to keep engaged (as we discussed last week). And let me tell you, sitting down to write that summary work without the daily journaling was harder than it should have been. So this week my goal is the same thing (let's call it "4 bibliography items", since I'm not sure how long it will take for the actual books to arrive), but to be much more conscientious about the journaling.

How about you? Check out your goals from last week -- did you accomplish what you wanted to? And don't forget to tell us what you plan to do next week.

Finally, if you're on the absence list, remember that you need to check in this week or lose your spot. And if you're on the absence list but you did check in, but under a different name, let me know, and I'll correct the post. I think we've got almost all of the double-names sorted out, but there may be one or two more lingering out there.

Writers... Report!

Goals for week 4:

ABDMama [Complete an article draft]: 1) Write out a take on the topic with the new work; 2) Write an abstract.
Adelaide [write a conference paper]: finish organizing notes and start writing SOMETHING towards the paper…
Amcalm25 [finish an article]: continue with at least 20 minutes of writing for at least 5 days and thoroughly read 1 main text
Amstr [revise and resubmit an article]: 1) write argument statement, note where argument is in article, and revise to make argument clear and prominent; 2) outline article, review WYJA on “solving structural problems,” and revise for structure; 3) “read,” annotate, and incorporate 10 sources
Another Damned Medievalist [write/revise a close-to-final draft of an article]: One or both of the following two: 1) Read the initial papers again, making clear notes about awkward issues, and consult with the editor; 2) Work on an outline and plan for how to restructure the article
Antikate [revise a conference paper into an article & submit]: Write 1000 words, and read at least two articles from potential target journals
Belledamesansmerci/Elizabeth [transform a conference paper into a journal article]: Continue the half-hour a day; decide whether the paper is long enough for article and scout out further examples if necessary
Bitterandjaded/Bittergrrl [finishing a dissertation chapter]: 1) finish integrating the second theoretical work into the introduction; 2) Edit everything into a cohesive narrative; 3) Add a total of 2000 words to the chapter/intro.
Britomart [completing a draft of dissertation introduction]: Work on the dissertation intro for 2 hours per day.
Cly(temnestra) [write a book chapter]: (not sure what the goal is: is it to try again to get daily writing in? -- NPhD)
Contingent Cassandra [complete a full draft of a journal article]: Continue the working rhythm on three days
Dame Eleanor Hull [complete a chapter of the article-turned-book]: revise the most complete chapter for the recommender
Digger [write two book chapters]: 1) work on chapters 5/7 days; 2) Start writing background of Why Wheels chapter; outline State Sponsored Wheels chapter
Dr. Crazy [Finish a chapter draft begun this summer]: Write 3 pages and reread Giddens
Dr. Virago [draft a 7500-word essay for a contracted publication]: write each of my writing days this week, and aim for another 750 words
Erika [write a complete & final draft of an article already underway]: Pull together all the thoughts and jots; reach out to possible peer-reviewer
Evan [write a conference paper]: read up about the rise of the New Right and make a list of stuff to ILL for when I get back
Forthright [write two article-length pieces]: put the skeleton together for at least one of the articles
Frogprincess [Final draft of the dissertation]: finish another draft of the introduction and send it to the advisor; continue working through chapter 1 revisions; start outlining the conclusion; work on the diss on M/W 12-2 and Saturday/Sunday
Good Enough Woman [write a solid draft of a dissertation chapter]: 1) read 50 more pages of primary text, 2) read two more chapters of Descartes, 3) read one chapter of another book (secondary source), 4) and read one article (realizing that this could be overly optimistic)
Heu Mihi [write paper for a faculty colloquium]: Work on translating the Latin (a 2-week project); go through 2 books and incorporate notes into Part 3 outline
Highlyeccentric [Draft two thesis chapters]: work on the thesis every day, incorporating 2000 words from another chapter, and writing a new introduction
Inafuturelife [transform seminar paper into a conference paper]: reread my primary text and start working on focusing the scope.
Jamilajamison [finish writing the M.A. thesis]: complete 1 of 4 sections, and do my best to follow the writing schedule
Janice/Jleidl [write a first draft of a chapter]: get to a total of 1500 words by next Friday
Jennifer [finish writing a neglected article]: (excused absence to take a week with family and packing office)
Katrin/StichInTime [Do we have an overall goal for you?]: Finish reading the paper; read yet another Norwegian thesis; check, reformat, and update/extend the catalogue section
Kris [write up a “full” paper and cut it down to a 15-minute conference presenation]: finish reading collected papers and craft a front section of the paper to contextualizes the current problem
Luolin [finish and submit an article]: Read through my draft and outline where it is and where I want it to be
Marie [finish turning paper into journal article]: finish the Intro and create an outline that makes sense
Matilda [revise a paper into a journal article]: finish constructing the main argument
Merryweather [write conference paper]: a) work at least 4 hours on the article in total between Monday to Thursday and all day on Friday; b) read the items from ILL; c) use the completed reading to write a short, argument-focused, literature review
Monks and Bones [turn a seminar paper into an article]: 1) complete last week’s goals (identifying relevant subset of sources, figuring out how to best approach data, reading some effective English-language articles for their structure); and 2) work on the project five days this week
Notorious Ph.D. [write a conference paper]: Read at least 3 articles and one book, take notes daily, and write at least 500 good words towards the paper draft
NWGirl [Revise one dissertation chapter into a book chapter]: 1) Work on list of sources for chapter; 2). Work on outline; 3) Write 500 words x 4 days.
Salimata [write a conference paper]: work every day on *this* particular project, specifically reading three more books
Scatterwriter [revise three chapters of book]: make the revisions to my Introduction that I identified this past week. Re-read and begin revising the first 20 pages of Chapter 1
Sisyphus [polish the rough draft of my article and send it out]: clean up all the bolded stuff in section 4 and put in all the correct transitions and topic sentences and conclusions and stuff (this may be a two-week project
Stemi [Complete and send off a review article ]: 1) Identify sections that need more references; 2) Add 500 words to outline file (including rough draft writing)
Susan [write a 7000 word commissioned essay]: read some of the grounding theory, and then draft perhaps 500 words of the next section on theoretical and conceptual territory
Synecdoche [Finish conference paper]: get back to work on this project (any specific goal toward that end? -- NPhD)
Trapped in Canadia [draft two chapters of the dissertation]: write 500 words a day on the abuses chapter and still manage an outline for my next chapter
Undine/Notofgeneralinterest [Finish nearly done chapter and complete another]: (1) get the article off the desk and (2) finish the 2,000 words that promised last week
Viola [writing an introduction and a chapter for thesis]: get the central argument squared away
Zcat abroad/Kiwimedievalist [write an article]: fix the issues with article A

Absences from week 3:

Firstmute [Revise and submit a journal article]
Lucie [Complete a full draft of my PhD thesis]
Mike [write ch. 2 of dissertation]
Nvrwhere42 [finish a dissertation chapter]
Opsimathphd [turning a dissertation chapter into an article]
Scholasticamama [Transform a conference paper into an article]
Su Real Alteza [finish textbook manuscript]

The Verbal Tip

2011-09-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

In waitressing, we called it "the verbal tip." Here's the rule: when someone on their way out the restaurant door makes a point of catching you and telling you what a great job you've done, 9 out of 10 times they've left an awful tip, or none at all.

This morning, all faculty got a message from our chancellor, talking about the "many challenges" we face, the prospect of disappearing programs, larger class sizes, and delayed building repairs and equipment purchases (the staff and faculty cuts, and three-plus years of salary freezes, plus a year of furloughs, plus and the prospect of a big and permanent pay cut looming on the horizon are left unspoken).

The rest of the very long e-mail goes on about how we will remain committed to students, and how it's all down to our fantastic faculty and staff who helps students succeed, and how we are "mak[ing] high-quality, affordable education accessible to all citizens." The message seems to be that people who are really dedicated to students don't let something as petty as filthy lucre get to them.

So yay, us, for being awesome folks who provide excellence without money.

But on the whole, I would have preferred a tip.

From the "Bad Professor" Files

2011-09-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Over a week after receiving them, I determined that today would be the day that I sat down with the first papers from one of my classes. Kind of has to be, because Tuesday I'm getting a batch from another class, and I want to be out from under one stack for at least a couple hours before getting buried under the next one. So I got up early, went to the farmers' market, and then went home intending to put away the groceries and grab the stack of papers.

Except that they weren't on the table.

Ah, of course not. Because I was cleaning stuff this weekend. So they must be over here...

Nope. Not there either.

Well, how about the two other places that they could possibly be in my tiny apartment. No, and... no.

There is no other place in my apartment they could be. They are definitively Not Here. But neither do I remember taking them Elsewhere. It's just a largish, binder-clipped stack of papers that has somehow mysteriously vanished.

This would worry the crap out of me, except that I have made a conscious decision to tell myself that I took them up to the office for no good reason. Or maybe I'm confusing this binder-clipped stack of papers with one for a different class that I did bring home, grade, and take back to the office, and the ones for this class never made it home in the first place. Either way, I tell myself, I will see them sitting on my desk when I go up Monday. Right?

::sigh:: I am supposed to be cultivating attentiveness. Instead, I usually feel like this:

A Stew to Welcome In the Fall

2011-09-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Fall is here. It is my very favorite time of year. And I like to welcome it in every year with a batch of Kabocha squash soup.* It's delicious, full of all sorts of good vitamins, and freezes well.** As an added bonus, it gives you an opportunity to use one (or perhaps more than one, depending on your familiarity with fennel and/or kale) of those vegetables that are always in the grocery store, but that you've never known what to do with.

You start with a kabocha squash. It looks like this:

It's somewhere between pumpkin and butternut on the squash flavor scale, so if you can't get kabocha, you can use one of those. Pick one that's about 3 ½ pounds, and gut and trim it. In fact, this is the hardest part of the recipe, because a kabocha has a rind about as thick as a pumpkin, but the shape and size make it difficult to cut open. Seriously, the first time I tried to cut into one of these, there was a point where I was there with two knives, a hammer, and a screwdriver, wondering if I knew anyone with a table saw. Eventually, I hit upon the method stabbing down from the top several times until I had succeeded in removing a small jack o' lantern-style "lid," then cutting wedges down from the edges of the opening. After that, you trim off the rind and cube the flesh. You should end up with about 6 cups of cubed squash, give or take a cup.

There. The hard part is over. Now you're going to be needing three large cooking pots or something. One of them needs to be a really big stockpot. And you'll need them all at the same time. Got 'em? Good. Here we go.

First pan: this is your giant stockpot. You're gonna heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, then two bulbs of fennel (trimmed, washed, quartered, then sliced), two medium onions (same thing), and the squash. Add them mostly all at once, but in small enough batches so you can coat them with the oil. Put the lid on, and cook over medium, stirring frequently, until things are softened and start to amalgamate. This should take about 20 minutes. Now, while you're waiting, start the…

Second pan: this is a good-sized cooking pot. In it, you're going to boil two chopped, peeled (or well-scrubbed), diced potatoes in two cups of vegetable stock and one cup of cooking wine. Once you've got it at a low boil, keep it going for about 10 minutes. Once you've got it started, start the…

Third pan: a skillet or a wok. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil, add two chopped garlic cloves, and a pound (yes, a full pound) of sliced or chopped crimini mushrooms, then add about a teaspoon of dried thyme, and ¼ tsp. (more or less, adjusted to balance out the level of sweetness in the particular squash you buy) of cayenne pepper. You're going to cook this down stirring frequently, until the mushrooms give up their juice, then keep cooking until that juice is gone. This will really concentrate the flavors.

This is what it looks like once you've got it all going:

Now, this should all finish up around the same time – about half an hour after you started chopping the fennel and onions (and god only knows how long after beginning your battle with the wily kabocha). Hopefully that first pot has cooked down so you've got a bit of room. Stir in one large can of diced tomatoes (drained).*** Then the mushrooms, and the potatoes in their stock (though you can hold back bit of this stock to use to deglaze the mushroom pan so you don't lose any of that yummy concentrated flavor). Toss in a bit of salt & pepper, but not too much, because next you're gonna add this stuff:

That's a teaspoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon or so of honey (though I use agave nectar, and I suppose brown sugar would do in a pinch), and 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Stir it in, then carefully add one bunch of kale (chopped) – I say "carefully" because, in my experience, by now the pot is so full that I end up having to sprinkle a layer on top, then gently push it down into the stew with the back of the cooking spoon, then keep doing this until it's all in.**** Cover the pot tightly and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring only often enough to prevent sticking.

What you get is this:

Happy fall, everyone!

*Recipe is adapted ever so slightly from the New Vegetarian Epicure's "Winter Vegetable Stew." Versatility note: a scoop of the less liquid portion of this stew also makes a great burrito or enchilada filling (no cheese required -- the squash is rich enough), especially if mixed with a bit of black beans and brown rice.

**You may also notice that, if you go with agave or brown sugar rather than honey, the recipe is totally vegan – in case that matters to you.

***Yes, I said "canned." I find that by the time it's right to make this soup, fresh tomatoes are at least a month out of season. And better a canned tomato than a fresh one that tastes like nothing at all.

****The alternative method – the one the cookbook actually recommends – is to quickly blanch the kale (which is a very chewy green, so you'll want to test it), then add it dead last. This is nice, because it keeps the kale's bright, vivid color. But by this time, you will have already been in the kitchen for over an hour since starting to cut the fennel and onions, and maybe 90 minutes since beginning with the kabocha, so maybe you don't want to add another step -- not to mention another pot. Still, it's an option, and the result is a bit more colorful.

Orientation (plus a toss to week 3)

2011-09-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

~~Tomorrow,~~ Week 3 of the writing group post ~~will be~~ is up at ADM's place!

Today, I direct you to read Female Science Professor's modest proposal for extending those useful orientation sessions for junior faculty to include all faculty, along with some discussion of content of said sessions.

Here's a picture:

A Caffeine Conundrum

2011-09-19T11:34:00.001-07:00

I was sitting at home this morning writing, and I looked down at my cup and thought, "My latte is almost gone." And then I realized that when you run out of the latte you made, you can't just top it off; you have to make a whole new one. This is a time-consuming break in whatever work you're doing. Furthermore, it would require one to admit that one was the kind of person who would make and drink Two Whole Lattes in a single hour. Which, of course, I am. I'm not sure I even aspire not to be. But the act of actually making that second latte (as distinct from the entirely reasonable act of drinking it) seems to say: "I am so coffee-addicted that I will take steps to procure it that would never cross most people's minds."

In Blerg City, the lattes are smallish, usually 6-8 ounces:

There are one or two places in which you can order a 10-ounce coffee beverage. But this is unusual. And the post-meal coffee of choice is barely three ounces: a shot of espresso cut with an equal amount of milk (or, if you're feeling like drinking your dessert, with a generous sploosh of sweetened condensed milk). Within a month, I've acclimated to the point where even a 12-ounce coffee from the first stateside airport seems gargantuan -- I once actually inquired, puzzled, whether they had given me a large by mistake. But within a week, I'm back, and 16 ounces seems like the normal size. 12 ounces, with a double shot, is me being abstemious. I could probably drink gallons of the stuff without realizing it if physics didn't require the space in coffee cups to be finite.

On the other hand, I still have enough shame not to order one of those now-ubiquitous 20-ounce lattes. It's not that I couldn't drink it. It's not that I wouldn't deeply enjoy drinking it (except that by the time I got to the bottom, it would probably be tepid). It's just that I feel that carrying around a 20-ounce cup of caffeine would be tantamount to publicly admitting that I had a serious problem. In the privacy of my own home, however, I fantasize about having a latte pot, in the same way I have a coffee pot -- something that enabled me to make about 40 ounces of soy latte at any given time, and leave it warm and happy on the burner so I could give myself a little warm-up at will. Or perhaps something more akin to a soda dispenser? On the other hand, that would bring my total coffee-making devices to four** -- five, if you count the burr grinder. And, of course, it would be dangerously enabling.

My name is Notorious, and I have no self-control.

**The current three are: regular drip coffee maker (above), old-school Italian stove-top "espresso" maker (way above), and a french press that I never use because, while I recognize the inherent goodness of coffee from a french press, it just. doesn't. make. enough.

And the semester started out so promising...

2011-09-17T09:59:00.001-07:00

I had a good, healthy exercise rhythm. Meditating every morning, keeping on top of the grading, and writing, too. Things seemed on track. I was pleased that, at 41, I was stronger and healthier than ever before.

And now... an old S-I joint injury has kicked up again, for no good reason. Seriously, yesterday morning I rode up to campus as usual, did some work, helped set up for a colleague's research talk, and then halfway into the presentation I realized that my back was a little sore, sore enough that I decided not to push it, and I put the bike on the bus and rode home that way. By the evening, the pain was radiating from hip to ankle. This morning I could barely get out of bed.

I remember this pain from 10 years ago. At that point, it was understandable: I was out of shape, and I moved in a way to throw everything off. This, however, seems to be a challenge that the fates are throwing at me: "So, you think you've got your shit together, do you? How 'bout an extra heaping dose of humility?"

Fuckety-fuck.

Writing Group Week 2: Pacing

2011-09-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to week two of Another Damned Notorious Writing Group! This week's topic is: Pacing.

No, I'm not talking about the kind of pacing that you do when you jump up from your chair when you ought to be writing. Nor is this the productive pacing that helps you think out an idea (yes, I actually do this. I have no idea why, but sometimes it helps).

What we're talking about here is establishing a good pace to keep you on track. Obviously, that's part of what the weekly check-ins are for: to make sure that you're making meaningful progress every week so you actually reach your goals. But there's another type of pacing we need to talk about, and that's the pace for each individual week. We need to make sure that we're not putting the week's goal off until two days before the end, then either trying to cram it all in, or realizing that we can't possibly cram it all in, and finish the week feeling too discouraged or embarrassed to check in the next week.

Why this topic? Because that's exactly where I found myself this week. I got absorbed in the day-to-day of the job, trying to keep up with the grading, and even doing non-work-related things (yes, those are important, too, and working on a project doesn't mean you should sacrifice them). Then, all of a sudden, it was Wednesday, and I realized that I had only barely touched the project all week. And there was panic, and a sense of impending doom.

Maybe you experienced something similar in your first "real" week on the project? Or maybe you had another kind of weekly pacing issue, in that you overestimated what you could take on in a given week? Or maybe, just maybe, you did it right, and established some good habits that you want to resolve to carry through for the following 11 weeks. Whatever it is, let's talk about how we are going to keep on track in a given week. If we take care of the individual weeks, the project will take care of itself.

So here's my report: I wrote that I would "develop a plan of attack," meaning that I would pull together all my materials, see what I had, develop a preliminary bibliography, order things up, and sketch out an outline. In a rush, I got everything but the last thing done. But my rush -- that is, my failure to pace myself this week -- meant that even the stuff that I did manage to finish was half-assed, and I don't feel as prepared as I want to going into this week.

Here's how I resolve to change it, with this week's goal: get that outline done, and write at least 300 words a day of notes on my secondary source material. Slow and steady wins the race.

How about you? Give us your report for the past week, and your goal for the week to come. Don't forget that the comments will close at the end of the weekend (that is, whenever I go to bed on Sunday). And if you're on our absences list, you need to make sure that you report in in order to maintain your status in the group.

[Note to everyone juggling projects: I have edited your weekly goals to reflect your declared project for this group only. No slight intended to the many things we've all got going on, but for the purposes of this group we're going to keep a tight focus.]

Adelaide: [write a conference paper]: finish reading two chapters that may have some bearing on the paper; do another double-check for related articles/chapters/etc.
ABDMama: [Complete an article draft]: re-read 100 pp previously written & free-write about 300 words
Amcalm25: [finish an article]: gather notes, original conference papers, and the start I made on my article in the spring, reread and regroup
Amstr: [revise and resubmit an article]: re-read article and editorial comments; list topics that need more research/citations; make (and limit) reading list; order items on reading list from ILL; read 2 articles, make entries on them in an annotated bib, and insert relevant stuff into draft
Another Damned Medievalist: [write/revise a close-to-final draft of an article]: re-read both papers ; identify books for first set of ILL requests; possibly start reading the review book breaking the two papers down into chunks on Scrivener
Antikate: [revise a conference paper into an article & submit]: reread the conference paper and all of the plays that the article will discuss and make notes
Belledamesansmerci: [transform a conference paper into a journal article]: read one new relevant article; change “I” conference speak for more academic language
Bitterandjaded (Bittergrrl?): [finishing a dissertation chapter]: Gather all notes that I have on the topic; Outline notes into something cohesive; Write at least 1000 words on the chapter introduction
Britomart: [completing a draft of dissertation introduction]: Write approx 1250-1500 words for “in person” writing group by Wednesday; try to get enough out of 4 books to return them to the library
Cly: [write a book chapter]: do index; review notes and sources
Contingent Cassandra: [complete a full draft of a journal article]: read key secondary article; re-read primary texts, taking marginal notes in both; ½ hour per day freewriting
Dame Eleanor Hull: [complete a chapter of the article-turned-book]: abstract for a conference version of this chapter
Digger: [write two book chapters]: Work on 2 chapters 5/7 days this week: WW chap -- Go through notes and outline basic arguments and structure, selecting a few supporting quotes; SSW chap -- pull references and set aside
Dr. Crazy: [Finish a chapter draft begun this summer]: reread current work (about 13 pages); write 3 solid additional pages; write in writing journal
Dr. Virago: [draft a 7500-word essay for a contracted publication]: write at least 500 words towards a draft
Erika: [write a complete & final draft of an article already underway]: Spend 30 minutes a day assembling the biblio for article
Evan: [write a conference paper]: get all relevant PDFs of Black Dwarf, review MIA’s list for relevant articles, pull relevant stuff from thesis
Firstmute: [Revise and submit a journal article]: come up with a specific list of revisions & strategies to complete the revisions; revise abstract based on reviewer’s feedback
Forthright: [write two article-length pieces]: a) Finish re-reading Major Theoretical Work for article #2 & write 1000 words free writing relating MTW to the article; b) Finish transcribing the most relevant data from 2011 field season.
Frogprincess: [Final draft of the dissertation]: think about part of c. 3; work on intro; think about conclusion
Heu Mihi: [write paper for a faculty colloquium]: Review preliminary outline and rough in details (outline-style) for Part 1
Highlyeccentric: [Draft two thesis chapters]: plan next chapter; re-do overeview of the entire thesis; talk to supervisor about timeline; draft about ¼ of a chapter
Gillian: [3 chapters of dissertation]: pull together all the different completed bits for each of the three chapters and assess how much and what kind of work needs doing on all of them
Good Enough Woman: [write a solid draft of a dissertation chapter]: develop bibliography; order sources from ILL; finish one primary text; read intro, skim chapter one of book of criticism
Inafuturelife: [transform seminar paper into a conference paper]: Reread secondary sources and notes, and make annotations on a few new ones just ordered
Luo Lin: [finish and submit an article]: Read through three articles to see if and how they are relevant
Janice: [write a first draft of a chapter]: Find notes for the first chapter, outline, order three or four resources, and make notes of the exact passages in the major source
Jennifer: [finish writing a neglected article]: Read through file of what’s done; Organize and digitize literature; Work on article for an hour a day - Bonus points for daily writing
Katrin: [revise and add to MA thesis to get it publishable]: write the “Materials” chapter
Kris: [write up a “full” paper and cut it down to a 15-minute conference presentation]: order ILL and documents for paper; write 500 words from current materials while waiting
Lucie: [Complete a full draft of PhD thesis]: expand conference paper into first draft of 5,000 words
Matilda: [revise a paper into a journal article]: make a revision plan
Marie: [finish turning paper into journal article]: re-read original paper, revisit bibliography and determine what is next. Start on Intro.
Merryweather: [write conference paper]: finish going through database primary material notes; figure out a short reading list of essential things for theoretical framework
Mike: [write ch. 2 of dissertation]: write a good solid page with a good working thesis
Monks and Bones: [turn a seminar paper into an article]: Reread seminar paper and take notes; Create 1-page outline of new version; Review historiography notes and write up a 2-page historiographical overview
Nvrwhere42: [finish a dissertation chapter]: re-outline the rest of the chapter; write at least 2000 words to get back into the writing groove
Notorious Ph.D.: [write a conference paper]: develop plan of attack
NWGirl: [Revise one dissertation chapter into a book chapter]: Re-read chapter, identify and pull out the relevant material and move that text into Scrivener; write up chapter outline & figure out what I need to add; make a list of any missing sources
Opsimathphd: [turning a dissertation chapter into an article]: Reread the dissertation chapter; Read one relevant article per day; Examine articles in the more technical journal; Freewrite at least 15 minutes per day; Outline argument
Salimata: [write a conference paper]: work on the paper for 1 hr on Monday, 2 hrs on Friday, and 15 minutes all other days; re-read abstract; identify the fieldnotes and recordings I want to use; put together a brief bibliography
Scatterwriter: [revise three chapters of book]: re-read the introduction and first chapter of the book MS draft
Scholasticamama: [Transform a conference paper into an article]: Read paper on Gender Binaries and Universals; Create 12 week outline
Sisyphus: [polish the rough draft of article and send it out]: separate middle section and reorganize into two that flow; fix all the bolded sentences and (awk) comments to myself in this (these) section(s)
Sophylou: [finish revisions on an article and prepare it for submission]: Rewrite and condense introduction. If time, assess Section 2 to identify areas for condensing/rewriting
Stemi: [Complete and send off a review article ]: Read and take notes on 6 articles; 500 words total in the manuscript outline/Revise outline organization
Susan: [write a 7000 word commissioned essay]: get through the first part of the historiographical review, adding about another thousand words
Synecdoche: [Finish conference paper]: put together the start of a working bibliography
Trapped in Canadia: [draft two chapters of the dissertation]: finish chapter on Presbyterian abuse of Episcopalians in Scotland post-1688 GR and finish outline of first WG chapter
Undine: [Finish nearly done chapter and complete another]: minimum 1000 new words, not counting revisions or editing, on the almost complete chapter
Viola: [writing an introduction and a chapter for thesis]: 1000-1500 words on the original part of chapter and tidy already-written 2,500 words on context; Go back over some sources and integrate their arguments
Z-Cat/Kiwimedievalist: [ write an article]: block out the full plan for the article, and create a book-list.

Last week's absences:

Diana: [finish incomplete paper]
Jamilajamison: [finish writing the M.A. thesis]
Mae: [write up a project prospectus?]
Su Real Alteza: [finish textbook manuscript]

The Infinite Possibility of the New Notebook

2011-09-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I bought a notebook. I am keeping a journal of my work. Hours, ideas, goals, that sort of shit. Also travel, for tax purposes.

It's nice -- black, with a strap. A Moleskine knockoff that my campus bookstore sold, made with recycled paper.

I love beautiful notebooks, in the same way that I loved buying school supplies when I was a child. A blank, crisp notebook represents promise and infinite possibility. But I get lazy about keeping them up. Still, all but one of the plants I purchased over a month ago are alive and actually beginning to flourish. So if this is the year that I keep the plants alive, maybe it will also be the year that I keep the journal thing going, too. Possibility fulfilled, maybe.

Another Damned Notorious Writing Group Begins!

2011-09-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

First off: This post takes its title from a suggestion made by new participant Amstr for a group name. And after all that agonizing that ADM and I did, we saw this one, and we just knew. So that's who we are (at least, for now): Another Damned Notorious Writing Group.

Welcome!

We had an amazing sign-up period -- over 50 participants made commitments for this 12-week challenge. Just a reminder as to what you committed to:

Completing a single project in a twelve-week period.
Checking in every week on Fridays (and we will close comments on Sunday, so don't dilly-dally!) with: (a) your accomplishments from the past week; and (b) your specific goals for the next week. Remember: two consecutive missed check-ins gets you dropped -- there's your motivation to be consistent!
The very bestest group members will also (a) read each others' comments and offer advice and encouragement and (b) respond to the themes that your humble moderators dream up to keep things interesting.
Carving out writing time every single damn day is also helpful. It doesn't need to be beautiful prose, but building an every-day habit during these twelve weeks will serve you well.

Pretty simple, right? Anyway, the first check in is already up at ADM's place. So get on over and get checked in!

Committees, This Year

2011-09-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have just signed up for my committee service for this year. I signed up for the same two I did last year, but with one big difference: This year, I'm not chairing either of them.

I figured out long ago that I'm not suited to leadership. I hate conflict. I fear putting my foot in my mouth. And the few times I made a "we're gonna do it this way" decision, the result was... not good.

So what I'm looking at here is more or less the same type of work, but my job is to be a worker among workers, and leave the planning to those more suited to it. Part of me feels badly for taking such a passive position. But a much bigger part of me feels a wonderful sense of calm.

Writing Group, Fall Term: Call for Projects

2011-09-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

[IMPORTANT UPDATES in participation guidelines, due to overwhelming interest and our desire to take everyone with a clear project -- see below, guideline #2]

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!

After some delay, now is the time: Another Damned Medievalist and I are convening the fall session of the online writing group.

A digression: Week 12 of summer term, we invited participants to send in their suggestions for names for the as-yet-unnamed writing group. We got some good suggestions, but were unable to come to a consensus. Here were some of the front-runners:
Authorial Intent: This one was popular and clever (okay, it took me a minute to get the joke), but I noted that it didn't really describe a group.
Writers Anonymous: I liked this for its reference to both bloggy anonymity, plus the 12-step nature of our terms. ADM, however, pointed out that it sounded like a name for a group of people trying to QUIT writing.
Scriverers' Guild: Another popular suggestion, likely spurred on by the heavy concentration of medievalists among our membership plus our many discussions of a Certain Writing Software. But it sounded a little too... ornate? Especially if you're not a medievalist (We are a bit strange). Still, we both liked it: A group for writers who Would Prefer Not To.
In any case, we liked all of these, but couldn't agree on any one, and finally we decided that putting off starting the group because we couldn't agree on what we should call ourselves was ridiculous. So, for now, we invite you to call this group whatever you like, until we think of something better.

Anyway, back to the main point...

For those of you who are just tuning in, this writing group was founded as a virtual alternative to those dissertation writing groups that many of us benefited from when we were grad students, but that seem to disappear as we move into jobs. Or maybe you're a grad student still, but with no writing group of your own (or maybe your writing group is too flaky). Or perhaps you're not an academic at all -- last term, we had at least one participant who was a novelist. In short, our participants are writers looking for some external motivation and someone to be accountable to.

We also dispense encouragement, advice, and weekly discussion topics. And if you're being wishy-washy about your goals ("Next week, I'm going to try to write something on sutopic X") or have a new excuse every week for not writing (bearing in mind, of course, that "reasons" are different from "excuses"), we'll hold your feet to the fire. The main commandment here is Thou Shalt Commit.

So, here's the deal:

Propose and commit to a single project that you can reasonably complete in twelve weeks. You likely have more than one thing on your plate, but pick one to that will be your major focus for this twelve-week project. Keep in mind that you may be in the midst of a semester, so don't plan as ambitiously as you might have in the summer. Will you write a chapter of your dissertation? Revise a completed draft of a book manuscript? Turn a conference paper into an article and get it submitted? Write a conference paper from the ground up?
Make a commitment to check in once a week, all twelve weeks, on Fridays (ADM and I will alternate weeks) with your progress for the past week, and a concrete goal for the next week. Your weekly goals need not be elaborate, but they should be specific. Participants who are AWOL for ~~more than~~ two weeks in a row will be dropped on the ~~third~~ second absence. New!: Comment/check-in threads will be opened Friday mornings, and closed Sunday night, in order to encourage timeliness, and to keep your humble moderators' work manageable.
Commit as well to offering feedback to your fellow participants, now and then. This is a group project, after all.
Optional: Some people last session found this book helpful in structuring a 12-week project.

So, that's the way this works. Week One will be hosted over at ADM's place this upcoming Friday (September 9th). But before that happens, we need a class roster. So this is the place you register your intent, and name your project. Make it a single project, and make it something you believe you can reasonably complete, given the other demands on your time during the semester. This CFP post will close at 4 p.m., PST, this Thursday (9/8), so get your proposals in right away. For the record, here's mine: I commit to writing a conference paper from scratch. I'm due to present it over winter break, so it's gotta get done.

That's it!

So... Whatcha got for us?

Two Announcements (and One of Them Is Real)

2011-09-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

(unrelated photo, Puddletown, industrial area)

1. I dreamed last night that I got up to a microphone, in front of my department's assembled incoming students and a smattering of faculty and administrators, and introduced myself as "Notorious Ph.D.", then announced some sort of workshop that would be taking place on my blog. Which reminds me...

2. ADM & I are cooking up the next writing group. We're hammering out a few teensy details, so watch this space over the next couple of days for a Call for Projects. It'll be another 12-week term, so think about what you'll be realistically able to accomplish between, say, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Of COURSE I should have figured that out.

2011-08-31T12:01:00.001-07:00

My "three things" list today includes "Revise syllabus error." This is because of the an obscure scheduling issue, regarding Veterans' Day -- a holiday I ignored, because I don't teach on Fridays, so when I consulted the campus holidays calendar while constructing my syllabus, I didn't factor it in. But yesterday, after teaching the first day of classes, the following scheduling policy was brought to my attention:

"(1) Campus is closed Friday. (2) All Friday classes will meet Tuesday, November 8, instead. (3) All Tuesday, November 8, classes will be cancelled."

Naturally.

I may be ready...

2011-08-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

...for the semester. First class tomorrow. Today I skipped yoga and got 90% of my course material posted.

My goal for the semester: Stay calm and avoid drama. Do my fucking job. That will be enough.

Cuteness, Related to a Relation

2011-08-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

I do love all the assorted nieces, nephews, both blood and fostered, who each bring their own brand of awesomeness to the table. But on my most recent visit to Puddletown, the quotable quotes came from the newly eight year-old Mr. B:

Example 1, while he was reading:

Me: So, do understand what's going on in the story so far?

Mr. B.: I think so...

Me: A "looking glass" is an old-fashioned word for a mirror. And Alice fell through the mirror, and found out there was another world on the other side.

Mr. B.: Yeah, that happens sometimes.

Example 2, after handing him his stuffed animals, which he proceeded to arrange around his freshly-made bed as he saw fit:

Mr. B.: Do you like how it looks?

Me: Yeah, it looks good.

Mr. B.: I watch a lot of design shows.

The Unsinkable Mr. B.
(younger nephew sold separately)

The Job of a Panel Commentator

2011-08-25T12:21:00.001-07:00

Historiann has an interesting post up today about conference etiquette, with much of the discussion in the comments devoted to what is to be done about panelists who go over time, thus making things unbearable for everyone else. The responses seem to be threefold:

Graduate students need better mentoring so they know the ropes
Experienced presenters who ought to know better need to stop being selfish jerks
Panel chairs need to enforce time limits

That third point got me wondering about another job, that of the panel commentator. The chair is there to introduce people and their papers, and hopefully to make sure that they don't go over time. The commentator is not always a part of a panel, but when they are, what is their job?

One of Historiann's commentators mentioned being peeved when commentators simply summarized the paper. Another complained (rightly, I think) about the impossibility of delivering a good comment when panelists don't get their papers in on time. But beyond that, what are we doing as commentators? I've done comment a couple of times, and after a few false starts, I was part of a panel at a legal history conference where I saw a friend and professional acquaintance deliver a comment so good that audience members came up to complement her on it. It really was incredibly productive to the discussion so ever since then, I've tried to model my approach on hers:

Find at least one interesting thing in each individual paper that could serve for good discussion fodder, and ask a question
Find at least one common thread running through all the papers and invite the panelists and audience to think about that thread more deeply

Both of these require some good knowledge of the topic the panelists are speaking about, and both require time to read and really think about the papers, and to write up a well-considered comment. Often, of course, the discussion takes on a life of its own, with purely factual questions, or ones that boil down to "How does this relate to the thing I know about?" But I see the commentator's job as primarily analytical (rather than summative or critical), facilitating a deeper engagement with the papers than that -- and whether or not the audience takes it and runs with it is up to them.

What do the rest of you think? What is the job of a panel commentator? Should there be a recap of each paper's thesis, to refresh the audience's memory? Should a commentator point out egregious errors? And a subsidiary question: assuming the typical humanities panel is 90 minutes long, with three 20-minute papers (plus a combined time of about 5 minutes for introductions), with the expectation of discussion at the end, how long should a good commentary be?

Another Reason to Love Scrivener

2011-08-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

I promise I'll stop flogging this software soon. But I've been working on my cat-herdingest syllabus -- the one that requires a syllabus, daily lesson plans, in-class activities, worksheets, workshops, pdf readings, and all of this to be organized in the proper order -- and let me tell you that Scrivener (especially its outliner function!) is making this all fully doable.

I am happy.

Writing Group Week 12...

2011-08-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

...will be posted over at ADM's place later this afternoon. Those pesky campus admins at ADM-U decided to schedule a meeting right in writing group time. The nerve!

[UPDATE: It's up!]

But it's that last check-in, so I'll give you a teaser question and let ADM explain it better when she posts:

What is the name of our writing group?

No, no: don't post it here. Think about it. Post it at her place when the time is right.

To review or not to review? A question of personal bias and professional ethics.

2011-08-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick question, probably for those who are midcareer and beyond, sparked by an e-mail exchange with a colleague a few days ago, regarding a dilemma s/he is having:

If you received a request from a journal or a press to review a book or article manuscript written by a junior person whom you considered a friend, or at least a friendly acquaintance, what would be your response (assuming that you had time to take on the job, and felt qualified to review the material)?

(a) Accept the review job. I am able to separate my personal feelings from how I evaluate a scholar's work.

(b) Accept the review job, even though I know I'm likely to be a bit biased in favor of this person. Publications can be make-or-break for tenure, and this is an opportunity for me to help out someone whose work is solid/good/really excellent.

(c) Decline to review the MS, because I know I'd be biased, and while no review is entirely impartial, this might be a bit too close.

(d) Decline to review the MS, because I'm so hyper-aware of my biases that I fear I'd overcompensate on the side of critiquing more harshly than would a less interested observer.

(e) Review the MS, because even though (c) or (d) may apply, most subfields are fairly small, and we're all going to end up reviewing each other's manuscripts sooner or later.

(f) Pretend I never got the request.

(g) Other.

Yes, that's hard work, too; or, the Sunday Style section is a barrel of neverending fish.

2011-08-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Style section of the New York Times is the eye-rolling gift that keeps on giving. Today, it's a story about downsized or disaffected white-collar professionals who dropped out to start their own service or labor or artisan businesses, only to discover that this, too, was hard, demanding work. Or, as the article's author puts it, "Many are surprised to find the hours and work grueling."

::headdesk::

I think that many of us, ten years or so into one career, have fantasized at least once (and sometimes once a week) about greener pastures where we could pursue a passion without having to bring our work home with us. Just last year, I was thinking about walking away from academia entirely, moving somewhere closer to friends and family, and trying to support myself through writing popular nonfiction.* But there also seems to be an unrealistic component to the fantasies in the article: that somewhere out there, there is a job that provides a decent amount of cash, unlimited personal fulfillment, and lots of free time. Believe me, I've had those same fantasies about the job I currently have, from time to time, and the disjunction between fantasy and reality is what brought me to the breaking point last year. In fact, some of the quotes in the article, with only a few minor tweaks, could easily be written by someone with academic fantasies:

"This was supposed to be her Plan B: her chance to indulge a passion, lead a healthier life and downshift professionally — at least by a gear. Instead, Ms. Economou finds herself in overdrive."
"He daydreamed of an unfettered life at his kiln, creating Bollywood-inspired teapots and butter dishes. [...] Now, instead of spending his free time absorbed in visions of clay, he spends as much as 70 percent of his day on administration."
"She had envisioned a life of 'workouts, getting lots of sleep and blogging every day about health and fitness.' Instead, her classes start as early as 6 a.m. and she feels wiped out by day’s end, which can be 14 hours later."
"A few years ago, she moved to Paris to apprentice with a master chocolatier. Visions of decadent bonbons swirled in her head. Instead, she felt like a modern-day Lucy in the candy factory, hunched over in a chocolate lab packing chocolates and scrubbing pots. If she wasn’t doing that, she was sweeping floors, wrapping gifts, answering telephones or shipping orders."

Of course, the article also points out the important positive side: that sense of personal fulfillment is there. And that's true of most academic jobs, too. When I was going through my crisis last year, fellow bloggers and friends Historiann and Squadratomagico advised me (gently) to let go of the fantasy and remember that it's a job. I do love what I do. I just don't love it all the time. I'm coming to it a bit later than I probably should have, but I'm really working now on appreciating the good or even great things about my job, accepting the not-so-great, keeping an eye on the truly intolerable,** and making space to grow the rest of my life.*** And I'm slooowly coming to realize that expecting to love every aspect of even the thing you like to do best is more than a little unrealistic. There's a reason, after all, for the phrase "dream job."

And I think that last bit is what left the sourest taste in my mouth (next to the condescending idea that people who work in non-professional jobs really don't have to work as hard****). Because the title of the NYT piece? Yep: "Maybe it's time for plan C."

::sigh::

*At least I hoped that it would be popular.

**If a job -- if anything in your life -- is making you truly miserable over the long term, then I say it's time to let it go.

***This process of acceptance and boundary-setting is a work in progress, of course.

****This is a common fallacy, and I think it can be boiled down to the laughable belief that pay and effort are always commensurate. Scratch the surface of that idea, and you quickly find the assumption -- and I guess now we're getting at what was really the sand in my sandwich when I read the article -- that people with little to no money are that way because they don't work as hard as their socioeconomic betters.

I like number four.

2011-08-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

Behold, the top five search terms that landed people at my blog over the past month:

Writing Group Week 11: The Home Stretch

2011-08-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello, All!

So, here we are at week 11. Time for that last, final push on your projects. Seriously, we've come a long way, yes? This week, let's pause and think about that. How have you surprised yourself? What have you learned?

That's it for the so-called topic today. I'm actually off for a day of crazy errands and appointments, but I bring you the weekly goals list, compiled by ADM from the posts at her place last week. Time to check in!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABDMama [Draft of an article MS]: Cover letters, tightening up Article 2 a little
ADM [conference paper for Leeds; revision of paper after]: Get article submitted
Cly [revise article for publication & draft chapter for book]: substantial progress on workable draft of chapter
Dame Eleanor [~~Revising a conference paper into article MS~~ turn paper into a book!]: Write 500 words a day – still,
Dr. Koshary [work on book MS]: finish the prospectus and send that out to a publisher immediately
Eileen [First draft of a dissertation chapter]: find a conclusion
Erika [Review-ready draft of an article MS]: work 30-60 minutes per day on my abstract, 60 minutes on making changes to my article, spend 30-60 minutes learning how to be an academic advisor, and 30-60 minutes on preparing lectures for the first three meetings of my lecture course
Firstmute [chapter draft; send out article]: integrating secondary material
Frog Princess [rewrite Chapter 3; get another draft of the introduction]: finish this second draft of chapter 3; and begin working on the introductio
Gillian [an article that needs writing] proofread a book, three book reviews
Godiva [First draft of diss. chap.]: Full paragraph-by-paragraph outline of chapter to flesh out, and 3000 *new* words
J Otto Pohl: finish book
Jeff [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: finish polishing and revisions this week and next week
Matilda [Draft of a publishable paper]: submitting task 2; writing a plan of task 3, and writing first section of it
Mel [Finish dissertation!]: Revisions for ch. 4 & 6
NWGirl [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: Re-read draft and devise a plan to finish remaining revisions. Spend an hour each morning (Mon-Thurs) on those revisions.
Sapience [Prepare presentation of full dissertation for department - changed to Introduction needs to be finished]: more on intro, finish job market materials
Scatterwriter [Complete expansion/revision of an article MS]: update my image file, write my cover letter, and print out one last version of the manuscript.
Susan [Revise & polish two chapters of a book MS]: Fill in a few more gaps in ch. 2, and read through and check argument
Travelia [prepare book MS for review]: Excused absence for family trip
Zabeel [Complete draft of an article] draft of the third section
Zcat abroad (Kiwi Medievalist on WP) [write an article]: take thesis chapter and start article conversion

Awaiting report:

Digger [drafts of two book chapters]*
Kit: [Write the first draft of a dissertation chapter]**
Tigs [Completed diss draft]**

I wonder how my attitude would change

2011-08-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

...if I were to assume that every irritating behavior that I encountered** was actually part of a performance art piece?

I think I'd fret less and giggle more.

In other news, a reminder of tomorrow's writing group check-in, and a picture from my recent travels:

**Not prompted by anything in particular; I'm just trying on new approaches as the chaos of the semester draws nigh.

Ramping Up for the Semester

2011-08-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

Denial time has officially ended. Yesterday, I started working on my syllabi** for the semester that begins in three weeks. Seems like lots of time, but I'm headed back to Puddletown in a week, so I want to get everything done by Friday.

I've got three courses, all of which I've taught before (yay!), but all of which I'm constantly tinkering with (not-so-yay). Still, I'm optimistic.

**Latin geeks, the error has been brought to my attention (see comments).

In which I get a bit woo-woo

2011-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

Remember how I posted recently about my plant-killing abilities?

Well, a couple of days ago, I bought two big ol' bags of potting soil, two shade-tolerant and hardy-looking houseplants, and three itty-bitty pots of flowering plants for a hanging basket. And some plant food (which I may have already lost). And I potted the new plants and repotted the two plants that I already had, as sort of a prize for having survived years of my neglect. And I brought them inside, and set them about the house. Three floor plants and one hanging one in the front room, and one brand-new plant in the bedroom, where I'd been maintaining a pot of dried-out dirt (where a plant had once lived) for so many years that I no longer noticed it.

And I swear to god, the apartment feels different. I only added two plants, and replaced another that was looking scraggly. But it just feels like a warmer, happier place somehow. Good energy in the room. Plus, I had the added bonus of falling asleep to the scent of fresh soil and cedar shavings emanating from the newly potted plant a couple of feet from my bed.

Conclusion: living plants -- as opposed to scraggly, dying ones and pots full of dirt and dead roots -- make things better.

Writing Group Week 10

2011-08-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Over at ADM's place, Week 10 of the writing group is up. Yay!

Go getcher updates on. In the meantime, I continue my travels with the Wizard Chimp. Here is a picture I took while exploring:

What can I say? I like rust.

On Technology

2011-08-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Today, my friend the Wizard Chimp* arrived for a 5-day visit. This is a good thing.

Chimpy is one of those people who never met a gadget or social media format she didn't like. Her main packing issues were what bits of technology she should take with her.** Things like clothes were secondary.

She finds my approach to technology... cute. Two incidents from this morning illustrate the wide spectrum of non-technophobes' use of technology:

1. She saw my phone, and it was like she'd entered Amish country. A couple of years ago, I dropped my contract-based cell phone, and it gave up the ghost a few months before the two-year contract period expired, which would seem to have required me to pay hundreds of dollars for a cheap phone from the service provider's store.*** I emphatically did not want to do that, so the helpful person at the phone place suggested I go to the nearest big box electronics store and buy a burner phone. They would then install my SIM card in the new, disposable thingy. I had no idea you could do this. So I did, and paid $30 for a phone, the features of which include: 1) sending and receiving phone calls, and 2) sending and receiving text messages. There is not even a cheap camera in it, which is fine, because I have a real camera. And this morning, I left it at home. "I can't believe my best friend is someone who doesn't have a smart phone, and doesn't even bother to take the phone she has with her," she said.

2. While Chimpy checked in with the gazillion social media things she's on, I paid my bills. While much of this was done online, the process included writing things down in my paper checkbook register, doing the math in my head, and scribbling out a monthly budget on the back of a credit card receipt to figure out how much money Visa got this month. She was agog with wonder.

Now, as you know, I don't have a problem with technology. I, of course, have a bit of web presence. I use things like Scrivener and Zotero to get my work done. I ditched the landline ages ago. But I think our approach differs in where we draw the line between "necessity" and "convenience" (and also, perhaps, "too much of a pain in the ass to bother with"). We find each other's approach an endless source of amusement. And the fact that we can be amused, rather than disdainful, is part of why we're such good friends.

*It's a long story.

**She ended up with: iPad + portable keyboard, smart phone, kindle, and digital camera. I think.

***Seriously, this whole thing about getting sucked into a two-year contract to avoid paying $300 for even a cheap-ass phone? It makes me indignant. There is technology you need, so you pay for it. Then there is technology that marketers try to convince you you need, and they charge you through the nose for it. Grrr....

And now, of perhaps more general interest...

2011-08-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

...than the previous post, I bring you a delightful recipe for summer. In honor of the Wizard Chimp, my wonderful vegan friend who will be visiting me for a few days, the recipe is meat- and dairy-free. But in case you think that vegan = flavorless and unappealing, feast your eyes on this (click photo for a close-up):

Look like something you might want to try after all? Okay, here we go...

Truly Excellent Curried Quinoa Salad

1. Get a cup of dry quinoa, rinse well,* and cook.**

2. Mix 2 peeled, chopped mangoes (or 1 if they're large) with 2 tsp. light-flavored oil (I use sunflower or safflower), 1 generous tsp. sweet curry powder, a little bit of salt, a teensy pinch of sugar (this is just to round out the flavor, not to make it "sweet," per se), a dab of chili-garlic paste (if you like spicy, but just a dab, okay? Some of the other flavors could get lost), and the juice of 1-2 limes.***

3. Mix together mango mixture, cooked (and mostly cooled) quinoa, about 2 cups of cooked black beans,**** and 3-4 Tbsp. each of chopped cilantro and scallions (the green part) until the colors look to be in about the right proportions to your discerning eye. Refrigerate for an hour to let the flavors blend. Adjust the seasonings if you need to.

So. Much. Yum. And perfect for a summer potluck, or perhaps as a side dish for a Caribbean meal.

*DO NOT skip or skimp on the rinse, or your quinoa (which has a very bitter natural coating) will be disgusting. My foolproof method for getting all that ick off is to place the quinoa in a really large bowl, mostly fill the bowl with water, let it soak for a few minutes, then get in that bowl and repeatedly rub handfuls of quinoa between your palms. Then drain the water (which should be quite cloudy), refill, and repeat 3-5 times, allowing the quinoa to soak for a few minutes each time, and draining off as much of the old water as possible without losing the quinoa. Be warned that quinoa is tiny and will go through (or get stuck in) all but the very finest strainers, so I find that draining with my hands works out just fine. Sounds awfully high-maintenance, but it's worth the effort: quinoa is high-protien, high-fiber, highly nutrient-dense, not to mention super-tasty when you get the hang of preparation, so you don't want to miss out.

**Most cookbooks recommend a 1:2 ratio of quinoa to water, cooked for 15 minutes. I find this results in mooshy quinoa. I recommend 1 1/4 cups water for every 1 cup quinoa. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover tightly, and simmer for 30 minutes, then remove from heat and let sit, covered (no peeking!), for another 5-10 minutes. Fluff with fork. You can add salt at the beginning, or experiment with using stock in place of water, or whatever, depending on your particular recipe.

***If you're not vegan, this is the point where you can, if you choose, add a little bit of plain yogurt. Not too much, though: mooshiness is your enemy. In fact, if you go for the yogurt option, I'd skip the oil, or use only a very small amount.

****If you must use canned beans, then make sure they're well-drained, and give 'em at least one good (though gentle) rinse to get off any excess starchy goo.

As Promised, Content of Little Interest to Anyone But Myself

2011-07-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yoga, Farmers' Market, and now some random photoblogging, just because I can:

A typical shot, in which I tend to stick things in corners. Here's another one:

See what I mean? (say it with me: "Nobody puts Mary in the corner." heh.) I'm also a negative space addict, so let's try to break that by experimenting with a crowded-frame composition:

Hm.

Okay, maybe I'll just go transcribe some things.

I Wrote a Super-Long Post Last Night...

2011-07-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

...about class, aspirations, and academia, a reaction to this:

"I can only recommend graduate school in the humanities—and, increasingly, the social sciences and sciences—if you are independently wealthy, well-connected in the field you plan to enter (e.g., your mom is the president of an Ivy League university), or earning a credential to advance in a position you already hold, such as a high-school teacher, and even then, a master's degree is enough."

This was preamble to a call to reform higher education. Fine. But when an author leads off by telling people like me that non-vocational graduate education is not for us, I get pissy, and spend an hour writing and editing a long and very personal post.

Upon waking, I decided there were enough of these posts floating around out there (see below), so I didn't need to add another 1000 words to the soup. So how 'bout I just say to people from the losing side of the socio-economic gap** that:

1. ...academia is a tough path, and you should have no illusions that finishing a Ph.D. will land you a tenure-track job, and certainly not that it will catapult you into an economic bracket significantly better than that your parents had***; yet...

2. ...if you know these things, have asked yourself the hard questions, and you're still yearning to devote years of your life to something you love, maybe because when you're learning history, or literature, or invertebrate reproduction, you know that you're exactly where you're supposed to be, and if you've got a real talent for whatever it is and you can bust ass and get the work done, then don't you dare let any random blogger tell you that your choices are wrong, just because they're not economically practical.

Conclusion: Telling people what their priorities "should" be based primarily on their class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or whatever is the epitome of condescension. If you're doing it, knock it the hell off.

Post roundup:

Dr. Virago does a roundup.
Karl Steel talks about rethinking his own identity within academia
A post by newish blogger jsench, on why s/he had no regrets (or not many). A longish post, but worth a read if you've got 15 minutes or so.
Dr. Crazy puts her critical theory chops to work on the whole debate, with some thought-provoking ideas about identity in academia.

**Now there's one thing I'd be happy to see named after Ronald Regan.

***I'm actually only marginally better-off (economically speaking) than my parents were at my age, and that's only because I have no children to support. And if you factor in my debt and their real assets, I'm much worse off.

Writing Group Week 9: How Not To Panic

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to week 9!

With any luck, this post will be going up Friday morning -- I'm trying Blogger's pre-scheduling thingy, because I'm taking off in a couple of hours to spend 48 hours visiting friends out of town. A few days after that, an out of town friend is coming to visit me for a few days. Then a week after that, I'm going to visit family for a week. And then there's 5 days left to my summer.

Kind of ironic that my least productive summer since the Great Depression of 2002 (and no, I'm not depressed this time) should be the one where I start up a group dedicated to productivity, no? But those of you who don't know me will just have to trust me when I say that slowing down for a summer is an act of effort for me.

And for those of you who do know me, you probably know that this low productivity is inducing regular spasms of panic. So it occurred to me that, with the end of the twelve weeks approaching, the semester looming, and all that, perhaps some of that panic was starting to set in among the ranks here. So that's the theme of this week: Do. Not. Panic. ALL IS LOST IF YOU PANIC!!! AAAHHHH!!

::ahem:: Excuse me.

Okay, so here's what I want you to do this week, right now, before you clock in your progress for next week and your specific goals for next week:

1. Deep breath. Think about what you got done this week.

2. Deep breath. Tell yourself that this last week is over and done with. If it wasn't as good as you wanted, let it go.

3. Three weeks left. Another deep, slow breath here. Get rid of panicky thoughts of the upcoming semester. Take as many breaths as necessary until you're there. This may take a few minutes. Now: What can you reasonably get done in the final three weeks? That is your new goal. Set an intention to get there.

4. One last deep breath. Tell yourself, with complete confidence: I can do this.

Report!

ABDMama [Draft of an article MS]: Revise the second half of the article and have it set for peer review
ADM [conference paper for Leeds; revision of paper after]: Get draft sent to journal; make plan for August
Cly [revise article for publication & draft chapter for book]: article [NPhD: you mean, finish the revisions, I assume?]
Dame Eleanor [Revising a conference paper into article MS]: mini-essay draft just to get words on paper
Digger [drafts of two book chapters]: Work a couple of hours a day; write at least two good pages of the chapter I've been avoiding.
Dr. Koshary [work on book MS]: Excused absence: moving this week
Erika [Review-ready draft of an article MS]: edit 2 pages / day of article draft
Frog Princess [rewrite Chapter 3; get another draft of the introduction]: look at documents in special collections and do some additional secondary reading; start poking at structure of ch. 3.
Gillian [an article that needs writing]: planned incommunicado for another week while traveling
Godiva [First draft of diss. chap.]: write 500 words/day on my documentary sources, and do some additional research
Jeff [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: fix trainwreck section of last chapter; continue to wait for feedback
Matilda [Draft of a publishable paper]: working through Week 9 section of WYJA; re-writing again the argument and introduction of task 1, submitting task 2, making a start on task 3
NWGirl [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: Finish introduction for upcoming conference presentation, plus revisions 2 hrs/day.
Sapience [Prepare presentation of full dissertation for department]: Write at least a paragraph about each text I plan to cover, explaining what use I think it will be to my overall argument
Scholastic Mama [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: excused absence for faculty seminar, but will use the time to do some reading
Susan [Revise & polish two chapters of a book MS]: do research to figure out if Great Idea will work
Travelia [prepare book MS for review]: work seriously on revising the introduction to the MS
Zabeel [Complete draft of an article]: one-week holiday planned
Zcat abroad [write an article]: work on structuring an argument, and building up the word-count

Awaiting report:

Audie [working on transitioning a dissertation chapter to an article]**
Eileen [First draft of a dissertation chapter]*
Firstmute [chapter draft; send out article]*
J. Otto Pohl [Complete draft of 2/3-finished book MS]**
Jen [Revising conference paper into article MS]**
Kit: [Write the first draft of a dissertation chapter]*
Mel [Finish dissertation!]**
Scatterwriter [Complete expansion/revision of an article MS]*
Tigs [Completed diss draft]*

Something Weird Happened (again) Today

2011-07-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today I rode my bike to the dentist's office, which is about 9 miles away. No, that's not the weird thing (though an 18-mile round trip is a bit out of my usual range). I ride my bike everywhere, and for more than the environmental, financial, and health benefits of it: the bike is one of the truly happy-making things in my life. I have, in fact, been known to let out a joyous "Wheeeeee!!!!" while riding, and on more than one occasion.

fig. 1: This is not me. But it IS completely awesome.
(image credit here)

Here's the thing I consider weird: On my way out of the office, I stopped by the receptionist's desk to schedule my next appointment, and the fact that I had ridden came up in conversation. How long did that take?, she wondered. 20 minutes or so? No, no, I demurred. I'm nowhere near that fast.** More like 40. But it's a gorgeous day for a ride. Yes, she agreed, and besides that, now when you get home, you can have whatever you want for lunch and not feel guilty about the calories.

Did you see what just happened there?

Now, for the record: I have, at various times throughout my life, chosen to watch closely what I eat. I have been medically overweight in the past, and was even obese as a child (back when that wasn't so common as today). But for years now, I've been quite obviously at a healthy weight, with a pretty average-looking body type. You'd have to have a pretty warped idea of what a woman should look like to think I should be dieting.

And really, that's not even the point, is it? I mean, I could weigh a couple of hundred pounds more than I do right now, and still I think it would be out of line for someone to suggest that "food = guilt" and "exercise = expiation" should be my points of reference.

Yet this isn't the first time this has happened. I know another woman who reacts to my perfectly reasonable food choices with, "but that's so fattening!"

I can't figure out whether these women are trying to do girl-bonding ("We all want to be thinner, right?") or projecting their own issues, or what. I don't detect any malice anywhere (and I'm pretty sensitive to malice). But I'm sort of offended on behalf of women in general that the unquestioning assumption is that any food- or exercise-related decision is based on poor body image, and that pure enjoyment, whether in eating or in moving one's body, isn't even a factor. And I'm always just left there, gaping like a fish, without a response.

I don't know what the point of this post is. Maybe it's a call to do things just because we enjoy them (see fig. 1, above).

**This would be 27 mph or so on average, some of that in traffic, and sustained for a while. With cargo. I'm not that ambitious.

Writing Group Week 8...

2011-07-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

...is up, over at ADM's place. This week, she asks about writing schedules/patterns during the semester, which is something I'm not ready to think about just yet...

Writing group comments

2011-07-19T08:21:00.001-07:00

...are up. As in, I just wrote them (again, not necessarily for every post) and posted them on the comment thread from Friday. See my comment to NW Girl for my explanation for the delay. Look for a new post shortly entitled "two weeks of sloth."

Writing Group Week 7: Goal (re)setting

2011-07-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to week seven! We've bid farewell to a few people over the past few weeks, but hopefully some of them will rejoin us when we reconvene in the fall. We're over halfway through now, but the good news is that we still have almost halfway left to finish up those goals!

So, let's talk about those goals. In last week's post, ADM referred to me as a "Type A", and she's not wrong. And what this Type A has been noticing is a bit of chaos in the area of your overall goals for this 12-week term. Now, some of this has been for excellent reason: you've finished a project! Yay! But some of it has been due to a lack of appropriate goal-setting. Maybe you set your summer goals without taking into account the inevitable detours you knew were coming. Maybe you over- or underestimated what you could accomplish this summer. Were your goals too ambitious? Not ambitious enough? Did you, perhaps, start off with a goal of multiple projects, rather than just one central goal (with the papers and presentations as side projects), leaving you unfocused as the project went forward?

Let me put this another way, for this week's discussion question: If you could go back to pre-week-one, what advice would you give late-May you as you were thinking about the goal you were going to set for the summer? Knowing what you know now, what would that summer goal be?

That's it. No long post this week. Just that one question, and the usual requirement that you report in your progress, and your specific goals for next week. Here's the run-down:

ABDMama [Draft of an article MS]: incorporate the 2,500+ words of source writing and ideas into the larger article draft
ADM [conference paper for Leeds; revision of paper after]:
Audie [working on transitioning a dissertation chapter to an article]: have the first section of the paper reworked
Cly [revise article for publication & draft chapter for book]: Leeds paper? Chapter?
Dame Eleanor [Revising a conference paper into article MS]: finish all the mini-outlines for the article-in-progress, and start expanding them
Digger [drafts of two book chapters]: finish Mash Chapter; try to get that last image permission
Dr. Koshary [work on book MS]: finish off chapter 4, then begin drafting chapter 3,
Eileen [First draft of a dissertation chapter]: figure out a path to the finish; integrate quantitative data set #2; decide whether to include or jettison planned section on religion; maintain 500 words/day.
Erika [Review-ready draft of an article MS]: 500 words / day, plus 1 page of revisions [per day, I assume]
Frog Princess [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation – done ahead of schedule! Yay!!]: finished major goal; taking a week to poke around and develop a goal for the rest of the summer
Godiva [First draft of diss. chap.]: ((goal for this week??))
J. Otto Pohl [Complete draft of 2/3-finished book MS]: ((goal for this week??))
Jeff [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: Review-ready draft of chapter 2
Jen [Revising conference paper into article MS]: Reinstate morning writing (500 words per morning), and finish this section
Matilda [Draft of a publishable paper]: work through week 7 of WYJA; revising argument of task 1 (this WG project); complete task 2; start reading materials of task 3
Mel [Finish dissertation!]: Finish chapter 4?
NWGirl [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: finish writing section 2 of the paper
Sapience [diss chapter (done! ahead of schedule!) Prepare presentation of full dissertation for department]: finish revisions on the article, and get at least four pages of the presentation drafted.
Susan [Revise & polish two chapters of a book MS]: On vacation for two weeks
Tigs [Completed diss draft]:
Travelia [Write two conference papers (done!); prepare book MS for review]: On vacation for a week
Zabeel [Draft first two sections of new article]: Read two more books; complete a first draft of section 2
Zcat abroad [write an article]: try out this '500 words a day, first thing'

Awaiting report:

Bardiac [Review-ready article MS]**
Caleb Woodbridge [MA thesis]***
Firstmute [chapter draft; send out article]*
Gillian [an article that needs writing]*
Jason [First draft of a dissertation chapter]***
Kit: [Write the first draft of a dissertation chapter]*
Scatterwriter [Complete expansion/revision of an article MS]*
Scholastic Mama [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]*

RBOC, plus a self-portrait (of sorts)

2011-07-14T08:19:00.001-07:00

Back in Grit City for over a week now, settling into a rhythm. Here are some truly random bullets:

Writing group check-in is tomorrow. Don't forget.
Speaking of writing groups, I'm meeting up tomorrow with a couple of people from different departments who meet every Friday to drink coffee and write. We're still one horseman short of an apocalypse, though.
I missed my bike and my yoga terribly while I was away. Now I'm back, and they're all I'd hoped for.
Massive budget cuts (again) have my inbox full of notices, calls to action, predictions of doom... I think they're all correct, but my response right now is Delete Without Reading. I just can't handle it. "If you're not pissed off, you're not paying attention," says the bumper sticker. Well, I've been pissed off for years, and I'm exhausted from it. Gonna try Door #2, until the time comes when I can actually do something that I'm not already doing.
I've got a lot of pretty, pretty boys I call friends.
Since getting back I have, for the first time in years, been able to restart my morning-person-ness.
I have an ambitious research/writing agenda for next year at this point. I need to figure out how to pare it back to something that won't make me insane when the inevitable chaos hits.

The promised photo of me, also featuring my friend D.:

Friday Business

2011-07-08T08:34:00.001-07:00

A few points to mark my first Friday back stateside:

Week 6 of the writing group is up over at ADM's place. Getchyer updates in! She also invites you to talk about mistakes you've made in planning how to best use a summer or a research leave. Hoo boy, have I done this, so expect me to chime in for once.
I got home at 1 a.m. a couple of days ago and just fell into bed. The following day I devoted to laundry, spending $150 on groceries, and unpacking/putting away. The next day I was able to be recreational (coffee, yoga, etc.), and got a full 8 hours of sleep. Today: consumer purchases! Bike pump! New water bottle!** Curtains for the kitchen windows! Many! More! Exclamation! Points!!!
Brought home 17 pounds (yes, I weighed them) of new*** book purchases. And probably 5 new pounds of me (no, I didn't weigh me. Mind your own goddamn business). Pastry and cheese will do that to you.
Good luck to people at Leeds this weekend!

**If you go on an extended trip, and you leave your bike parked somewhere warmish, it's best to make sure that bottle is emptied, washed, and perfectly dry and open to the air. Unless you are actually trying to grow algae.

***This does not count the books I was already carrying with me, which were probably another 2 pounds or so.

Getting Scooped (a longish post)

2011-07-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the all-too-appropriately named writing group participant What Now?, who is trying to figure out what to do now that she may have been scooped. It's also dedicated to R, M, and A, the three people I reference in this post who scooped me at one time or another… thereby leading my work in directions that I might not have known to take it on my own.

Once upon a time, you had a topic for a book, and 'twas the fairest topic in the land. It was interesting, it was about the right size and shape. You knew where the bodies were buried, and you even began work on it – visiting archives, reading books, maybe drafting chapters, or even a whole dissertation. You talked about it to your friends and colleagues. You put it on grant applications, and on your CV as "in progress."

And then… you heard of someone working on the same topic. Someone who was further along than you. And it felt like the floor dropped out from beneath you.

Getting scooped is a common peril in academic writing, mainly because it takes us so long to publish anything. And yes, we do get possessive about our ideas. It would be a lot easier if we could just do like the kids do and lick our topic so no one else would touch it. But considering the documents we work with sometimes, that would be gross.

I've been scooped three times in my short career so far, and chances are that it will happen again. This emphatically does not mean that I know what you should do if you get scooped. But I'll tell you what I did each time, with the hopes that one or more of these ideas will work for your situation.

Scenario #1 – Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom: Working on my dissertation-based book, in a field that seemed wide-open and just crying out for it. And about two years before it's ready to send out to potential publishers, I see page proofs on a publishers' table at Kalamazoo of a book – a real book, with covers! – that seems to fill this gaping hole in the historiography that I thought my book was going to take care of. eeep!!!

What I did: I bought the book, of course. I read it, and noticed that the author, while working on the same topic, was asking fundamentally different questions, using different types of sources. I resolved to revise with an eye to emphasizing the areas where we did not overlap, to really place those at the center of my book. And I picked up my correspondence with the author, who I had met a couple of times before, if briefly.
Result/What I Learned: we both published good books, and we're friends – we even managed to get together in Blerg City this summer. I learned that single topic, even with a relatively confined geography and time period, may have innumerable aspects to explore. This book forced me to think more deeply about what it really was that I had to say, and I think that, as a result, I wrote a more sharply defined book than I otherwise would have. I also learned that there's room for more than one of us in any single area – there are a lot of questions to ask.

Scenario #2 – The Next Big Thing: While dissertating, I stumbled upon a very interesting cache of documents about another topic that would allow me to build on what I had learned from the dissertation, while still being an obviously different project. A very sexy topic, mysteriously untouched. I published an article as a grad student, and included it in all job apps as "the next project." But I had to finish the diss-based book, so the Next Big Thing sat idle for 4 years – no publications, no presentations. And while I sat on my hands, an enterprising grad student picked up the topic and ran with it. By the time I was ready to work on it again, student had defended hir dissertation, based on records that I was planning to look at… someday.

What I did: I dropped it, with the best grace I could muster. Sometimes, another person gets ahead of you so far that it would be impossible to catch up, and I didn't feel like wrestling for this one, for any number of reasons. If I had been further along, I might have done differently, but I wasn't, so I backed off, and started looking around for what to do next.
Result/What I Learned: I'm on a different project, and the other person is working on turning the dissertation into hir first book. I've learned that you're not really "on" a topic unless you keep presenting and publishing on it. By walking away for 4 years, I passively renounced any claim I may have had, if such things can even be said to exist. It's not unthinkable that, when s/he publishes, hir book will be very different from the one I would have written. If that happens, then we're in Hundred Flowers territory again, and I may go back to it. But probably not. I've got several other (potentially more interesting) fish to fry at this point.

Scenario #3 – But if you try, sometimes you'll find you get what you need: Starting on the project I kind of fumbled my way into in the wake of The Next Big Thing, I thought I had a good idea, so off I went to the archives again. And then I found that there was junior person who had recently finished hir dissertation on a very similar topic. And also there was a team of people working on a similar topic in Blargistan, where even unintentionally stepping on the wrong set of toes can fuck your whole career. But by that time, I just didn't have the emotional fortitude (not to mention the time, since I was already in the archives) to go casting about yet again.

What I did: I wrote this post. And then I wrote to the two people involved, explaining my interest in the topic. And then I kept working, trying not to panic, all the while using half of my brainpower to relentlessly flog the "How am I different?" question. I didn't know the answer, but with effort, I was able to coerce my topic into a new shape** by paying attention to what kinds of things were really drawing my attention and getting me excited in the archives, and what that might mean for the questions I really wanted to ask. And lo and behold, they turned out to be very different from what I thought they'd be, and (most importantly) very different from what those other people were working on.
Results/What I Learned: Listen to your own brain, and be flexible. Getting scooped forced me to very quickly take my project in a radically different direction. And I'm glad, because it turns out that my original project would have required me to do a kind of research that is the complete opposite of the way I'm best at working, and thus would have been no fun for me at all (and I have this theory that books you don't enjoy invariably turn out crappy). This way, I'm playing to my interests and my strengths.

One last thing: Just because someone starts a project doesn't mean that they'll finish it, or publish it, or that it will be anywhere near as good as the one you're contemplating. In the end, you have to decide three things:

How important is this project to me, either professionally or personally?
Do I (or could I) have my own unique spin on the topic, something that makes my work obviously different from other approaches?
If I decide to go ahead with the project, what are the steps I need to take to do so ethically, and to maintain good relations with my professional community?

That's it.

Oh, and that really sweet trial transcript I dug out of the archives a few years ago? Yeah, I licked it. Just so you know.

Completely unrelated photo (by request for Squadratomagico): Cloister Cats!
Now with bonus kitteh!

**I just realized that this is exactly the approach that I took when writing proposals to revise my more or less aimless dissertation into a book: I pushed and pushed until I had an idea that was at least plausible, and then I shaped and polished it until it was something I could actually believe in. And it turned out pretty okay.

Writing Group, Week Five: Facing the Heartbreak of O.B.E.

2011-07-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome back everyone! As usual, we begin by checking in with your accomplishments for the past week, and your goals for the week to come. I've made several notes in the roll call from last week about being more specific in your goals. People in the group have expressed this in several ways: "I will finish X part of project" or "I will write 500 words a day" or "I will work six days this week for at least 90 minutes." The goals don't need to be gigantic; just specific. I encourage this because "I will make some progress" is going to be less helpful to you. To put it simply: Vague goals lead to vague results. So let's see some specifics – whatever that means for you – in your goals this week.

Okay, moving on…

We're at week five, and by now, some of you are undoubtedly saying, "Wow! I had no idea I could write so much so quickly! Dang! Why haven't I been doing this all along?"

For many, however, this is about the point where we start losing steam. Often it's because we've been Overcome By Events. OBE can arise from expected causes – a conference, a vacation, a family visit. It can also be the result of unforseen events: illness (yours or a family member's), or another project that pops up and demands your immediate attention (ADM talked last week about strategies for juggling projects). Or you could have just been hit by severe lethargy, gotten sucked in by Hulu or Netflix or an ambition to read the complete works of Dickens, and let a two-day break stretch into two weeks, and now you don't know how to get back again. These things do happen, and while we strive to be dedicated writers who meet our goals, we are not machines.

But also: Let's talk about how to keep a detour from becoming a permanent derailment. After all, if you get derailed, you become demoralized, which makes it even harder to get started again. It's happened to all of us, but this summer is going to be different.

Yes, it is.

Because I say so, that's why.

A few weeks ago, ADM threw out a discussion topic that only a few people picked up on, but now I'd like to revive it, because the comments from last week suggest that it's critical at this point: When you can't write for reasons that are out of your control, what specific thing will you do to stay engaged, and keep from losing momentum? There were some good ideas that happened to pop up in the comments last week over at ADM's place: carve out 90 minutes in the morning during a family visit; use the time period that you know will be unproductive to sketch out a specific work plan for when you return; journal daily about your ideas; have a small and easily interruptable project to work on if you're waiting for feedback or temporarily can't get sustained work time on the big project (like, say, when you're traveling).

The important thing here is to have a plan in place to stay engaged. It's hard to get started again after an absence, and the longer we stay away, the more chance we give fear and demoralization to creep in.

So remember that you made a commitment to yourself. You will feel better every day that you honor that commitment. I promise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 5 roll call (with goals from last week):

ABDMama [Draft of an article MS]: finishing up all the new primary sources and secondary sources.
ADM [conference paper for Leeds; revision of paper after]: work on Leeds paper [?]
Bardiac [Review-ready article MS]: has a work plan for this week [NPhD: specifics will help you stay on track]
Dame Eleanor [Revising a conference paper into article MS]: Overcome by events
Digger [drafts of two book chapters]: edit the now typology-timeline chapter into something presentable, plus two smallish side projects
Dr. Koshary [Review-ready article MS]: no specific goal for this week?
Erika [Review-ready draft of an article MS]: wrap up reading in primary sources and get a modest amount added to the draft
Firstmute [chapter draft; send out article]: have the article in shape to send to my advisor by Friday; secondary goal of putting in 1 hr a day on the chapter.
Frog Princess [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: finish chapter, have the back broken on the introduction
J. Otto Pohl [Complete draft of 2/3-finished book MS]: make up for some of the lost productivity of last week [Here again, I strongly suggest setting more concrete goals to help you stay on track]
Jeff [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: take another run at revising the Nth chapter [NPhD: is this meant to be a complete revision, or a revision of specific sections?]
Jen [Revising conference paper into article MS]: catch up from vacation [can you be specific?]
Kit: [Kit, do we have a specific project goal for you?] A week of meeting daily writing goals of 500 words
Matilda [Draft of a publishable paper]: work through week 5 section of WYJA, esp. working on draft [specific goal: can you finish that draft? Or a specific chunk of it?]
Mel [NPhD: Mel, what was your overall project?]: finish Chapter 4 by Monday, then start ch. 5, w/goal of intro and methods section done by Friday
NWGirl [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: finish the current section and start work on the second section.
Ro [MS revision (NPhD: article?)]: Traveling + family visit, so continue with research readings plus sketch out a plan for work that I can pick up upon my return the following week [not a bad way to deal with necessary diversions – sketching the plan keeps you mentally engaged with the project]
Sapience [diss chapter]: start working on advisor's suggestions for revisions; backup plan is write the abstract for the CFP and/or start revising the job market materials. [I like this idea of having a backup plan; it helps you keep momentum]
Sara [Revision of research exam]: Travel this week; can't make concrete plans
Scholastic Mama [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: revise argument and choose one more secondary journal, in case the first journal does not pan out
Susan [Revise & polish two chapters of a book MS]: a weekend trip to Paris [okay: envious], no specific goals while traveling, other than general progress
Tigs [Completed diss draft]: Rework intro and frame for ch. 2; more generally, work consistently every day
Travelia [Write two conference papers]: No specific goals; week of travel/conference
What Now [Polished book proposal]: write 2000 words by next Friday
Zabeel [Draft first two sections of new article]: working consistently, including both reading and writing [can you set yourself a more specific goal, either in terms of words/pages/hours per day? The same 3 hrs per day that you set previously?]

Awaiting report [NB: we are assuming that participants who have been MIA for three or more consecutive weeks have found themselves unable to continue with the group at this time, so if your name has disappeared from the list, that's why]

Caleb Woodbridge [MA thesis]*
Cly [revise article for publication & draft chapter for book]*
Eileen [First draft of a dissertation chapter]*
Gillian [an article that needs writing]*
Godiva [First draft of diss. chap.]*
Jason [First draft of a dissertation chapter]*
Ms McD: Revising a conference paper into an article MS**
My Museology: redraft three dissertation chapters**
Scatterwriter [Complete expansion/revision of an article MS]*
Zcat abroad [write two articles]*

I suppose it's not so bad, since…

2011-06-30T02:24:00.000-07:00

…since I'm finding out for certain that the documents that once existed no longer do.
…since I'm getting a chance to visit some towns in Blargistan that formerly were only places on a map.
…since I did, after all, find one marvelous cache of highly relevant documents (about 100 of them), even if it only took me three days to page through and photograph the parts I needed.
…since I've discovered a fabulous new restaurant in each of the towns I've visited.
…since I got to spend a week in a sixteenth-century mansion.
…since I've gotten a chance to spend more time with friends.
…since my resolution to work more intensively on my Blerg has had fantastic results: I wouldn't call myself "fluent" or even "proficient," but I can carry on a decent conversation now about more than just my research, and in a full 5 verb tenses, with the occasional tentative foray into the subjunctive.
…since I've been eating extremely well,** yet can still somehow fit into all the clothes I brought with me (though I still have five full days here, so don't hold me to that).
…since both my presentations went relatively well, and one of them is even going to pay me, once I get the bank stuf sorted out.
…since I got to meet up with some friends & colleagues from the states who were also here.
…since I've been taking pictures again.
…since the view from the current archive window looks like this:

…since my one carry-on suitcase managed to get me through a five-week trip (though I'll be porting back more books than I came with).
…since I've discovered that ordering iced coffee has become a common and acceptable thing to do here, and I can now do so fluidly in both Blarg and Blerg.
…since there might be a Fabulous Seminar Thingy to take me back here next summer to hit some of the "I should have gone there instead!" places.
…since having found only 100 or so documents means that I'll have less to process when I return in a week or so, because really, I still haven't finished the ones from my sabbatical last year.

Still, I'm sure that some of you will identify with that part of my brain that calculates time and (considerable and personal) expense versus the measly three "productive" days I had, and starts to feel like this trip has been a colossal waste of time, money, and effort. Hence, the list above, to remind me that I have, indeed, gotten something out of this trip, even if it's not precisely the something I was hoping for.

**For the Comrade, and others who focus on such things: Last night's dinner was squid-ink tagliatelli with calamari in a medium-spicy white wine/butter sauce.

Birthday update

2011-06-25T23:49:00.000-07:00

Notorious Ph.D. will, in fact, be spending half of her 41st birthday on a bus to a town of 11,000. Will there be documents there? I don't know. But it will be different. It always is.

UPDATE ALREADY: Lunchtime. Old dude at the table next to me looked almost exactly like my former M.A. adviser. And he wanted to talk. And I knew I was in trouble when, within the first three minutes, the phrase "Jesus was Basque" entered the conversation. At that point, I knew it was only a matter of time before we got to the Templars.** I have never eaten a salad so quickly in my life.

**We did, however, manage to get to the Essenes, the Cathars, Charlemagne, and how American Jews financed WWII before I was able to pay the check and get the hell out of there.

Woman in a Suitcase

2011-06-24T07:27:00.001-07:00

WRITING GROUP NOTE: ADM has put up the post for week four of the writing group!

As I've mentioned many times, I'm moving around a lot this trip. Here's the itinerary:

stage 1: 6 nights in Blerg City (rental apartment)
stage 2: 6 nights in research city A
stage 3: 3 nights in Blerg City (2 different crash pads)
stage 4: 7 nights in research city B
stage 5: 4 nights in Blerg City (1 crash pad, but different from the two from stage 3)
stage 6: 6 nights in research city C
stage 7: 3 nights in Blerg City (1 crash pad, a repeat from stage 3)

So here's the question: Which of these would you unpack your suitcase for?

Seriously, I hate living out of a suitcase, because I can never find anything. It's especially problematic this time, as everything had to fit into a carry-on suitcase and a medium-sized shoulder bag (for computer, camera, passport, wallet, and book -- there, now you know which bag to rob). So when I don't unpack, it's a holy terror trying to find anything. But some stays are just too short to consider it, or lack the space to do so. For some of those latter, I've done the halfway-unpack thing. But it's still messy.

In fact, I have to clean up said mess right now, so I'll leave you all to discuss. But here's a parting gift, for those of you who have been waiting for it since you read the title:

Productivity Tools

2011-06-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today, as I'm on the move again. So what I have for you is the list of productivity tools for writers:

Citation & Note-taking:

Ro & Travelia recommend Evernote
Scatterwriter uses Zotero, as do I.

Basic writing software: Frogprincess and a couple others (me included) are using Scrivener.** Don't worry – it's perfectly compatible with Word. It's just a very nice format for organizing and constructing your work, and especially for looking at it in small chunks that you can later seamlessly integrate. Be warned, though: there is a slight learning curve – it takes about a week to learn 85% of it (and the other 15% you may not actually need). Another note: it was designed for Macs, and I think the PC version is still only in Beta, FWIW.

Miscellaneous Productivity Ideas:

NW girl recommends "the Pomodoro technique -- looks interesting, and might be a way to shake you out of a rut.
Jen contributes a CHE post on summer writing bootcamps

And finally: Frogprincess weighs in with a recommendation for Netflix instant, "for those 15 minute breaks we all need." Movies aren't my preferred writing reward (it takes me out of whatever flow I've established), but do make sure to plan in short breaks and rewards – whatever moves you forward without setting you back.

**And those of you who are using Scrivener – have you figured out how to get it to rotate pdfs in your "research" folder? Some of my Interlibrary pdfs arrive scanned sideways, and the inability to view them right-side-up in Scrivener is bugging the crap out of me.

Another Conversation with my Brain

2011-06-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

So, I think I mentioned that town #1 was a bust for me, archive-wise? My thought then was: "A week! I should have gone to T. instead. Aarrrrgh!!!"

Now I'm in town #2, and though I found loads of stuff last week in archive A, that petered out by the weekend. Yesterday (Monday) archives B & C yielded nothing for this project.

There is a perverse part of me that always thinks the same thing when these things happen: "If I'd known, I wouldn't have booked so many days! I could have spent time in other, more productive places! Or I could have made a shorter trip and saved money!"

This is the way my brain works. It's also something I'm trying to change.

See, last night, my brain was starting to do that "You're wasting time and money, woman!" thing it does. And I had to pull my brain off to one side and tell it the following:

"Chill out, brain. You're looking at this all wrong. Sure, time and money are being spent, and we're not finding documents every day. But I emphasize that they are being spent, not "wasted." Think of all the things that these extra few days have allowed you to do. You are enjoying city #2 immensely, thanks to the generosity of a friend and that city's own considerable charms. You are practicing Blerg intensively. You are taking some good pictures, getting your eye back after a too-long hiatus. You are getting some "down time" – may I remind you of that hour and a half you spent sitting on the cathedral steps reading the novel in Blerg you picked up? And today, when you go to the archive, you will have the opportunity to track down that one citation that's been eluding you, to follow that trail of footnotes and see what document it leads to. Just remember that life ain't all about work, brain. Wasn't that something we were supposed to be working on?"

And the verdict is...

2011-06-20T04:13:00.000-07:00

...ick.

That is, the verdict on wearing latex gloves in the archives -- something that this archive I'm visiting today asks all their patrons to do. They are gross, sweaty, and my resultant lack of dexterity can only be bad for the 14th-century paper registers I'm handling.

Ick.

Welcome to Week Three!

2011-06-17T00:53:00.000-07:00

(Now UPDATED, with my preliminary feedback beginning at comment #30.)

So, by now people should be past the initial obstacles and well into writing. Many of you were talking about getting that "down draft" – that is, just getting some words on the page. If you're still doing that, great. Keep moving forward until you have something to start shaping. Others started with the first draft already done (as a draft, or as a conference paper, or some other thing) and were outlining and thinking of the work in terms of small, discrete ideas to flesh out, one at a time. Whatever you're doing to keep yourself moving forward, keep it up, and don't forget to celebrate your accomplishments along the way – and announce them to the group, so we can celebrate them, too!

Today, we'll do the usual report-and-plan. That is, tell the group what you've accomplished (maybe in terms of the goals you set for yourself last week?) and what you plan to do over the next week. I'm adding a new feature on the updated roster (below), reminding you of the goal you set for yourself last week. Confronting our own selves can be a good reality check (are you setting goals too high? too low?) and a powerful motivator. And if you're on the "awaiting report" list, well… we're awaiting your report. Let us know what you're up to!

One other thing that I thought we'd do this week: Over the past couple of weeks, several of you mentioned various productivity tools you've used. If you've recently started using something that is really working well for you on this project, let us know about it. Suggestions for writing guides that have worked for you are also welcome. Come Monday or Tuesday, I'll compile and post the suggestions, each with a short blurb from the person(s) who recommended them.

One last note: this week's travels have me out of internet range on the weekends. So this weekend I won't be chiming in until Monday. ADM will likely be checking in as she's home between conferences (ramblin' gal that she is), but you'll be supporting each others' efforts, so do pop back once or twice over the weekend to read each others' comments and offer advice and support. [UPDATE: looks like I'll be able to check in once in the wee hours of Saturday morning]

Happy writing, all – and see you Monday, and again next Friday for week four at ADM's place!

updated roster, with goals:

ABDMama [Draft of an article MS]: get through the primary sources and articles and locate ones that are needed; continue writing reading summaries
ADM [conference paper for Leeds; revision of paper after]: organizing some stuff for the Leeds paper, including ordering books to be waiting in the BL
Bardiac [Review-ready article MS]: go through previous draft comments from friends; organize revision
Dame Eleanor [Revising a conference paper into article MS]: keep daily writing; also get conference paper finished
Digger [drafts of two book chapters]: get the rest of the data into, and a quick edit of, the typology/dating chapter
Dr. Koshary [Review-ready article MS]: excused absence for trans-global move [!!]
Eileen [First draft of a dissertation chapter]: get primary sources for this chapter lined up; write up trends in quantitative data; continue 500 words/day
Erika [Review-ready draft of an article MS]: excused absence for fancy summer seminar
Firstmute [draft of the final dissertation chapter]: Add 5,000 words to draft
Frog Princess [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: tackle three major sections of the introduction, and get all sections of my final chapter in order, ready for the final rewrite.
Gillian [an article that needs writing]: no declared goal for this week
Godiva [First draft of diss. chap.]: organize information about one collection of sources; continue freewriting ideas about individual sources
Historydoll [Convert dissertation chapter into an article]: freewrite on the topic every day, to reread the chapter in question, and to write at least 1,000 words of zero draft.
J. Otto Pohl [Complete draft of 2/3-finished book MS]: no declared goal for this week
Jason [First draft of a dissertation chapter]: 5 days of free(ish)-writing; (2) subdividing of outline into individual projects
Jeff [Review-ready draft of completed dissertation]: on vay-cay, but try to put in an hour or two a day of writing [ed. note: time off is part of the process, my friend]
Jen [Revising conference paper into article MS]: finish writing the first section of my article
Kim [???]: Write an abstract?
Kit [First draft of a dissertation chapter]: flesh out the chapter outline and pull relevant literature
Matilda [Draft of a publishable paper]: revise draft article around my argument
Mel [???]:write the materials and methods and results sections for the next chapter
Ms McD [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: revise and add to next section of article
My Museology [redraft three dissertation chapters]: complete redrafting chapter 1
NWGirl [Revising a conference paper into an article MS]: complete a draft of one section of the paper; short archives trek [ed. note: yay, archives!!!]
Ro [MS revision (article?)]: read a group of newly available archival sources [ed. suggestion: Do some summarizing/where-does-this-fit writing as you read. That way, you're getting words on the page.]
Sapience [diss chapter]: no declared goal for this week; end-of month goal = first draft
Sara [Revision of research exam]: start daily writing; get a better handle on organization of draft
Scatterwriter [Complete expansion/revision of an article MS]: fully write up ideas on new concept from last week
Susan [Revise & polish two chapters of a book MS]: finish first revision of first chapter?
Tigs [Completed diss draft]: have all parts of ch 2 in one doc; have a clear plan for revision
Travelia [Write two conference papers]: complete a "decent" draft of conf. paper #1, and draft a plan for expansion/revision into article at a later date
What Now [Polished book proposal]: write 3,000 words for current book chapter [ed. query: so is getting a down draft of most of the book part of the work you're doing to be able to write the proposal?]
Zabeel [Draft first two sections of new article]: no declared goal for this week
Zcat abroad [write two articles]: detour/excused absence to finish Leeds paper

Awaiting report:

Anastasia: a book chapter to write for an edited volume*
Audie: working on transitioning a dissertation chapter to an article*
Avery: Draft of an article MS**
Caleb Woodbridge: MA thesis**
Cly: redraft three dissertation chapters*
Scholastic Mama: Revising a conference paper into an article MS**
theswain: editing & rewriting; produce new reviews/summaries for New Year's work*

Research Trips, and the Kindness of Friends

2011-06-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

Reminder! Tomorrow is week three of the writing group! Make sure to report your progress, and your plan for the following week!

Okay, so I'm here in G. And let me tell you, it's freakin' gorgeous. I'm finding loads of materials for my project -- in reality, probably enough for a whole other project, if I decide to change direction. Or, if I ever have grad students who read Latin, Blarg, and Blerg (medieval and modern), I can turn them loose on this stuff.

But what makes this short stay (8 days) in G. especially nice is that it, like a few other stays this trip, have been hosted by friends.

I've been coming to Blargistan for a very long time, ever since my dissertation days. And way back then, in the late 90s, a group of oh-so-miscellaneous grad students adopted me. There were dinners out at inexpensive restaurants someone's girlfriend had found (Senegalese food for 3 Euros? We're there). There were trips to the movies planned around whatever theater had a half-price night that night. There were 45 minute-long coffee breaks at the archive. And there are now long-running jokes with those who I still know from back in the day. Over the years, others have been added to this group, really cool people, genuinely fun to hang around with, and all tolerant of (or maybe morbidly fascinated by?) a yankee scholar and her sometimes bizarre ways.

And this trip, I went ahead and asked various of them if I could stay at their places for anywhere from 2 nights to a week. And doors were opened, food was laid on, mothers fussed, etc. etc.

Yes, there was a practical side to this: other than some nice guest gifts, I'm spending no money for my accomodations for 50% of my trip. But better than that is the feeling that I have several "homes" here in Blargistan. Most are spare bedrooms in family apartments. The one I'm currently in is a meticulously restored two-story apartment in what is essentially a 16th-century merchant mansion right in the middle of the old medieval city, a 90-second walk from the archive. But all have that nice feeling that you're being welcomed home by family (if you and your family were ever on your best behavior). Which is kinda awesome.

The entryway to the very house I'm staying in. The well still works.

Things are Going Well

2011-06-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

...and I'm thinking about changing the locks and never leaving this place.

That's a teaser for you. More tomorrow...

Dear Friend in the Town of G.

2011-06-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you, thank you, for offering to let me stay in your apartment for the week starting Tuesday -- that is, the day after tomorrow. That's incredibly generous of you. The location is perfect, and the price (free!) is right. It's also a beautiful historic building, which is oh-so-nifty.

Given all this generosity on your part, I feel bad about nagging you for details, but:

What, precisely, is your address? So I can, you know, actually find the place two days hence?

Thanks again,

NPhD

Writing Group, week two!

2011-06-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hello, all!

Another Damned Medievalist has posted this week's writing group meetup. As always, we ask our participants to talk about 1) their progress this past week, and 2) what they plan to do for next week. In addition, ADM adds the following for this week:

Lots of people started out making less progress than perhaps they had planned, for all sorts of good reasons. But we all know that those good reasons still eat into our time, and can often mean a sense of failure that affects getting the writing done. For next week, let's not only post our goals, but also think about one or two small things that, even if life starts getting in the way, we can get done to move the project forward. It could be reviewing a couple of articles, or drafting an outline, or even just freewriting 500 words you think you'll have to dump -- but it should be something you can point to and say, "I did this thing."

Make sure to post your progress reports and comments over there this week; we'll be back at Casa Notorious next Friday.**

One other little bit of linky goodness, again over at ADM's place: today she posts an open letter to the Berks organizers on how the conference this year is quite light on anything pre-19th century, and muses on marginalization within the field of women's history, á là Judith Bennett. Well worth reading and thinking about.

**Contingent, of course, on me finding a suitable internet connection the day of the post. If you don't see anything here by, oh, say, noonish next Friday, check back over at ADM's place.

Looking on the Bright Side of an Archival Bust

2011-06-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

So, I've now visited all of the archives in the small Blargistan city of L that have medieval documents, and I'm telling you, there is not a one that is useful to my project.

Not. One.

Most of L's medieval holdings are sparse. The diocesan archive at one point had mountains of documents dating back to the mid-12th century, but everything medieval and much else was destroyed in one of the wars that blew through here, and now their documents only go back to the mid-18th century. The other archives have the occasional register or bundle of parchments from my century, but I've got a project centered around a specific year, and there's almost nothing for that, other than a few documents of property sales or rentals (which might be fascinating for some projects, but not for mine).

I've spend a week here, and I've transcribed a total of three documents, all of them highly tangential to my project. But I had to do something, other than sitting here, wishing I'd spent the week in T. instead. Or even back in Blerg City.

So, what's the bright side?

Well, now I've looked at all the archives in L. I know what is and isn't here, for future projects. Tomorrow I'm going to look at the one particularly rich collection they have for the era I tend to work on. It doesn't have anything for this project, but I want to know about it.
The archivists have all been very nice and helpful.
The paper I presented on Monday went well.
I had to stay in a hotel, but it was inexpensive, and clean, and conveniently located.
I only booked six days, rather than the ten days I originally had planned.
There is a really good vegetarian restaurant in this town (in a country where it's hard to get a meat-free meal), and yesterday I had what may be the best salad I've ever eaten.
I visited the one main medieval attraction, and because this is an out-of-the-way town, and because it was a weekday, I had the whole place to myself for long stretches of time.
I've gotten to rest up a bit, to the point where I'm really, really eager to have some documents to dig into.

Please, please let there be documents for me to dig into.

One of the photos of the nearly-deserted medieval attraction I visited yesterday.

Just Something to Think About

2011-06-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

In Blerg (though not Blarg), the word for "archive" sounds like a sneeze.

Discuss.

Miscellany from the Archives

2011-06-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

Oh, thank goodness for readable documents. I'm not allowed to photograph the one I was working on this morning, but it was an official privilege, so although it's long, the writing is nice and neat, and the abbreviations are few and regular.
Archival norms are weird, in that they vary a lot from one to the next. Some don't let you bring in any writing instruments, and make you use the pencils they provide. There's the one that has you divest yourself of everything that a document could possibly be concealed in. There's the archive that limits you to three documents a day. There's the one that sent me up a ladder to fetch my own crumbling registers off a top shelf. The one I'm currently working in that put two fourteenth-century parchments on my table, then when I left to go to the restroom, just told me to leave them there, even though the door to the building's main lobby was wide open…and the door from the lobby to the great outdoors – where it's currently raining!** – is open as well. The bathroom, however, is under lock and key.
The gloom-and-doom predictions were right: there's not much in the archives of this city for the period I'm studying. In today's archive, it was only perhaps half a dozen documents, and all of them only very tangentially related to my topic. But there are two or three other archives in this city. I'm not worried. And if anyone wants to do a thesis on crime in a small and not very interesting town in the Mediterranean, there's a truly fantastic cache of largely unexploited criminal registers here from the 14th century on.
One final note: it's good to be back in the documents again.

**Humidity is the number-two enemy of medieval documents, second only to catastrophic fire.

How to Catch a Train in Blerg City

2011-06-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Begin at the surprisingly grimy main train station in Blerg City.

(1.a) Puzzle over which of the three multi-window ticket counters you should go to to purchase your train ticket. (1.b) Decide to try the handy automatic ticket-dispensing machines that lots of people are using. (If you've already done step 1b once before, then skip it and go straight to step 4).

(2) Search in vain for your destination on the machines' list. Discover that these machines are only for regional trains. The two other types of train departing from this station (not counting the subway and the trains to the suburbs, which are both entirely separate systems) are only available at the ticket counters.

(3) Repeat step 1.

(4) Go to the ticket window that you notice has your destination displayed for today's departures (although the other two ticket counters lack departure boards, so you're not sure). Bonus: This window has the shortest (though least organized) lines!

(5) After a bit of jostling and ruminating about whether the best response to line jumpers (in a culture whose subtle rules of behavior you don't always understand) is passive-aggression or just plain aggression, arrive at the front of the line, and learn that, yes, this is where you would buy your ticket to that city… if you were traveling today. Since you're purchasing a ticket for a later date (well-prepared person that you are), you need to go to the next counter over.

(6) Take a numbered ticket for your place in line at the next counter. Note that the number on your ticket is "632," and the current number being served is "550." (6b) Decide that life is too short to wait in line for so damn long, and accept your friend's offer to go back to her nearby apartment and purchase the ticket online and print it on her printer.

(7) Locate ticket-purchasing website; (7b) Fill out several screens of information; (7c) click "purchase ticket"; (7d) receive "unable to process transaction" message; (7e) Despair.

(8) Call train company and explain the problem. Once they have looked up and verified that your card has not been charged, attempt to purchase over the phone. Give same information you gave on website. Learn that their computer system won't take U.S.-issued credit cards.

(9) Return to train station. Take number ("745"… current number is "660"). Wait 45 minutes. Jump up when your number is called, feeling like a lottery winner. Purchase ticket.

(10) Board train the next day. Note that it's actually a rather nice train. Maybe not "steps one through nine" nice, but nice nonetheless. The train is uncrowded. You have a window seat, and a small lunch of mini-sandwich, fresh cherries, and water. Relax. Read your novel. Watch the countryside slip past until you arrive at your destination.

From (Deliberately) Lazy to (Unfortunately) Frenetic

2011-06-05T04:06:00.000-07:00

For the first time, I planned a trip to Blargistan that included some down time at the beginning and the end. Granted, some of that down time at the beginning got eaten up by the first of my three presentations (#2 & 3 Monday!), but it was a real pleasure to have most of a week to just adjust to being here, spend long days with friends, and not worry about finding stuff.

(And yes, Comrade: I've been eating cheese. Plenty of it.)

fig. 1: Not cheese. But delicious nonetheless.

But the flip side, the more frenetic side, is that this trip sees me not planted in a single city. Rather, I have four cities in five weeks, three of them to work in archives wholly new to me, and two of those three in towns I've never been to. I'm bouncing back and forth from the smaller ones to my "home base" in Blerg City on weekends, camping out with various friends. I do miss the way I was able to establish a long-term rhythm when I was here before last spring. So this will be a change.

In any case, I'm off to catch a train to L. in a couple of hours. Not sure what my internet access will be. More dispatches when I can.

My first week in Blargistan

2011-06-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

NB: people are still checking in and discussing over at the writing group. You can find that discussion by clicking here.

I think it's going well. The goal this time is to try to apply "work less, live more," even to my research trips. So, thus far, between arriving Tuesday and today (Saturday), I have:

Given the first of my presentations (went well, but ran long) and gotten to meet some academics here I hadn't known previously
Developed a game plan for the archives I'm going to later this month
Given away several courtesy copies of my book
Spent a little time in one archive's reading room tracking down some odds and ends for an article project
I have not, however, looked at a single medieval document.

I have also:

Met up with a couple of US colleagues, one of whom I haven't seen for years
Eaten cheese, cherries, and tomatoes
Had coffee or lunch with a number of friends
Slept through every night, miraculously without any jetlag of any kind (I think that being awake for more than 30 hours straight on the way and my first day here had something to do with that).
Taken some pretty pictures:

Writing Group: Week One!

2011-06-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

UPDATED BELOW, with a word from ADM about next week. Also, check the comments – around #35, I give some feedback and suggestions, FWIW.

Goodness gracious, but we have a full roster this term!

So, welcome to the end of your first week. Here's where you report on your progress, and set a goal to report back on next Friday (this time, over at ADM's place).

Last week, I also suggested that, after checking in with their progress and their goal for week two, people take on one other thing for contemplation: tell us about your writing routine. When do you write? Where do you do it? How long is your daily writing session?

Also, feel free to talk amongst yourselves, yes? This is supposed to be a support group of sorts, so if you see something particularly interesting in what someone else has said, feel free to chime in with another comment.

Now, it's time to take attendance. When I call your name and project, please check in:

Sapience: a first draft and a revised draft of the current dissertation chapter
Dame Eleanor: Revising a conference paper into an article MS
NWGirl: Same thing.
ADM: a conference paper for Leeds
ABDMama: Draft of an article MS
Dr. Koshary: Review-ready article MS
Sara: Revision of her research exam
What Now: Polished book proposal
Avery: Draft of an article MS
Jason: First draft of a dissertation chapter
J. Otto Pohl: Complete a draft of a two-thirds finished book MS
Jeff: Review-ready draft of his completed dissertation
Frog Princess: Same thing
Erika: Review-ready draft of an article MS (taken from the dissertation)
Godiva: First draft of a dissertation chapter
Kit: Same thing
Eileen: Same thing, too!
Bardiac: Review-ready article MS (revision of a draft paper)
Scholastic Mama: Revising a conference paper into an article MS
Jen: same thing
Tigs: Completed dissertation draft
Digger: drafts of two book chapters (one already underway)
Zcat abroad: write two articles [??] [is this from scratch, or two revisions? Seems like a lot for 12 weeks; just sayin']
Caleb Woodbridge: MA thesis
Matilda: Draft of one paper [for a conference? or for publication?]
Zabeel: Draft of the first two (of four) sections of a from-scratch article.
Ro: first draft of an essay for an collected volume (mid-summer)
Firstmute: draft of the final [ed. note: YAY!!!] dissertation chapter
Scatterwriter: Complete expansion/revision of an article MS.
Susan: Revise & polish two chapters of a book MS
Travelia: Write two conference papers (possibly more later in the summer)
Ms McD: Revising a conference paper into an article MS

Thanks for being part of the group, and see you next Friday over at ADM's place! Oh, and by the way, she says:

Lots of people started out making less progress than perhaps they had planned, for all sorts of good reasons. But we all know that those good reasons still eat into our time, and can often mean a sense of failure that affects getting the writing done. For next week, let's not only post our goals, but also think about one or two small things that, even if life starts getting in the way, we can get done to move the project forward. It could be reviewing a couple of articles, or drafting an outline, or even just freewriting 500 words you think you'll have to dump -- but it should be something you can point to and say, "I did this thing."

Don't forget!

2011-06-02T01:50:00.001-07:00

We've had a lot of people show interest in the writing group, and people have made some serious commitments, so I think we should have a good group.

Don't forget: your first progress reports are due in tomorrow's post. I'll be taking attendance...

Random Bullets of Travel

2011-05-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

I got underway for my research trip to Blargistan at 6 a.m. Monday morning, with a ride to the airport. Everything – everything – fit into a camera bag and a carry-on suitcase. Including four gift copies of the book. I imagine that I will be purchasing some clothing items while I'm in Blargistan.
Another item in my suitcase is a book to help me with improve my knowledge of Blerg. No, not Blarg; Blerg. Blarg is the primary language you learn when you go to Blargistan, but in some places (including some of the ones that I'm going on this trip), a good working knowledge of Blerg opens some doors. Currently, I speak Blerg like a buddhist – I remain firmly in the present. I hear that there are other tenses.
Why pack for five weeks, including such heavy items, in only a carry-on? Simple: my connecting flight at JFK gives me only 50 minutes to de-plane, get to the international terminal, go through security again, and get to my gate (actually, probably less than that, as they close the gate a bit before departure). I'll have enough trouble getting me there; I don't trust that my luggage would make it separately. Expect this point to be updated (hopefully from the plane, and not from some JFK-adjacent hotel room).
Yes, the stove is off. Yes, the coffee pot is off. Yes, the alarm on my clock is off. Hell, I even took the batteries out of the smoke alarms, just in case.
I'm also having guests (relatives of friends) stay at my house for a week while I'm away. So I put out clean sheets & towels, and cleaned the place a bit yesterday. What's the appropriate cleaning effort for houseguests who are staying for free? I determined that "one hour" was the right answer.
A smart thing to do: when you have an early-morning flight, go buy your latte the night before. Pop it in the fridge for reheating the next morning. This will guarantee that you don't have to face the pre-dawn hours un-caffeinated, and there are no dishes to wash before you go.
I have determined to practice the yoga principle of non-attachment for the duration of this trip: If I find tons of fabulous documents, great. If I don't, well, there's not much I can do about that.
Yep: Made it. Slept almost not at all. It's now 8 a.m. where I'm at, and the middle of the night where I started out. Wondering if I should take a nap. Wondering how the melatonin experiment will go.
I'm hoping that my European cell phone will still work. I promised a ridiculous number of people that I'd call them "as soon as I arrived." I'm barely coherent in my own language right now.
aaannndd.... it's been 30 hours since I last slept. But in general, everything went smoothly. Time to call it a day.

Do you know what's a really cool feeling?

2011-05-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

I don't want to steal focus from the online writing group CFP, so if you're interested, go here, and sign up. Don't delay: week one progress reports are coming June 3!

Guess what? I leave for a five-week research trip to Blargistan on Monday. And, as of 7:45 p.m. Saturday, I was finished with my pre-trip to-do list. I had finished and printed my presentation, confirmed my lodgings, put together a sheet with friends' phone numbers, located my passport, called the banks to log my travel so that my cards would still work, backed up my computer's hard drive, printed out my itinerary, printed maps of the archives, done laundry, paid bills, collected medications, and even got semi-packed.

This meant that, other than an hour's worth of house-tidying, and the last of the packing, I have had all of today all to myself, just to relax.

This is something unprecedented. And let me tell you, it's nice.

I'm up at 5 a.m. tomorrow, and off to the airport at 6. Next dispatch from Blargistan!