Perhaps I should join a circus?

It's that time of year, again. The time when juggling becomes very important, and tight-rope-walking.

Official things I am juggling this next week include:
- reading for a course I've never taught before (Shakespeare's comedies are often rather trying, until you get to Middleton - where everything is, according to the notes at the bottom of the page, a pun about a penis.)
- reading for a course I have taught. It's always good to reread these texts. And suddenly the Miller's Tale becomes much less trying after dealing with Middleton.
- preparing and teaching (tutoring/TAing) these classes. That's two different preparations, delivered two and three times respectively.
- marking essays for one of these papers.
- reading for my own article.
- writing notes for said article.
- considering the job-market and reassessing my CV and teaching portfolios.

Tight-rope-walking - i.e. trying to find a balance in my life:
- celebrating my husband's graduation (that's two Dr Zcats!).
- organising a craft-evening.
- having my parents over for dinner in the short time while Dad's home, before he heads off again (Father's Day didn't happen).
- organising a Old English Reading group - which should be in the upper list, but I'm not giving it quite such priority.

It wouldn't be such a big challenge to keep all these plates spinning except that there's the job applications to go through, again. They take so much time and effort, time and effort which are taken away from writing articles, the absence of which is apparently my biggest drawback in the applications. There are a couple of interesting posts around, though, so once again, it's worth a shot.

(Should I add knife-throwing to my skill set?)

Open, honest blogging?

Over at In The Middle, they are discussing blogging and being academics. The post linked to is specifically talking about discussing things on blogs, sharing ideas. This is one of the things I am wondering / worrying about. How much should one share on one's blog? More specifically, how much should I share?

I have already had the joy of having my thesis topic stolen from under me (Hi, Ginnie!), and so am concerned about the dangers of having people take your ideas, and publishing them before I do. Of course, this should make me work harder to get things written and published, but what I want to know is just how real that danger is.

So how does one be an academic blogger? Do you let people know you're a medievalist? Do you tell them where you're currently working? What your topic is vaguely (female saints)? Do you specify what texts you're working from? By publishing on blogger, does this mean you've 'baggsed' the topic?

Thoughts?

CONGRATULATIONS! You have won...

I gave a paper at Leeds to a total of 7 people, including my husband, the other speaker for the session, and the chair of the session (i.e. 3 of those people had to be there). This was disappointing, made slightly worse by the stress of delayed flights and missed connections which meant that I only just turned up on time. Nevertheless, I didn't fluff my speech, I managed to chair the next session (which, again, had only 4 people not there to talk), and then was free for the next week.

I didn't enjoy the speakers for the one Old English paper I went to - due to poor translation, poor presentation skills, and REALLY BAD time-keeping. The session on William of Malmsbury, by Rod Thomson and Michael Winterbottom, was excellent, and there were a number of other sessions which were interesting, and of varying relevance. I must say, I did not get to meet anyone very useful, career-wise, but did get to meet ADM, Gill Pollack, and a number of other interesting bloggers. I was not very out-going, and probably should have just bowled up to more people and started talking at/to/with them.

On the other hand, arriving home, I discovered a letter ('Time-sensitive', so I knew it was important!) which informed me that I had, and I quote, "been chosen for a distinct honour that is unparalleled in regard to this Century's historical records. [...] Your nomination is hereby endorsed by the Governing Board of Editors for Great Minds of the 21st Century." Well, I'm glad that someone has finally taken note of my brilliance, and realised that I am so important as to be among 'only 1000 individuals' who are stupid enough to pay them $395.00 USD for my copy of the "Hardbound Luxury Keepsake Issue of of the Fifth Edition of Great Minds of the 21st Century embellished with gold engravings and shipped postpaid (Wow! So generous)upon publication in 2012" (total print-run, 1000 copies), or $595.00 USD for the medal, a two-inch piece of actual 'solid metal' with my name deeply engraved (please note) on the reverse, or $295.00 for a proclamation plaque (production cost - $10 max!), or $1095.00 for all three. How dumb do they think I am?

So, how is the writing going? Well, I managed to do some work on, um, Tuesday? However, I only have teaching Tuesdays to Thursdays, so there will be no excuse not to have the article finished in a month or so. Keep me to it!

Blogging from abroad

This blog is getting about as much air-time as my writing.  I'm supposed to have an article under way, but travelling (and having to share the one lap-top) has seriously put a dent in my June/July.

However, I have managed to get my Leeds paper written - mostly.  I need to go through it a couple of times, reading it out loud, to practice slowing down.  I always speak too fast when presenting, so am going to really work on being slow, clear, and at least sounding confident.

Then there is the paper on St1 (for lack of a better cover name).  I have read the primary text through a number of times (usually in translation, but I have looked at the Latin a bit).  The biggest problem with writing about this saint is the lack of secondary material.  While this might sound like a god-send (on saints?!), what it means in practice is that I have to try and find similar issues/ topics on different saints, and then look round for secondary material on those.  Which is a whole lot more work.  Do I search for English saints only?  Female saints only?  Left-handed saints?

But there was some very helpful notes over on ADM's writing group - such as writing 500 words first thing in the morning - which I will try to enact over this next, busy week, so as to make writing a habit, and to force myself to think more deeply on the topic.

Friday is approaching

Once again, I find that being beholden to someone else really does help with the motivation.  I've managed to get running, by going with a friend.  And I've managed to start writing by owing the Writing Group some kind of honesty.

Of course, I haven't written much yet, but I have thought about writing habits, resolved to get started, and actually made some progress this week.  It's nice to know I can - but would be better if I didn't need the outside influences.  On the other hand, I was talking with the senior lecturer (in the US would be professor) I've been tutoring for, and she was saying that everyone struggles, has trouble getting started, feels like they're not really any good.  Considering that she is my age, and about 3 stages ahead professionally, it was very comforting to hear that.  And resulted in me using a whole half hour (when I usually thing an hour is too short to start something) in typing up ideas for the conference paper.

Baby steps, but you've got to start somewhere.

Introduction

Hi. My name's Dr Zcat_abroad, and I'll be your companion for a while.  I've recently finished my PhD, graduated with a silly hat and all.  And now I'm trying to find a real job, and discovering that there's more to getting an academic job than simply finishing a thesis and being a good teacher.  You also have to publish!  


Now, I have all sorts of excuses for why I don't currently have multiple publications on my CV, but no-one is interested in that.  So, socks up time.  Time to get writing.  Follow me, if you will, as I attempt to improve my word-count and visibility.


Already in the pipe-line is one article, under review.


Step One is a paper to be delivered at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds - a goal I have been aiming for since I became a Medievalist, back when I started my MA.


Step Two and Three are two articles arising from my thesis, but requiring a bit of work.  They need to be done by September.


Step Four is a book proposal, which should be submitted by the end of October.


I have more plans ahead, but that's enough to be going on with for now.