Hello darlings
It is Fall, Y’all! I hope you are hella cozy and hella spooky and hella productive.
So good news / bad news: there are less than a hundred days left in 2022, we are 6 weeks into the semester, and AcWriMo is creeping up on us like a bad guy from a Halloween horror movie. WHAT THE FUCK.
One impulse might be to just put aside your goals, focus on email and service, and tell yourself that you'll get caught up later. That's fucking bullshit.
“I’ll do it in November!” A sucker is born every day.
“Over Thanksgiving!” Why are you lying to yourself?
“During finals week” No you won’t.
“As soon as classes end, that’s when I’ll write everything!!” Well, I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.
(please note that I tell myself these lies every damn day too)
Instead, what can you do to make this daily life during the semester something that actually moves you towards your goals? (want to see my goals? Here they are!) Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on things that you value? Does your time spent align with your goals? Will your time spent will help you get a job, another job, or a promotion? What time are you spending on shit will help you fuck some racist and sexist institutions up? Why is there so much fucking email?
The truth is: if you don’t spend time on things that you value, then you value the things you spend time on. Is being good at answering emails on your goals list? Does being the person that volunteers for every bullshit task align with your values? No? Then why are you spending your time on that shit?
Here’s your October homework to prepare for #AcWriMo in November (want some help with that? I recommend Kelly’s newsletter and writing community):
On a work day this or next week, keep a time diary of what you work on during that day (here’s an example of two of my days (a summer and a teaching day) if that is useful for you to see)
How does this align with your values? Where are you spending time on activities that do not serve your interests?
Try something – anything – different to better focus your attention on what you need to focus your attention on. Is that writing first thing in the morning? Is that scheduling meetings with coauthors right after class because that’s a dead zone and you never get writing done then and you just stare at your email? Is it cutting yourself off from social media during your best writing time? Is it stepping back from some commitments so you can make time for the things you love?
Get yourself a sweet ass reward for implementing these changes. Like maybe this fun COVEN mug to remind everyone (including yourself!) that you should be writing.
XOXOX
Mirya