Small Risks / Big Opportunities

In many cases the risks of trying new things, applying for grants, or otherwise putting yourself out there, are miniscule. But the gains can be enormous. The main risk of applying to a prestigious fellowship is that the time invested in the process would be better spent elsewhere. I've certainly felt at times that I was spending too much time chasing money to do my research and not enough time doing it. Other than that, there is not much of a downside. Send an article to a journal that you think might reject it, you waste time that would otherwise go to having it considered somewhere more realistic. You could also risk the disappointment that comes with rejection. However, the pay-off could be very great indeed. If the likelihood of success is even 10%, it might be a good gamble, if it does not entail a huge amount of work.

I used to just always have a grant proposal. Whenever something came up, I would modify that proposal for the requirements of that competition.

Not Breaking the Chain

I have written for about a month using the method of the Seinfeld Chain. The end few days of January plus (by now) almost all of February. If I break the chain, that will be ok, because I can just start a new one. I can't say that I have written brilliantly for all 30 days, but I have maintained continuity. Compared to what I would have done without writing every day, I am quite satisfied. I have put myself in a position to write a chapter in March when I have spring break. After March, I only have April and part of May to teach, before NEXT JANUARY. (Unless I teach a summer class for some extra money, which I might do.) So I will be able to get a whole lot done since writing will be my full-time job for almost 9 months.

To review: the Seinfeld chain involves a calendar, and keeping track of how many days in a row you can write or do significant research on your project.

Pecs

In the free-weight room the other day, I noticed that I had the smallest pectoral muscles of anyone in there. Yet I can do 60 pushups! Something doesn't add up here.

Of course, men (mostly men) who are in that room in the first place are a self-selecting group. Walking down the street I am slightly more muscular than average, but in the weight room I am scrawny.

Of course, I am also only 5' 8" and 160 lbs. Probably everyone else lifting weights were between five-eleven and six-four, and 190-230, I would guess. I am strong relative to my weight. I am also 30 years older than most of them, so I feel good just being there, even if I am the proverbial 98-lb weakling.

So I guess the metaphor here is about comparing yourself to other people. You could feel one way walking down the street, among non-academic civilians. You are smarter than them. Another way in your own department, a self-selected group of people all working in the same discipline, and another way in the profession, where the smartest guy or gal in one particular department might be mediocre on the national scene.

A Modest Proposal

My new grandiose idea is that I would teach a poetry translation workshop in the MFA program here at Kansas. The three poets who teach graduate courses are good friends of mine and respect me, so they probably would let me do this. I am going to float this idea past them very soon.

This has to do, a bit, with my sense that all of what I know is not coming out in my teaching. I would like my teaching to reflect a more complete sense of everything I have to offer. It's not that I mind teaching advanced composition, but the question is what is the very best use of my talents, modest as they might be.

Why this never occurred to me before, I have no idea. I am in a phase now of personal and professional growth which is making me quite happy. I am allowing myself to think in these more ambitious ways, in ways I wouldn't have thought of before.

The Shift

It is day 22 of the Chain. The idea behind the Seinfeld chain is to string together as many days of working on your research agenda as possible. I usually think of at least an hour as my minimum, or 200 words.

Today, I feel I hate Lorca and all of my own ideas about Lorca. In order to avoid burn-out but keep the chain alive, I am going to work on a translation of a book of poems by María Victoria Atencia. Tomorrow, I will not hate all my ideas any more, and will come back refreshed.

One way to write every day without getting burned out is to shift, occasionally, your writing task.

Balance

For years I've wanted to be the ambitious research guy, the one who out-publishes every one else. I am, pretty much, the archetype of that guy, and I always will be.

Now, however, aside from the 1-3 hours I spend a day on research, I'd also like to do some other things. Now I am seeing the research as just one plank in the platform.

The other things I am working on are

(1) Self-care. Eating better and exercising. Meditation. Various other kinds of positive things that will lead me to have a satisfying personal life. (Or a personal life, period.)

(2) Mentorship and advocacy. Helping other people achieve their goals, whether these people are readers of my blog, friends, or students.

I don't see this as having a balance between work and life, but as having various aspects of work and non-work life be parts of the entire package. This blog is mainly about those 2 hours of writing I try to do in a day, but there is a lot more going on with me than that.

Writing Every Day (2)

One advantage of writing every day is that it abbreviates the "start up" time for a writing session. I can go immediately to a document and know exactly what I am doing, without going through the laborious process of figuring out what it's all about. It is as though I never stopped working on it.