Well, I was up until 1…

Well, I was up until 1 a.m. finishing the first set of applications (26), and then probably took another hour to fall asleep, lying in bed and fretting at Kevin about them. There's one I'm particularly irritated with myself about -- I hadn't realized that Lake Forest College had an earlier deadline than any of the others, October 15th, which I missed. I sent them an application anyway, though Kevin says these deadlines are generally hard deadlines, because it would be a terrific job -- a great location for us, very nearby. And I wish I'd had more time to tailor each letter to the job listing -- or even better, time to research each school and tailor to that, the way I did before the Vermont interview. I just have to hope that I get some interviews; if I do, I'll have time then to do that kind of research.

I'm frustrated with myself for not being more on the ball with these; there's really no good reason I didn't just do them all a month ago (except that up until last weekend, the MLA website kept crashing every single damn time I tried to access the job list). And now I've requested that recommendation letters be sent from Career Services, but I'm not sure how quickly Patti will process that; she's probably deluged with requests right now. I may miss out on jobs, just because of lateness. Irritating.

But on the other hand -- well, I'm busy. And I'm mostly busy being a writer right now, which is what I'm supposed to be doing. And if I don't get an academic job next year, I'll just be writing full-time, and possibly supplementing our income with a little adjunct composition work. I can always apply again for academic jobs a year from now, and my position isn't likely to be worse, unless I get truly horrible reviews for Bodies in Motion. So as Kevin keeps telling me, I should just relax.

Tossed and turned all night, clearly under stress. Maybe I'll nap on the plane. At least it'll be lovely and warm in Tempe this weekend.