…because I suspect it might be an improvement.
Things have been pretty hit or miss here at the blog lately. I managed in the last week to get birthday posts up for Stanley G. Weinbaum, Robert Bloch, and Henry Kuttner, along with a post on a collaboration between Bloch and Kuttner. Looking back, I’m not sure how I did it.
Things at work have gotten pretty hairy. My title is Undergraduate Teaching Lab Director, which means I’m in charge of the graduate teaching assistants, come up with lab homework, handle student issues, and such. My regular job assignment includes teaching one course. I’m also teaching an additional course as an overload (for which I’m compensated.)
We’ve had a person who sets up and takes down the equipment each week, maintains it, and orders more when we need to buy things. This is a full time position. That person recently retired. Being a state university, we’re subject to the governor’s hiring freeze that was issued earlier this year. What that means is that I’m picking up most of the slack. There are a few folks who are helping out, which I greatly appreciate, but for the bulk of the work is on me.
I don’t really mind helping out in the short term. The hiring freeze extends through August, so I’ve got these responsibilities over the summer. I’ve been told to expect this to be part of my job going into the fall. My attitude on that isn’t so positive, but I’ll deal with that at the proper time.
The result is that I’ve fallen behind on blogging commitments. I promised a review of the latest HFQ and a survey of the works of Nictzin Dyalhis (this is for a paying market). Those were promised for Spring Break. That was three weeks ago for those of you who are keeping score. I also haven’t forgotten to finish the series on Kuttner’s Baldy stories. I just haven’t gotten to them yet. I also need to write reviews of a mystery novel and A. Merritt’s Dwellers in the Mirage.
I’ve managed to get a little fiction writing done. Not much, but a little. Hitting a routine before summer classes start might be a bit of a trick because we’ve got four and a half weeks before finals, and each of those weeks has its own unique schedule differences. I’m not dead yet, although at the end of a few days lately I’ve felt like it. Most days I’m too tired to write much of anything. I’m going to try to get some more stories into slush piles. I was going to try and put together a collection of short stories (horror and dark fantasy), but I’ve still got two to finish and a third to start. I may try to hit slush piles with some of them instead.
One of the consequences of these extra opportunities responsibilities is a need to manage my time better. I’ve started cutting back on Twitter and social media. That will continue. I’ll be keeping a lower profile, trying to honor my blogging/reviewing commitments, and maintain some level or fiction productivity. Things may be feast or famine for a bit, but that’s better than nothing.
Good luck over there. We’ll be here, I’m sure.
I’m having the same issues this side. For a short while there I thought I scored time by getting up early but it made me useless at night. Plus, I added to my workload with the Obscure Tales thing and completely misjudged the time I’d need for it. I’ll probably be able to do little bits, but damn, at this pace I’m not getting anything done anytime soon and that is not acceptable. So, we’ll see what happens. I’ll try to weave some magic somehow.
lol
Thanks. Hang in there, yourself. Parenting can be a big time sink, which requires little bits of time here and there. It’s often the small interruptions that derail things.
Oh, and getting up earlier only works long term if you can still get enough sleep. I’ve thought of getting up earlier, but that isn’t going to work for me.
I know what you mean. I’ve been doing the 4 am thing since January and I’m feeling it. The thing is, though, I’ve grown attached to my mornings of solitude.
There’s a great deal to be said about solitude.
Best of luck with everything Keith, keep up the good fight and make sure and get yourself some “Me” time.
Thanks. I can get a little me time here and there, usually waiting for my son to finish some activity. What I think will help a lot would be some more “Zzz” time. 🙂
Yeah, the “getting up early” thing works great if you get a solid night sleep. I rarely do.
I do find it easier to do that during the summer, though, if I’m doing it. Getting up when its dark (winter) just makes me want to go back to bed.
Good luck with everything. As Woelf said, we’ll be here.
Thanks. My issue with getting up early is that I already do. With a son in band, I got in the habit of getting up at 5:15 and pretty much keep to it during the week.
The Dyalhis survey sounds interesting. Definitely looking forward to the DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE review! That was a very influential novel, especially on the S&S genre, despite it not being quite S&S itself.
Thanks. I’m hoping to get them both done in the next week. *crosses fingers and knocks on wood*