I wrote 1200 words yesterday on the latest novel, which is more than I had been writing for a while. I still don’t know what I think of this novel — it seems like a lot of conversations right now. I don’t know if it has enough action yet. The good news is that the story is setting up future situations and complications as it should. I have to remind myself to just keep writing — I can edit later.
I have this theory that I write better when writing is distracting me from other things I need to do. Right now I have papers to grade, but suddenly I have this hankering to write. I’ve scheduled part of today to write and part to rest. Tomorrow I have a concert to go to in the afternoon; I may grade during the morning. Or Monday; Monday will be soon enough.
I will get through this semester. I will write this book.
This school year (do you call it that when it’s teaching college?) went by very fast. There’s a pile of grading standing between me and the end of the year. Some of it I will get done this weekend; the rest during the week while I am giving final exams. I will get through grading, and then on to the summer.
I think I will have 10 interns this summer. That’s not a lot of interns, but it will keep me busy. I will have time to rest and write in between internship supervision. I already have prepped my classes for fall while bored in my office, so I’m ahead of the game.
I need this break. It has been an intense school year.
It’s my last day of freedom, and I am going to use it to accomplish absolutely nothing. I’m going to store up on rest as if it was a rare commodity (which it is). I got all my work done on classes early and even have my schedule for my door prepared. (Oops, it’s not quite done; guess I have a bit to do).
This week will be easy; inservice and meetings tomorrow, followed by the next couple of days of work-at-home. The fun starts next week as we start classes.
I’m not ready for this!
Of course I am. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. I got this.
We’re traveling back today, so this is going to be a short entry. I would have skipped it but I don’t want to break my posting streak.
I’m going to have time to work on classes when I return. More days with a flexible schedule will be welcome. Spring semester will get here soon enough.
My (American) Thanksgiving break starts today after classes, for which I am very thankful. The thing about being faculty at a university is that you don’t get to schedule vacations when you want, but the vacations you get are generous. A week at Thanksgiving and Spring Break, three weeks at Christmas, and the whole summer if you elect not to work summers. (Many, if not most, faculty teach at least one summer class; I handle internships.)
Often, our breaks aren’t work-free. Many faculty members, like me, will catch up on grading over the break, or will set up classes for next semester in the spaces between semesters. But the change in routine, and that we won’t be dressing up and meeting students, is a break enough.
I plan on resurrecting my Christmas novel over the break, grading three homeworks, and playing Christmas carols (I know it’s early, but I need a little Christmas now with all the political bad news we’re going through). My to-do list also involves a certain amount of lounging on the couch. I will be going to Kansas City for a writing retreat and Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend, so don’t feel too sorry for me.
I need this break, because when I get back to work, there will be three major assignments to grade and then finals (including an essay final) in two weeks. And then there will be Christmas break.
Today is going to be a busy day at home. I remember when I said, not that long ago, that I don’t do nothing well. Right now I’d like to do nothing exceedingly well. I am going through a sense of inertia, but I have miles to go according to Robert Frost, and I have to take those miles at a jog or faster.
Today I have this blog, papers to grade, a meeting with a student, a meeting with a committee (thank goodness for Zoom), and some of the book to write if I have time. I’m 1/3 the way through grading the assignment, and there’s another one on Thursday. I’m 17% through the 50k pages, but I’m 600 words behind even if I do my full words today. That’s the feeling that’s dragging me down. I hate a big pile of to-do.
I just noticed that my coffee cup is out of coffee and I don’t know how that happened. A definite “to-do” day. I will feel better as I cross things off the list, if I ever get that far. Life feels daunting today.
I don’t want to break my 52-day writing streak, so I feel obligated to write a short note. Day 2 of the fall semester and I feel like I’ve been at it for a week. It has been a busy day today; I was on task for six hours straight. Finally, I have nothing on my plate* and I feel a bit let down.
Is work a flow activity? Despite the fact that I got things done like a boss**, I felt like most of my tasks didn’t engage my mind optimally. Teaching is a flow activity most days. Answering emails is not. Revising documents is not. Not everything can be a flow activity!
I’m not feeling like writing right now. My brain is tired and not feeling really creative right now. I’ll sit with my work and see if I feel like I can engage.
Scottish straight baby cat on pink background, closeup
* This is another Americanism for my foreign readers. To have nothing on one’s plate is to have finished all one’s tasks for the day. It’s a good thing.
** “Like a boss” is another Americanism. It’s pretty self-explanatory; it’s also a good thing.
There are many types of stress we experience in life. I want to talk about a type of stress I suspect many writers with day jobs (i.e. so many of us!) have, and that is role strain.
Role strain is when the duties of one role conflict with the duties of another. For example, if the requirements of being a writer conflict with those of the regular job. I’m feeling this right now; I want to have a topic to write on, but I’m absorbed with the work duties and there’s no room in my brain for creative writing at the moment.
Both roles are important to me; the work role has higher priority, however, because that’s how I feed my family. Right now, the work role is especially pressing because it’s the beginning of the semester and I need to start the semester strong, which for me means focus.
I’ve scheduled some time today for the other role after my second class today. I can postpone class work for Tuesday when I have a long block of time to do it. This is what’s going to alleviate my work stress: scheduling time for both and minimizing off-task time that doesn’t fit in either roles. Wish me luck!
One week till the beginning of the semester meetings start, and I’m wearing pajamas that say “Pajamas All Day” on them. I think it’s a fitting tribute to the end of summer and the beginning of a busy fall semester.
To be honest, I worked on a class this morning. Honestly, I didn’t have to do the work until spring semester, but I worked on it. I am so ready for the semester to start that I have nothing left to do except maybe clean my office. Maybe.
I found two new coffee mugs for fall in my mailbox, and I think I know who got them for me (Shelly?) That was a pleasant surprise for beginning the semester.
I’m ahead for writing projects, having finished two books since March and gone through at least one editing pass on three. I have written three short stories over the summer. I’m looking for more inspiration for some stories that do not relate to the Hidden in Plain Sight universe. But today, I’m not looking too hard.
This has been the strangest first week of the semester, and the strangeness is extending into week 2.
A little background: I go on campus Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays during Spring semester. Monday has office hours and meetings; Tuesdays and Thursdays are when I teach and hold office hours again. (Another class is online and yet another conducted over email and meetings as it is the internship class).
The days I don’t go into work allow me to work on class plans, research, and internship site visits (which won’t happen for a few weeks). They allow me to do this, in addition, without dressing up for work (except for those internship visits.) I work, but I don’t teach. It’s a lot more relaxed.
As I mentioned last week, the university closed because of an energetic snowfall dumping 7 inches of snow over a 12-hour period. With students coming in from the countryside and plows unable to keep up with snow and wind, we canceled school for Tuesday. My first day of class was Thursday.
Four days at home followed this because Monday is Martin Luther King Day, and then I would be back to teach Tuesday. Except that my university is cancelling classes on Tuesday because of dangerous windchills, making my next day in to teach on Thursday again.
It feels strange having this much time outside of office, with the flexibility of work it creates. It’s equally strange not having face time with my students. I’m going to have to work on how to get the students caught up with class topics. But it’s not as strange as teaching under COVID, where I taught a semester online with no face time with the students.
So here’s to another couple days of working while playing classical music, drinking hot chocolate, and with bunny slippers on!
Words Like Me 