Monthly Archives: October 2019

All in for …. NaNoWriMo?

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November is fast approaching, and around these parts November’s usually meant the start of AcWriMo. What is AcWriMo? Basically, it’s like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but for academic writing and without the 50,000 word goal.

I’ve participated almost every year since 2012.* (I can’t find any record of whether I participated in 2018, but that’s also the year I was rehabbing a broken elbow, so I suspect if I was participating, it was on a very limited basis.) I’ve always found it very useful. November is a VERY busy time, busier still since it’s the end of Fall Term. AcWriMo gives me incentive to continue plugging away at my research even (especially!) when there are 10,000 other things demanding my attention and energy. I also enjoy the community, although in recent years the community aspect is very much reduced.

But NaNoWriMo’s always intrigued me. 50,000 written words in a month? Towards a BOOK? Could I do that, someday? Are there stories inside me, lying dormant, waiting for the right time? Do I have a compelling story to tell?

At the end of last year, making my #19for2019 list (19 goals for 2019), I decided, why not? (see number 15)

When something weird, or unsavory, or infuriating, or just plain annoying happens at work, I’m fond of saying “someday I should write a book about all of this wackiness”. Because let’s face it: a lifetime of working in male-dominated fields, of being the token and the first to break the gender barriers in various venues, and I have a LOT of stories. A LOT.

So, I’ve decided that NaNoWriMo 2019 is “someday”. I am going to attempt to draft a book. A freakin’ book. Probably a memoir? Maybe a bunch of connected short stories? I’m not 100% sure at this point. I’m just going to start writing and see what happens.

Well, ok, something as big of an undertaking as a BOOK is not something that you can “just start writing”. So, there’s been a bit of planning. Since I officially committed (i.e. signed up on nanowrimo.org), I’ve done a bit of outlining and sketching out ideas, just so I’m not staring down a completely blank page on November 1. I’ve also taken a good hard look at my calendar, and decided that this project is going to be my academic writing for the month of November (and the last week of October), in order to make the math work out. I guess this is kind of academic writing, since it’s academic story writing. At least that’s the story I’m telling myself.

I doubt that I will hit 50,000 words by November 30. I doubt that I will actually finish an entire draft by November 30. But it’s sure worth trying! And at the end of the month, my word count and page count will both be non-zero….and that’s a start. A pretty darn good start.

I’m excited to see where this adventure takes me. If you’re also participating, you can follow my shenanigans on the NaNoWriMo website (I’m drcsiz), or follow along on Twitter. And whatever writing you happen to be contemplating in November, happy writing!

*interested in a recap? Here are links to all my past AcWriMo posts:

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2019-20 academic year theme: Doing my best

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Despite my faulty memory to the contrary, Fall Term always starts out with a bang and keeps its foot firmly on the gas pedal. Those well-rested feelings from the summer last approximately 48 hours in a good year, replaced quickly by the franticness and panic that is the ten week academic term. Before the term starts, it seems, I am already behind — yes, even with the extra bonus week we got before classes started this year, thanks to a very early Labor Day and a very late Thanksgiving.

I expected going in that this fall would be a bit more frantic than usual, with my new part-time administrative position. But things have also been, frankly, chaos on the home side. Fall is middle school girls swim season, which means 6 intense weeks of daily practices for the 7th grader starting the first day of school, and 5-ish meets (2 this week, whee!). It’s all over at the end of this week, but it effects the rhythms of the entire family. Fall is also cyclocross season for my partner, which pretty much means races every weekend, and lots of moving pieces to get everyone where they need to be. On top of everything else, the 3rd grader has some new additional diagnoses in his cocktail of special needs, and thus the transition back to school for him has been … less than ideal. There are days where I’ve used up all of my cognitive/emotional/coping resources by 8am … and I still need to put in a full day at my day job as well as the evening second shift that is parenting.

Sigh. I’m exhausted, and it’s only Week 4 of the term.

The other day, a colleague I hadn’t seen in a while asked how I was doing, and I replied, “I’m doing the best I can, and that’s all I can hope for right now.” And it hit me: THIS needs to be my mantra, my theme for the academic year:

Doing my best.

At the start of every sparring match we do in taekwondo (we spar at the start of every class), we look our opponent in the eye, shake their hand, and say “Do your best sir/ma’am”. We don’t say, “Spar perfectly.” We don’t say, “Perform at the same level you did the day before.” We say, “do your best” as a way of acknowledging that we’re in different places each day, we have different needs and pressures each day, and our only ask of each other is that we bring whatever our best is today to the match. We execute, and learn, from wherever we are.

I want to do this in everyday life. I’m not in the same mind space everyday, and neither are those around me. The way I live should acknowledge this fact.

Doing my best means extending myself some grace on the mornings where the 3rd grader tantrums from the time he gets up until he gets on the bus, and being ok with moving priorities around to focus on those that don’t require as much mental energy.

Doing my best means continuing to take professional risks, whether that’s sending out a paper before I feel it’s “ready” for review, or taking a possibly unpopular stand and pissing people off, because those risks are meaningful to me, and being ok with whatever outcome happens.

Doing my best means being thoughtful about the priorities I set and the activities and tasks I chose to pursue, and chose to let go. And about communicating my boundaries effectively and compassionately to others. (And respecting the boundaries of others!)

Doing my best means being willing to play the long game in terms of fostering the changes I want to see in my institution and department, so that I have the resources and people on my side that I need when I decide to push for a specific change.

Doing my best means being honest, with myself and with others, about my reservoir of resources, capitalizing on my high-energy days and retreating/reflecting on low-energy days.

Fall term is still going to be chaotic and frenzied and often panic-inducing, but this term and in subsequent terms, I can always do my best. That is something I can always control, no matter what life throws at me.

How will you do your best this academic year?