MDC Academic Writing Club - Page 3

[stefka]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Week of March 9

Trying a new strategy:  I have several projects that all need to continue moving forward.  I've been doing one at a time, letting the others languish.  I'm going to try to address each one of the most urgent at least a little each day.  Most pressing papers:  CP, Bam, AlH, HRing, and Hol.  That's 5 things, with 5 shifts in attention.  We'll see.

I'll be curious how that goes.  I waffle back and forth between focusing on one thing and trying to move ahead on everything at once, and honestly, I don't know which works better for me.  I FEEL better when I'm really focused on one thing, but then I crash because I've ignored 5 other projects to move ahead on the one.  Sigh.  Someday I'll learn how to be a professor.

Writing Goals for Week of March 9

20 minutes of "real" writing per day (meaning not materials for class, not administrative reports, writing that actually matters to me)

NARST slides and notes to co-author for edits

30 minutes of video analysis per day (counting this as a writing goal because I need it in order to write the next paper I'm working on)
 

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by stefka 

I'll be curious how that goes.  I waffle back and forth between focusing on one thing and trying to move ahead on everything at once, and honestly, I don't know which works better for me.  I FEEL better when I'm really focused on one thing, but then I crash because I've ignored 5 other projects to move ahead on the one.  Sigh.  Someday I'll learn how to be a professor.

I'll let you know.  Today was frustrating - I spent my writing time on both Bam and Hol reconstructing where I was, and then I wrote a little bit on results for Bam, only to scroll down in the document and find the paragraph already written.  This is exactly the reason why I don't want to let the projects stall out.  However, I want my students' papers to take priority, so when I had a fairly complete draft of CP come from my soon-to-graduate PhD student, I dropped Bam and Hol both.  This strategy is good for my students, but damaging me otherwise.  One of my coauthors is frustrated enough with my pace that he's effectively scooping me and submitting his own paper.

[Carita]

that balance drives me crazy.  i always multitask the less demanding things first and then when i have the time to go back to larger things, they consume so much time just trying to remember where I am.  It is so nice to know I am not alone.  

and it drives my advisor crazy.  how come i cannot work deeply on several topics at once?  i liken it to some kind of activation energy.  I just need to get over that hump and get the ball rolling, but it so hard with so many other things require energy.  *sigh*

and like today.  car apt in the morning turned into a rather large affair.  then my babysitter called and I need to leave in 15 min to pick my daughter up b/c the sitter has a neck spasm thing and has to go to the doctor.  ugh.

[Geofizz]

The multiple shifts of attention strategy is going ok so far.  It was much easier to pick up Bam and Hol today than yesterday, and I made decent progress in a tiny amount of time today.  I took up AlH which is daunting, but made a plan for the next three tasks, none of which are writing (yet).

Then I went to a reception for women in STEM in our library for International Women's Day with out local (female) former astronaut.  A former dept chair (BA) mentioned being a bit intimidated by being at a reception with so many women and only 2 other men.  I counted heads quickly, and told him that the ratio there was better than it is for me at most faculty meetings.  LOL  I think he got the point though (he tends to - the guy is growing on me). 

[kerc]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

The multiple shifts of attention strategy is going ok so far.  It was much easier to pick up Bam and Hol today than yesterday, and I made decent progress in a tiny amount of time today.  I took up AlH which is daunting, but made a plan for the next three tasks, none of which are writing (yet).

Then I went to a reception for women in STEM in our library for International Women's Day with out local (female) former astronaut.  A former dept chair (BA) mentioned being a bit intimidated by being at a reception with so many women and only 2 other men.  I counted heads quickly, and told him that the ratio there was better than it is for me at most faculty meetings.  LOL  I think he got the point though (he tends to - the guy is growing on me). 

(BA) also has daughters, if I recall correctly, and I suspect experiences like that are eye opening -- even when we do a good job raising our kids to be anything they want to be, occasionally (err, monthly for Geofizz), they are still in situations that are uncomfortable.

My college: nada. Nothing for international women's day. I did get an email from the grants writer to let me know how to recruit more women into the STEM fields (if I wanted to write grants). So in honor of International Women's Day, I took some time out of my writing time to construct an email to my department to encourage people to be midwestern and bring in meals for the pregnant adjunct faculty's family once she gives birth (next week, planned csection). I fielded 3-4 emails asking questions about WHY one might do this. My response: community building. Geez, really, why would you bring a meal to a family who has a major disruption going on in their life?  

Writing success: I wrote three paragraphs today related to research. WOOT!
 

[namaste_mom]

There was an international women's day?

UPDATE

Week March 7-11

Goals

1. Check student submitted SK paper and wrote letter to editor, Due Mar 7 DONE

2. Write letter to editor for Appy paper, due March 9, change due date to March 11 DONE

3. Submit Appy Paper due March 11 I did everything but push the submit button

4. Erosion, read through and decide how to proceed, due March 11

5. Work on xsection 30 minutes every day M-F DONE so far

6. review PRF Due, March 11 contacted, changed submission date to 3/21

7. Grade Project 1, Due March 9, change due date to March 21

8. Prepare Midterm, Due March 9  DONE  DONE

Its bad when i have to check MDC to see where i am for the progress for the week.

edited on Friday....I didn't get very far, lets see what I can do today.

Edited by namaste_mom - 3/11/11 at 4:25pm

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by namaste_mom 

Its bad when i have to check MDC to see where i am for the progress for the week.

:lol  But you're checking up on your goals and progress. ;)

This club is working for me, at least so far.  Having written goals that are public makes it harder to skirt and say I'll make up for it tomorrow.  I got my stuff done today despite a visit to Urgent Care and the pharmacy.   Poor DS has yet another ear infection.
 

[kaybee]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

:lol  But you're checking up on your goals and progress. ;)

This club is working for me, at least so far.  Having written goals that are public makes it harder to skirt and say I'll make up for it tomorrow.  I got my stuff done today despite a visit to Urgent Care and the pharmacy.   Poor DS has yet another ear infection.
 

It's helping me, too.  Nothing like peer pressure!  I, too, find myself checking here to remind myself of goals.  It forces me to work on the unpleasant tasks in addition to the desirable ones to keep everything moving forward.  And it really helps to see you ladies making your goals, too!

[Geofizz]

Today was a complete bust.  I'm going to try to bust out a good session now that it's 4 pm!  Argh.

Edit:  Got half hour in on Bam, interrupted twice to knock grad students free from log jams.  DD has strep.  Just what we need.  I have to go home in 15 minutes, onto AlH I go.

Edited by Geofizz - 3/10/11 at 1:49pm

[Geofizz]

The week in review:

Minimum 30 min/day focused attention on writing tasks Accomplished for Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri

CP back to grad student 3/9  DONE, sent to coauthor 3/9 with "comment by 3/16 or we'll submit" threat attached.

Figure out status of AlH paper 3/10 DONE, mapped out next step

Contact coauthor on HRing 3/10 DONE a day early, RESOLVED!!!

15 minutes/day on Hol  Accomplished for Mon, Tues, Wed, wee bit data analysis Thurs, wee bit organization Fri

15 minute/day on Bam  Accomplished for Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri

15 min on AlH Wed, Thurs, Fri Accomplished for Wed, Thurs, Fri

I met my goals, but only because I had to in order to check them off here.  I've identified the next steps on each of the papers for next week.  AlH is going to require (gulp) some serious programming.  I can see the end in sight for Bam, and Hol just outright sucks.  If I hadn't sunk so much time into it (and the undergrad and MS students whose data is included) I'd be tempted to just ditch it. 

[namaste_mom]

Week March 14-18

spring break week - working from MILs

Goals

1. Check student submitted SK paper

2. Submit Appy Paper

3. Erosion, read through and decide how to proceed, need to focus on this - 1 hour per weekday

4. review PRF Due 3/21

5. Grade Project 1, Due 3/21

[kaybee]

This week went pretty well, in part because I couldn't let things drop off.  I told MDC I'd do it.  I ended up not getting #4 done because #7 came up.  They are related and #7 is more important - co-author should submit on Monday.

Here were my goals for this week:

1. Finish reading FK manuscript and get it back to him with comments (by 3/8)  Done, 3/7

2. Finish NSF Suppl request by Friday to submit next week Done, 3/10 will submit on Monday

3. 1 hr I3 writing (plus 1 hr I3 meeting) Done 3/11

4. Finish reading 2yr report, making comments on where to proceed next (by 3/9) (er, by 3/11?) This is going to have to be pushed into next week, but it's related to #7. 

5. Get ahold of colleague to finalize #s on BFR - Done, 3/8

6. Grade a gazillion exams (ok, just 130) - Done - phew, that stunk.

7. Got another ms back from a colleague - read through it and turned it back to him.  Need to go over supplemental docs by 3/10

Goals next week (spring break!):

1. Submit NSF Suppl request on 3/14 Done

2. Finish reading 2 yr report review and start revising - at least 1 hour/day Mon - tables, not writing; Tues - nope; Wed - gone; Th - 45 min; F - done

3. Start RB in on modeling project - 3/14 Done 3/14

4. Finish writing draft 1 of my half of I3 grant. Draft 1 complete but messy 3/15

5. Spend 1 hour each on Rav paper and HolEv paper to figure out next steps - by Thurs - Didn't get to this

6. Read through grad student MS and get comments back by 3/16 Done 3/15

My assessment of this week:

I didn't get as much writing on the big projects done as I would have liked.  I thought I would have more time this week, but I ended up with a bunch of Dr. visits, a trip to visit my students on the main campus, and some extra time with my kids.  Good break, but not as productive as I had hoped. 

I did get far enough along to send off a bunch of work to my colleagues.  That is a good step, really.  I also forced myself to work on the dreaded I3 proposal, and I did finish reading through BFR and have started revising.

It's an early release day for ds, so I'm going bowling now.

Edited by kaybee - 3/18/11 at 9:58am

[Geofizz]

Goals for the week:

Monday - Wednesday:

Work in two citations grad student left out into CP

15 min each day writing on Bam Monday

15 min each day writing on Hol

15 min each day on AlH (programming mostly) Mon:  got all code written and compiled, couldn't get up the guts to test

Thursday: 

Seminar in VA.  Work on the plane ride home on one paper/project

Friday:  Off

Edited by Geofizz - 3/14/11 at 1:06pm

[Realrellim]

I think I met last week's goals, but I'm too lazy to find my previous post because it's not showing up in the most recent 10.

So, this week:

- grade discussions
- send ICPS form to guest presenter
- finish current research book
- 5 sentences per night
- bonus: do some free-writing work on the next article in my queue

Spring break starts next week. I'm excited.

[Carita]

bad news: head cold led to foggy head led to migraine lead to only a little bit of grading done, so i have to finish it this weekend. 

on FFW project, I ran into computer problems Thurs so I had to skip a discussion group I am sitting in on and try to do damage control recovering files.

good news:

i had a fab day wednesday, worked for several hrs and got my goal accomplished.  just wished that it had been able to last...

[physmom]

Oh man, I SERIOUSLY need this thread!  I'm a postdoc (just finished my Ph.D in December) and have a research proposal, two papers, and a 40 page proceedings I need to finish ASAP! However, my life has just had some serious upheavals lately and it's been extremely hard to concentrate (add to that I need to work at nights because DD won't start full-time at her preschool until probably another week since she's in an acclimation period to her new school at the moment). 

Right now my research proposal is my #1 priority so it HAS to be done this weekend.  But, man, it's so frustrating.  I love what I do.  I love research but I HATE HATE HATE writing about it later.  Normally I enjoy writing but just not technical scientific writing.  Why can't I just give talks all the time instead?

[namaste_mom]

UPDATE Week March 14-18

spring break week - working from MILs

Goals

1. Check student submitted SK paper DONE

2. Submit Appy Paper

3. Erosion, read through and decide how to proceed, need to focus on this - 1 hour per weekday

4. review PRF Due 3/21 1/2 done

5. Grade Project 1, Due 3/21 DONE

I didn't do a very good job at getting anything done.

GOALS Week of March 21-25

1. Submit Appy Paper DONE

2. Erosion, read through and decide how to proceed, need to focus on this - 1 hour Tu-W

3. Work on xsectn 30 minutes a day M-W DONE

4. Review PRF by 3/25 DONE

Out of town (OOT) 3/24-3/25 (Th-F)

Edited by namaste_mom - 3/28/11 at 9:50am

[kaybee]

Goals for this week (Tues-Fri):

1. 30 minutes/day on Rav Hol section in BFR - Done Th and Fri

2. Merge two spreadsheets with updated data to accompany BFR - Not done

3. Spend 1 more hour on I3 once I get it back from my colleague - never got it back from my colleague

4. Update at least one of minor sections in BFR Done

Monday is a loss already - I spent it home with a sick ds, taught class with ds in dh's office playing computer chess, and then brought ds home.

Unfortunately, I don't have updated files here right now...

End of week assessment (well, I can probably get one more hour in this afternoon between meetings and class):

I had a hard time working on these projects this week.  It didn't help that I had a sick kid 3 out of 5 days.  Next week will have to get better.  I'm getting close to 2 deadlines! (I3 is on April 11; BFR on April 15)

Edited by kaybee - 3/25/11 at 11:11am

[Realrellim]

Last week:
- grade discussions One is done, but the other still needs to be done
- send ICPS form to guest presenter Oops.
- finish current research book Done!
- 5 sentences per night Done!
- bonus: do some free-writing work on the next article in my queue

This week:
- really send ICPS form
- grade other discussion Now done!
- read 75 pages in current research book
- write 5 sentences/night on the article
Edited by Realrellim - 3/21/11 at 10:38pm

[kaybee]

Welcome to a new week everyone!  How's the writing going? 

I have a lot to get done this week, and I'm starting off with... another sick kid (ds2 this time).  Luckily, he's sleeping now, but this is getting to be a bit ridiculous.  Ds1 has gone through 4 fevers in the last 6 weeks or so.  What's up with March?

So, working from home in the AM, I plan to 

1. Finish Hol section of BFR. - Draft 1 done.

2. Finish edits to I3 and send back to primary collaborator before meeting tomorrow. Done

3. Spend time with my grad student who is in town for a few days to work on finishing her thesis.  Send happy writing vibes this way... Done, but not much time (given that I had 1.5 hrs in the office today)

Other goals this week:

4. Spend 30 min/day on Rav section of BFR, starting on Tuesday. - Nothing on Tuesday;

5. Clean up sections 1-4 on BFR.

6. Start edits on other people's BFR sections as they come in.

7. Write an exam for next Monday. (I want to make sure I don't forget it...)

Edited by kaybee - 3/29/11 at 6:35pm