Thankfully, I (mostly) enjoy writing. But I sympathize with my students and their never-ending deadlines for essays, assignments, reports etc. I try to make it easier for them by suggesting tips and tricks — write every day, have lists of smaller tasks you can tackle when the energy to write raw text isn’t there etc etc. But I suspect that really what it comes down to are those pesky deadlines.
So, in solidarity with my students, and to provide myself with a little extra pre-tenure motivation, I present my own deadlines for the Winter 2014 semester (with reality updates as of September 2014).
January 31st, 2014: the TMT and speeches paper out for review DONE: August 2014
February 14th, 2014: the SSHRC connection grant proposal is out to partners for their review DONE: May 2014
March 1st, 2014: SSHRC connection grant is polished and submitted DONE: July 2014
April 1st, 2014: TMT paradigm paper is fully structured down to the sub-section HAHAH – not even close. Check back in January 2015
In the meantime, I have three classes to teach (marking!), an international research trip to organize/go/return and a million other little admin tasks to tackle. I love my job—yes, every minute of it. But to my long-suffering students, truly, I feel your assignment-writing pain—feel free to ask me how I’m doing with my project deadlines.