Summer Goals 1: Research

As my last post might have indicated to you, I am thinking of various summer plans and how to keep motivated to achieve my goals. I have several areas that desperately need improvement and lots of willpower: my weight, my finances, and my research agenda. I am making some plans for the first two but they are so damn depressing that I will return to them later. Today, I will contemplate the first of my research/writing goals:



Look! It's a new article! Isn't it ... cute? Or something? It's currently about five pages long. I think I will name it Floyd, because it was getting to be hard distinguishing all my various "new article" attempts without using distinguishing topics. Now, you might be asking, whatever happened to the last article you had been working on and on for such a long time?


Uhhhh... (pokes at it a bit). It's not moving. Maybe you shouldn't ask about that one.

Anyway, Floyd. I have been hatching this idea since ... maybe January? And haven't been able to devote much time to the egg what with all sorts of grading and traveling and whatnot, but I at least was thinking about it off and on, which will have to do for "keeping research momentum." But lately I have been able to devote time to it and have had some progress!

I made some research goals with the intent of working one day a week at the end of the semester (which clearly didn't happen, really) and had a first draft deadline of ... June 1st. That's, like, now. Hmm. I'm not going to say that turning my five pages into a finished draft by next Wednesday is physically impossible ... but I am also not expecting anything then. I've been progressing pretty smoothly (turns out I might have subconsciously simmered some of the ideas over the semester and writing is coming without too many blocks right now) but am not sure what new date to set for my finished draft --- June 15th? Arrgh why won't the damn thing just write itself and be finished already! Jump out of the nest already, Floyd! Hurry up and fly!

See? This is my problem. Even when I make progress, I beat myself up because I want instantaneous results. Ah well. Let's make that a goal and really push to get it, because if I can get it out to my friend Dr Does Everything for a read-through, I can turn my attention to setting up the summer class and get all that ready, and maybe get back to some of my other projects soon after, like my book introduction. However, right now, all I am focusing on is the new article, Floyd. That way I won't be overwhelmed.

Anyway, I may not be posting much in the near future, as I wait on Floyd around the clock and busy myself with little vitamin droppers and mashing up worms and carrion and all that good stuff. On the other hand, I might be on here constantly, bragging about my progress and showing off pictures of little Floyd's growth. I can't wait to shove him out of the nest!