The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Last spring, I AFTDJ and got it. In August, I started my first faculty position. The catch: I'm still in the early stages of writing my dissertation. (To preserve anonymity I won't explain why I was hired without degree in hand; suffice it to say that in this market I couldn't turn down a full-time, indefinitely renewable position, even though I hadn't run out of funding at my graduate institution.) So I need to finish a humanities dissertation while teaching a 4/4 load over the next few years. Predictably, however, prepping, teaching, and grading take up so much time that it's hard to get any writing or even research done during the week. And since mine is very much a teaching-focused institution -- and I like teaching anyway -- I don't want to cut too many corners with teaching in order to spend more time writing.

What, then, should be my approach to writing? Is it reasonable for me to devote only one day a week (Saturday) to writing? Do I need to find a way to write every day, even if it's only half an hour? How have forumites made time to write while also adjusting to their first faculty position? Any and all advice most welcome.

(Apologies if I've failed to find relevant pre-existing threads.)

I have known several people in this position. The new faculty member who made the best progress did all writing (even if it's only 20 minutes) first thing in the morning (no checking emails). You're fresh then.

I do this for my writing projects at my 4/4 school. I'll find myself composing in my head while doing some mundane household task, and then I'm primed to go the next morning.

I'm sure that others will have great ideas, and congratulations on your job!

Congratulations on the new position! 

Research shows that, on average, people who write a little each day are more productive than those who save all of their writing for big blocks of time.  Put 30 minutes or an hour of writing time on your calendar at least a few days a week and keep the appointment.  Find a writing group to be responsible to at regular intervals. I'm also in a teaching-focused institution, and teaching prep will expand to fill as much time as you let it.  When I can stick to this routine, I'm always amazed at how much writing I get done. 

Other best advice I ever got:  "Park on a downward slope".  In other words, as you finish each writing session, stop in a place where you know exactly what small task you need to do next - e.g. leave the last paragraph of a section unedited, so you can dive right in and spend less time staring at the screen, trying to get started. 

^ All of this.

You may want to check out the book "How to Write a Lot"-- it is short, fairly entertaining, and will teach you some strategies for doing just that (including more details on the good advice on here so far).

Congrats, and a caveat.

The threads on this were mostly on the old forum, and some were a bit depressing, because people tended to start out with stars in their eyes and a soaring belief in themselves, and were quickly worn down (especially by a 4/4 load, as I recall--sounds brutal), didn't finish, and had to leave.

Because, as you probably really do know, it's only 'indefinitely renewable' after you get tenure, and you only get that AFTER you finish your degree, and you'll only get that IF your thesis passes...etc. Which I'm sure you know, but it bears repeating. To yourself. Often. Because a lot of folks don't/didn't. And you get reviewed every so often, and they really do judge "progress to degree" rather sternly. To say nothing of your annual reviews.).

Those who succeeded also followed a lot of the suggestions here (and many more on the old forum) about how to regulate one's teaching tasks to very contained amounts of time, how to be efficient in grading and test setup (so the latter made the former more expeditious), how not to get embroiled in time-wasting, soul-sucking endeavors like "fixing" a faculty problem (leave that to those with tenure) or getting too tied up in new course preps, etc.

The "Jedi Mind Tricks" thread is one friend; any of the venting threads are another; there's a monthly research/writing thread for accountability (November's is up and running, join it if you wish!), and so on. (Just don't get too pulled into this, or any other, forum....it/they, too, will drain time and brain cells if you get toooooooooo focused on it/them!)

People used to counsel strongly against even going up for a TT position until after the defense was at least scheduled, for all these reasons; wonderful exceptions did/probably still do happen, but they're hard.

I do freelance editing and worked with a fellow in such a situation; he had 15 min. every morning in which to write and that was it. He did finish, several years late, and that only because his thesis director respected his work and recognized some particular extenuating family issues (his wife was wheelchair-bound), and made sure his extensions with the school got through.

His biggest problem was that, over time, several of his very good ideas had 'gone cold' on him, and he had to work to get fired up again to write about them in a tone consistent with his first two chapters, which were decently strong and good; teaching and other stuff had encroached on his thinking.

We thus changed the usual "don't get it right, get it written," adage to "Get it right--AND get it written!" to challenge his thinking more positively.

Just mes deux centimes---

And, again, good luck!

M.

This must be field dependent. Though in late stages of a paper i could get something out of 30 minutes, in the early stages, for STEM work, less than about 2 hrs. is close to useless. So, what I do, at least for early stages, is to make sure I am getting in as many longer blocks as I can manage per week. Often just one, but sometimes more, and then start to put in smaller blocks later.

Construct computer quizzes that grade themselves. It's very easy if your school has Canvas, probably easy on other systems too. Leave the stuff that has to be hand-graded for rare occasions. Prep every course once and then do it exactly the same (unless some aspect of it was a disaster) every single time. Prep the whole course in advance. (I realize that may not be possible if you've been plunged in without much lead time, but from now on do it). So it might look like this:

Week 3:
Monday: short lecture on X (from notes you use each time), discussion of Y (from prompts you use each time)
Wednesday: Discussion of reading. Divide students into groups, have them discuss, regather.
Friday: Case study of Z. Use the same handout on Z each time. Remind students to do the [self-grading] quiz before next Wednesday.

Write the plan out in advance. For every class, for the whole term. Keep careful notes and files. When you have to teach the class again, just open up your notes and files and run it again exactly the same way. Don't be tempted to tinker. If something goes over badly — say the case study of Z is terrible and they don't understand Z at all — look up a different case study and put it in the files on the spot. Then forget about it till next year.

Twice-a-week classes are easier than three-times-a-week classes. Of course everybody wants them, but if you have a chance at thenm, snag them. Also, go in only on your teaching days, and restrict those to maximum 3 days per week. So teach all your classes on MWF, not two on MWF and two on Tuesday-Thursday. Schedule all possible meetings and office hour for those days too. Going in every weekday is a sure path to exhaustion.

I concur with writing first thing in the day. If you put it off till you're done with the other stuff, you will be too tired to make much progress.

It can be done, but it requires formidable powers of organization — and of refusing to do more work than necessary on the other stuff.

Congratulations!

Definitely write a little every day, not a lot one day a week. You need to expect disruptions, and a lost Saturday is much more serious than a lost hour on a Wednesday. It's also just more encouraging to make progress every day. After a week, it becomes a lot of progress.

And definitely outsource most of your marking to the LMS robot. I started doing it just before the pandemic, and it's such a relief to only mark one big assignment per term (not even that, for my more formal courses). And yes, just re-teach exactly the same courses until you've cleared the dissertation off your plate. It's hard at first, but gets a lot easier in the second year.

Oh, and don't forget to take regular time off. Each week, but also every day.

(FWIW, I teach 4/4, have a new child which I spend most of the day caring for, and I still publish a lot.

I'm 4/3, only do some of the child care as compared to my wife (who is also an academic and a more successful one).  I can't say I publish a lot, but I publish. I refuse to do what a number of profs here do: knowing that nobody cares what journal you publish in, they go to some of the weakest that will publish fast, and get out a half dozen articles on the time it takes me to do one for a good journal.

That's fantastic news, filologos!!  Particularly this day and age.  Congrats!!!

I can't add too much to the great advice you have been given, but I did know someone very much in your shoes, and I can speak from personal experience of writing on a VAP with a 2 hour commute each way and then a 5/5 FT load.

Write every day, even just a little bit.  100 words a day plus a little change on the weekend will add 1,000 words a week.  Write like heckfire during the summer and, yeah, even at Christmas and on spring break.  It will add up.

Best of luck!!!!!

Just in case it's not showing up easily on your screen, here's the November writing and research thread:

   http://thefora.org/index.php?topic=2647.0;topicseen

People set goals as they need to and check in as they wish.

Encouragement and cheers for goals met are free.

See you there!

M.

Quote from: mamselle on November 03, 2021, 05:39:47 PM
Just in case it's not showing up easily on your screen, here's the November writing and research thread:

   http://thefora.org/index.php?topic=2647.0;topicseen

People set goals as they need to and check in as they wish.

Encouragement and cheers for goals met are free.

See you there!

M.

Yes, I've found these threads super helpful for motivation and accountability. It's really useful to set a larger goal for the month, and then chart your progress towards it.

Many thanks, everyone, for the responses so far (and for the congratulations – I appreciate it). The consensus, then, is that I need to write every day and do it early. That makes sense. I've missed a Saturday or two already and it certainly did have a disproportionate impact on my progress. I've reached out to other dissertators in my PhD department about forming a writing group.

Mamselle, your assumptions about my job are quite reasonable but happen to be incorrect. My continued employment is not conditional on finishing the dissertation; I'm qualified for this job based on other graduate degrees I've earned. The only pressure I will get to finish is from myself and from my advisor.

QuotePeople used to counsel strongly against even going up for a TT position until after the defense was at least scheduled, for all these reasons; wonderful exceptions did/probably still do happen, but they're hard.

Yes, I always said I would never take full-time employment before defending – I have friends for whom that turned out badly – but here I am. I was fully prepared for my advisor to forbid my even applying; instead, he's been nothing but supportive and thought I was insane to consider turning down the offer.

I spend as little time grading as I can, but here it's expected that certain classes, at least, will have papers and (in-class, handwritten) exams.

Quote from: Hegemony on November 03, 2021, 01:03:18 PMGoing in every weekday is a sure path to exhaustion.

Unfortunately, I probably cannot avoid teaching every weekday . . . I'll hope for the best next semester. Otherwise, I'll implement as many of the suggestions here as I can.

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on November 03, 2021, 02:26:45 PM
FWIW, I teach 4/4, have a new child which I spend most of the day caring for, and I still publish a lot.

That is what I need to hear! I no longer split childcare 50/50 with my spouse, but I can't completely disappear in the evenings and on weekends.

And thanks to you and Mamselle for the pointer to the research thread – perhaps I'll see you over there soon.

Good to know there's not Damoclean Sword of Employment hanging over your head, at least.

See you on the November thread!

M.