advice for sabbatical

[Diogenes]

Currently on sabbatical myself to write a science book from home.

One thing that helped me kickstart the project was I rented a cabin in a small mountain town in a different state for the first month of my official sabbatical (August). This forced me to focus and break into a new mindset. I partially did this because until then, I was doing home and yard improvements and it would have been too easy to keep doing that into the sabbatical period. I also got a ton done that first month.

Second was I joined a local non-academic writing group. They are very popular in fiction writing circles. I found one that did take non-fiction writers. My college has one, but I needed to stay away from them so not to get sucked into workplace drama. It's helping me stay accountable and get fresh perspectives.

[Diogenes]

Now about the 1/2 pay.
On Paper it is half pay.  BUT becuase 1/2 pay means <full time, you are no longer elibible for full time benefits.  So here, anyway, the state stops contributing to your retirement and stops paying its share of your health insurance.  So your '1/2 pay' is the starting point, and THEN you pay the state's share of your insurance bill... and retirement goes unfunded.- they dont take out for that).

I think this depends on the institution. We get 75% pay but keep FT designation for the purposes of insurance and PSLF. Retirement contribution does go down to 75% for the year but still happens.

[Harlow2]

I was able to collect the data for my project over 3 months and to begin memoing and analysis. For me it was helpful to be away from my office, but I needed to be around others who were working, so I spent my days in the county library carrels. Every day I took a walk after "work," went out with hiking buddies one night a week, and  planned a few days off in a faraway place. It was even more rewarding than I had expected.