Small Steps

I'm now half way through the holiday and still dealing with the work from last semester. I had more grading this year than ever before and still have papers left to grade, all of them needing to be done by Friday. I have letters of recommendation still to write for students. I had a record semester there too and as each letter takes a few hours, I decided to go alphabetically. I'm up to S. Grad schools often ask for letter insanely early (files don't get looked at until mid-late January yet letters are due in early December--officially that is, but most of the schools don't need them until a month or six weeks later). It's tough when your time is so stretched, where you have to make the decision to write a letter or prep class/grade papers. The fact that I'm still in this situation doesn't bear thinking about, especially as I have a lot of my own work to deal with--a paper to finish, a chapter to write--and the impending deadlines associated with this work.

So, small steps. Today I nearly finished the paper--the conclusion is still unfinished and I hope tomorrow will see the end. I have to write an abstract and send it off this week. I have a conference paper proposal to write by Monday and a letter to write to my publisher. Perhaps the biggest step came tonight (ironically as I was changing the litterbox) as I decided which chapter to write next. While Evan was recording the introductions to the would be suitors from Monday's premiere of The Bachelor, I realized I could use the episode as an intro for one chapter, which catalyzed more thoughts, more structures (confessions, blogging, diaries, self-analysis) that made me realize I could write this thing without doing too too much new research, unlike the other chapter that I was considering starting. That one will get partially written in Feb/March anyway as I'm scheduled to present the first section at a conference in Boston.

OK, so I haven't dealt with some of the more major issues yet, like health insurance. But I will by the end of the week. I just have to ensure fear does not hold me back yet again. I also didn't get to the bank but I'll blame that on getting caught up in work (time always passes me by) and the frigid temperatures outside.