Friday, May 30, 2014

Summertime means no rest for the wicked (or those going up for tenure next year)

Wow, my poor neglected blog here. It's not as if I haven't been busy as hell. And I've neglected all of you out there, too. I've no idea what's going on with anybody out there right now.

But I anticipate some somewhat regular blogging at least for the summer because I have sooooooo much to do. I mean, I know I say that every summer, and that every summer is crucial, but I go up for tenure next year, and I'm still short one article. And I'm working with a guy this summer who did not get tenure, and I feel like that's the universe's warning to me to get my shit together.

I'm not teaching, but I am doing the cyber camp which is half the time of what teaching would be. However, I didn't really realize until yesterday exactly how time intensive those three weeks will. What makes it worthwhile is that between the two camps (one in July), I should make enough money to pay off, for good, all of our bad debts. This is my single biggest motivator here. Because that hangs over my head, stresses me out, and cripples every summer. So I've got to look at my writing and revising here I think in the same way that I view my workouts. A little bit each day, and be consistent at that. If I consistently work five days a week over the course of the summer, even if it's only writing 15 minutes a day (though I've got some reading and research to do), then I should have a thing or two to send out at the end of summer. I'm going to revise a diss chapter or two and finish that article I was working on during the spring. I don't know if my goals are too lofty, but if I don't have lofty goals, then nothing gets done.

What that means is that since the next three weeks are going to be a whirlwind of activity and stuff (plus I'm going out of town for this camp in two weeks), there's a whole lot of stuff that I need to get done this weekend before camp starts. The two biggest priorities are getting a month's worth of the Magpie's food cooked (about halfway there), and getting the bedroom, where my computer and desk are, organized and clean so that when I have a moment to work, I have a space in which to do it. So I'm super stressed, but I'm feeling a bit better this morning with some sleep and stuff. I'm still freaked, but I need to take the weekend to come up with a plan and get organized. I have one article left for tenure, which I know means I need to have like four out there. But I'm nervous. But I can do this.

Okay, time to get ready for the workout. At least, my body is feeling better and I have more energy, so I might be able to get a successful summer in the books.

One thing I hope to do with the blog is use it for coming up with my writing/plans for the day or week and use this as a progress report type thing. So, there it is.

Hope you all are well!!