So the way Tuesday actually went was, revise a tiny bit of chapter 6 for about two hours, then work on Kriti stuff the rest of the day. And yes, it took all day to catch up. And the way Wednesday actually went was finish revising chapter 6, which took eight hours of solid writing, then run errands -- buying some of Karina's much-belated birthday presents, sending Tim & Heather their belated wedding gift, buying myself flannel pyjamas because I keep stealing Kevin's and we are entering the season when we need sufficient flannel pyjamas for both of us, getting groceries. And it was good to run the errands, but it meant that by the time I got home, there was only brainpower and time left to respond to .7 of Vermont students. (I responded to one, but we need a phone conference to finish properly, and I only got partway into reading a second one.) There was no exercise either day.
I really like my twenty minues of blog-reading in the morning. It reminds me that N's having fun with her new baby, and Kate and Becca are caught up in their move, and Paul and Marcia are volunteering with kids, and Thida's kids are doing more every day, and Tim and Heather are sick, but enjoyed married life. It provides the illusion of a social network. Someday I'll actually talk to my friends again.
Today, revise half of chapter 7 (I need to revise a chapter every two days if I'm going to finish on time, so you're going to be hearing a lot of this in October), prep for tonight's class, have a working lunch with Shailja and talk about Kriti stuff, exercise, drive to Schaumburg, do whatever revision or prep I haven't finished yet, conference with student, teach. Some days are twelve-hour-days, some days are sixteen. Well, fifteen if you don't count the hour of tv after I get home tonight.
On the plus side, I appear to be done with the complete meltdowns for the moment. I now spend an hour or so at night being disgusted with myself (my work ethic appears to have gone completely over-the-top into pure insane compulsion territory) for not having more willpower and getting further on the work, but that doesn't stop me folding laundry in front of the tv, so it's okay. I could've made Kevin deal with the laundry, but if I'm productive while watching tv, I'm less digusted with myself at the end of the day. Kevin made me curry two nights ago -- huge batches of it, which he then divided into two-hundred calorie packets and froze. I can't tell you how sweet and helpful that is.
I do still like writing. That part is fun. But I am never never never again going to agree to do a book in a year. No matter what my dear sweet agent says about how I would've finished in time if there hadn't been x, y, and z additional stuff this year. He may be right, but I don't care. Never never never again.
I have a friend who says the great thing about academia is that your 12 hour day starts whenever you want.