A Lot to Say

Someone I met recently asked my why I was writing two more books on Lorca. I said that I had a lot more to say about him. Even without doing more actual research, per se, I have a lot of ideas. When you have been reading, teaching, writing about a poet, for three decades you tend to have more to say, not less. I only decided to become a full-fledged lorquista in 2006. Before that, I taught his works, and did a little research in the 90s that didn't turn into very much, a few conference papers, some rejected articles. I had always taught Lorca's theater in introductory classes, and his poetry in a variety of settings.

I actually think I could write a fourth book on Lorca. I don't know what that book is yet, but I am sure it will emerge into my view once I write these two more.

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You never say everything you know, anyway. What you publish should be the tip of the iceberg, supported by a deeper understanding that isn't going to be fully articulated. Then your work will have more depth to it. What you write will be a selection of your best ideas, presented in the best possible form.

When You Aren't Doing So Well

So when I have not been doing well in the past... Oftentimes I haven't been taking care of myself, haven't been exercising, for example. Since I am happiest when I am also productive (and vice-versa), in my less good times I have allowed myself not to work as hard. It seems like an indulgence, but it is really like a deprivation. I've found it hard to deal with spare time, empty time. I have not reached out to people to help me through the difficulties. I've always been professionally successful, but in less good times I have dwelt on the few things in which I was not successful. My flaws seemed magnified. I was anxious, depressed.

Doing Well

I'm in pretty good shape now. I have been working out at the gym, meditating, getting massages. I even went to a yoga class over the weekend. I have a good psychotherapist. I rode my bike to school today.

My work is going well. I am writing every day and am being nominated for honors and awards. My colleagues respect me. I have the best conceivable job in the world: teaching Spanish literature. They pay me for this? You've got to be fucking kidding me. That 's like Norm, from the old "Cheers' sitcom, being paid to taste beer all day.

I am financially secure with no debts. I can recite Shakespeare and Lorca from memory at great length in order to impress women. I am charming, witty, and good-looking. I am at the height of my intellectual powers, in the prime of my life.

I come from a very loving and nurturing family, full of brilliant people. I have many friends in the town where I live who hold me in high esteem. Brilliant, wonderful people.

Aside from some personal difficulties that persist, and that I cannot talk about yet in public, I am doing extraordinarily well. Just thought you ought to know that my project for restoring some balance to my life is proceeding very nicely. I feel tremendously grateful to everyone who has been kind to me, and also feel generous to anyone who would like my advice and guidance.

I know that it would be much cooler to be plaintive and self-deprecating, but I just don't feel like that today.

Taking the Pressure off

Another advantage of writing every day is that you can take the pressure off any one writing session. If you write once a week, then that writing session has to be a very good one. You will want to write 2,000 words and make very significant progress. If you are distracted, or if something interrupts you, then, you might have to wait another week.

Writing every day, I find that some days, naturally, are more productive than others, but I don't need to put pressure on myself to make every day count. Instead, I look at those seven days of writing, which will usually add up to a signifiant amount of work.

I don't have to take weekends off from writing, because I don't need to make them intensive days. I can relax and do an hour instead of 2. No pasa nada. Right now, my writing intensive days tend to be Wed, along with Mon. and Fri. if I am not traveling. On those days I get a little more than usual done, but generally I just plug away as best I can.

Everyday Creativity

The concept here is that you will get ideas through the everyday practice of writing. Instead of first getting ideas and then writing them down, you should be thinking about working on your project and getting new ideas in the process. Almost every day I come up with something significant, some idea that helps me along the way and helps me to understand my own project better, along with some minor ideas that simply fall into place in particular sections of the book.

Tanya Gets Tenure

It's official now. Tanya, the author of the Get a Life PhD blog, has been awarded tenure, passing the last step in the process, as I learned from Facebook late last night. No surprise here, since she has recently published three books.

If you want to take advice about getting your writing done, you would do well to listen to people who have actually done it in the face of the obstacles presented by life itself. I have been doing a grueling commute to St Louis to see my family on the weekends, for over 15 years. Tanya has a busy family life with her children. Yet we are among the most productive scholars at KU.

Promotion guidelines

My department has been trying to come up with some less nebulous guidelines for promotion and tenure. This is what I came up with this morning. This only covers the research part of the case, of course.

Typically, a succesful candidate for promotion at either level (Associate Professor, Professor), will have a book (or at a minimum, a book manuscript under consideration by respected outlet), as well as five to eight refereed articles or refereed book chapters. In most cases, a candidate will have other publications as well. Editing a collection of essays, preparing a significant critical edition of a literary work, or publishing a serious book-length translation of a major literary work, will be also be considered as serious contributions to research. Such materials will be considered on a case-by-case basis, as the equivalent of 1-2.5 refereed articles. In such cases, there may be fewer refereed articles in the promotion file.

In contrast, book reviews, encyclopedia articles, interviews, revisions of textbooks, translations of magazine articles or minor works (and other relatively minor publications) cannot compensate for the absence of major publications, even if there is a large quantity of minor publications. In fact, a large quantity of such material on a curriculum vitae could be cause for concern, since outside reviewers could have a negative reaction to such a profile.

The minimum standard for promotion, then, would normally be one book, five refereed articles (or other substantial publications deemed to be equivalent), and some other publications of various types. Candidates, however, should normally attempt to exceed expectations rather than merely meeting them.

In linguistics, where a book is not the “gold standard” for promotion at either level, the core of the promotion case will typically be serious, refereed articles published in prestigious journals, supplemented by other research production appropriate. Normally, a successful candidate would have 8-10 journal articles along with some other publications or instructional materials as appropriate.

For promotion to Associate Professor, a candidate should demonstrate intellectual growth beyond the dissertation and an emerging national reputation. For promotion to Professor, the expectation is a solid national and international reputation. The quantity of publications is not enough to ensure promotion at either level: stated in more holistic terms, the standard is a substantial and recognized contribution to research commensurate with the rank to which the candidate aspires.