So, the essay I alluded to previously is in, and I had a nice weekend of some celebrating and a lot of relaxing. And catching up on laundry. Waay too much laundry. The problem with academic life is that your work always hangs over you; the guilt of shirking looms like a sword of Damocles, the historical similes creep into your everyday language. Because there aren't set "working hours" you can always be working, and because writing can always be made better, and research always delved into deeper, deadlines are necessary simply to stop the madness. Then it starts again.
This time I managed to improve on my procrastinating (a bit) and actually enjoy the research and writing again. Perhaps because I was working on an object that was very much my own, and not a rehashing of earlier scholarship. I also made a sudden discovery about the panel's attribution a few days before deadline, which was both wonderful and slightly stressful.
In my spare time I've picked up a podcast habit, some of which have me laughing as I do laundry or stroll around the city. I highly recommend the Dead Authors podcast, which purports to bring dead authors into the future for a brief chat with HG Wells. I'm loving having literature back in my life, in the form of podcasts and audiobooks as well as actual books. I just re-listened to To Kill A Mockingbird, which was fortuitously timed with the news of Harper Lee's new book. As I'm trying to avoid both spending money and accumulating objects, this makes reading physical books a trifle difficult. Thank heavens for digital library collections! I grudgingly admit that it's really nice to access ebooks - but only because I don't have easy access to a library that contains fiction. I do feel that they don't absorb in the same way, and would love to see some studies done on that if they haven't already. Oh wait, I just looked it up - they have.
Love,
Annie
This time I managed to improve on my procrastinating (a bit) and actually enjoy the research and writing again. Perhaps because I was working on an object that was very much my own, and not a rehashing of earlier scholarship. I also made a sudden discovery about the panel's attribution a few days before deadline, which was both wonderful and slightly stressful.
In my spare time I've picked up a podcast habit, some of which have me laughing as I do laundry or stroll around the city. I highly recommend the Dead Authors podcast, which purports to bring dead authors into the future for a brief chat with HG Wells. I'm loving having literature back in my life, in the form of podcasts and audiobooks as well as actual books. I just re-listened to To Kill A Mockingbird, which was fortuitously timed with the news of Harper Lee's new book. As I'm trying to avoid both spending money and accumulating objects, this makes reading physical books a trifle difficult. Thank heavens for digital library collections! I grudgingly admit that it's really nice to access ebooks - but only because I don't have easy access to a library that contains fiction. I do feel that they don't absorb in the same way, and would love to see some studies done on that if they haven't already. Oh wait, I just looked it up - they have.
Love,
Annie