I’m still here…

Okay, well maybe I’m not really still here, since my posting seems to have become a 1-2 times a month thing. I just can’t guarantee that I’ll write here any more frequently in the next month or so. I’ll try, I swear, but a lot of smaller entries that I used to do (links, recipes etc.) have now wound up on Facebook, where it is quick and easy for me to share little bits of my life with my friends (and peak in on what they’re up to too). This blog isn’t going away though. I’m sure I’ll come to a period where I’ll write more consistently in it again.

So what have I been up to? Writing. Trying to find as much time to write as possible. It’s basically all I want to do. With my day job winding to a close, I’m spending whole days in the library writing as much as I can. I have about 50 pages of 1 data chapter written, a pretty dense draft of another chapter, and a very drafty-draft of a third chapter. I want to send 1 chapter to my committee by the end of this month, and then the second in the next couple weeks. And I have an article I’m working on. So there is lots to keep me busy.

I’m basically grasping onto the fact that I love writing right now– that it’s all I want to do. I don’t know if that’s a fluke thing that might not last long, or if it is the wonderful outcome of having written digently every day for the past bunch of months, but I’m just going with it for now. Time is moving a long quickly again and the job market is right around the corner… the more I get done now the better!

Lots of stuff is also shifting… I’m nearing the end of the day job I’ve had for the past 5 years. It’s bittersweet in a lot of ways. On one hand I can’t wait to be done with it. The administrative side of academia and all it’s politics and petiness is not my favorite thing. On the other hand, I’ve worked with people there for years and I’ll miss the heck out of them. Generally I hate endings, so I’m hoping to just get through this one quickly this coming week.

And then I start teaching my own class in the middle of June. I’m not letting myself prep until I have 1 chapter of the diss sent out to my committee, but my brain is already turning with ideas for activities and assignments. It’s a qualitiative methods class– something that couldn’t be more perfect for me to teach. It lasts for 8 weeks and meets 4 days a week, so I’m going to have to be very disciplined about getting in my daily writing time, while also prepping for class no more than I need to. Oh, and grading.

But it’s not all work here in Watershed world. The harder I work, the more I want to go running (stress relief), hang out with friends, cook, grill, etc. I made a yummy grilled salmon last night, and a batch of devilled eggs. Today after spending some time writing I’m going to bake a fruit upside-down cake, and some pineapple coconut muffins.