Et al.

Must...get...to...work...

The battle is no easier today. The amount of inertia one lousy project can generate is amazing, y'know? How can I have so little gumption, discipline, energy, motivation, enthusiasm, etc., etc., etc.?

To scare myself straight, here's my to-do list for the duration of the month, with appended progress reports:

1. Overdue book review (due one week ago; book is 400 dense pages, unread).Revised to add: I guess it's two weeks late. I just got the reminder. My bad.
2. Long, long, long overdue article draft. Multiple missed deadlines. The first theoretical sections are a mess, and much of the "examples" section remains un-drafted.
3. Article 2 interruptus; I got stuck earlier in my sabbatical, which is why I put it aside in favor of what now serves as Article 1, above. I know it's something of a mess, but I don't remember exactly how bad it was.
4. Plan and prep day-long orientation session, using new materials. I have now missed the deadline for having those materials printed for me, so I also have to copy them.
5. Prepare syllabus, coursepack, and daily class plans for freshman course. Plan and schedule exciting extra-curricular activities "to enrich their learning environment." (Parents, the "enriched learning environment," and my attendance at it, is why you might choose to pay 40K for your beloved offspring to attend my school, not one of the excellent public universities for 8-10K. That's per year, btw.)
6. Prepare syllabus, coursepack, and daily class plans for intro-for-majors course. Of course, since I ordered my books late, I can't do this ahead of time, because I won't have pagination for the daily reading assignments until my desk copies arrive. The curse of the procrastinatory and under-prepared.
7. Prepare syllabus, coursepack, and daily class plans for senior seminar. See item 6, above. Note that items 6 & & do not involve extracurricular enrichment, per se. Thank the gods for small favors.
8. Complete fictionalized account of my sabbatical activities--the scholarly kind--to justify the time off and large amounts of travel money my university has invested in me.
9. Call someone about the rotting outer doors on my house, before they give way.Beg, borrow, or steal money to pay for major piano repair. Beg, borrow, or steal money to pay for it.
11. Arrange carpool for daughter's new, expensive school.
12. Host and entertain lovely friend from graduate school.
13. Host and entertain--and exploit--mother during her visit.
14. Attend numerous back-to-school functions, most of which take many hours that could be used for items 1-8, and only 2 of which promise to include alcohol.
15. Lose 20 pounds and arrange to look stylish and professional every day.
16. Write tenure, promotion, or evaluation letters for 4 colleagues.
17. Keep child, dog, cats, and bunny fed, exercised, and healthy.
18. Try to return enough phone calls and invitations that my friends and family don't utterly disown me.
19. Do something, for the love of god about my overgrown yard and bushes.

Labels: despair, working mother, writer's block

posted by Unknown @ 11:11 AM