When is Spring Break? Not soon enough.

Things were going so well this semester.  I was staying caught up.  I felt like I was doing a good job with lectures, even though one was a new prep.  I was even saying things like, "Oh wow, is it already week 7? Time is flying!"

But then, BAM.  I feel swamped with grading (gave two midterms on Tuesday).  I also have several other grading and reviewing chores stacking up.  And I still haven't sent out that paper I'm writing with the undergrad student, not to mention my other several writing projects.  Now I'm starting to turn that corner and wonder, when is this semester ever going to end?

Eeks.  I wish I could just pull an all-nighter, like I could in college and grad school.  I really could clean off my to-do list in one night, at least the grading--not the writing.  My key to publishing success has been to just keep plugging away, working on it consistently (not such a secret, really). 

And along that train of thought--I never understood about my grad students (or my friends back in grad school) who congratulate themselves on finishing a paper or chapter, by which they mean getting to the conclusion.  It is all in the editing for me.  It means little to have "finished" a paper.  The editing takes longer than the "writing." 

Switching jailers: from revising jail to grading jail

I just completed and submitted a bear of a paper that has been killing me.  It was a revise and resubmit for the highest profile journal in my field, which also has the highest rejection rate.  I was happy to get the opportunity to revise.  But when I uploaded it, I saw that it had been tagged as a "cool" R&R, which I'm assuming means--fat chance but you may as well try again if you want to. 

I already knew it was going to need extensive revision to have a chance.  But somehow the word "cool" doesn't sit well with me--like the journal is giving me the cold shoulder or being "cool" toward me (not warm and inviting).  I could have gone for a kinder euphemism today, as I submitted this monster that I'd been working to revise for two months.

So, while I all my colleagues plus the academic bloggers have been in "grading jail," I've been in R&R jail to make the Dec. 17 deadline.  Usually, I would go have a nice lunch--or if later in the day, I'd have a glass of wine.

But nooooooo!  I am just switching jailers, and you can now find me in grading jail. 

But this blog post helps.  She call herself the "Worst Professor Ever"--but right now some of her advice makes me think of her as the "Professor's Best Friend" (at least in the blogosphere).  If you don't follow this blog, you really really should give it a try.