Needle and Thread is Published

The February edition of The Absent Willow Review is out and one of this month's stories is mine. Totally cool.

You can find it here.

Week 3 Plan

This week's to-do's:
1: Grade one class's worth of final drafts
2: Make handout for Eng. 102's project 2
3: Taking photos of earrings
4: Take car to the shop
5: Grade second class's worth of final drafts
6: Grade third class's worth of final drafts
7: Submit one story for publication
Bonus: Cookies!

Ancient Hairs, How Exciting!

I just stumbled on this nifty science article that talks about DNA testing on a sample of hair that's thousands of years old. Ok, I know it brands me as a nerd to be all excited enough about this article to pass it on, but, well, I've never claimed not to be a nerd, have I?

Mostly, I thought I'd pass it on to you folks because it offers fun imaginative possibilities. We're learning more and more about those who came before us, and an article like this practically begs for a story behind the man. If you close your eyes and imagine what this man's life might have been, what comes to mind?

Week 2 Amendment

I had a realization about daily goals. They need to be flexible. It's silly to have time on one day to do the next day's thing, but put it off because it's the next day's thing. I know it seems obvious, but it took me a while to figure that one out.

This week, I'm not going to worry so much about strict adherence to which day something gets done on (with the exception that certain things, by their nature, should not be pushed back). I think it'll make the experiment more realistic.

Unfortunately, I'm starting off this week without my first thing - coffee w/the pirates - done. But, that was totally the weather's fault and not my own. Crazy Colorado winter. Today, of course, it's sunny and the snow's melting and the roads will be perfectly fine by the evening. At least that means my students in the two classes I have today shouldn't be using weather as a reason for being absent.

On To Week 2

My first week of having daily goals went okay. I was kind of spotty on hitting all the goals, but it was nice to have something to try for each day. Overall, I got some things done I wouldn't have otherwise.

For the second week of the experiment, here's what I'm aiming for.
Monday: Pirates' meeting
Tuesday: Finish grading 102 rough drafts
Wednesday: Finalize plan for 102's second major paper
Thursday: Make a pair of earrings
Friday: Goof off
Saturday: Library run to swap out reading materials
Sunday: Submit story for publication
Floating Goal: Bake a batch of cookies

Thing a Day

I've got to be honest, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently. I feel like my to-do list is too large scale. Now, since it often helps during these times if I focus, if I break things into chunks, I'm going to do exactly that as my challenge for this month. I'm going to look at what I want to do and make it into really, really little parts. Then I get more check marks on my list and a clearer sense of making progress.

For February, I'm going to plan a week at a time and give myself a list of at least one specific thing to do each day. 28 days = 28 goals. They won't all be writing goals, but I'll be aiming to get a check mark every day. Depending on the week, I'm also going to have one or two floating/bonus goals.

Without further ado, here's this week.

• Monday: Meet with Cindy and send my thesis to Forth Collins. (first check mark of the week!)
• Tuesday: Grade all pending homework for my classes and prepare peer review forms for their first project.
• Wednesday: Finish typing up my latest story.
• Thursday: Go to poetry reading on campus.
• Friday: Grade at least one class's rough drafts.
• Saturday: Submit a story for publication.
• Sunday: Take photos of earrings I've made recently.
• Floating goal: Do a total of 9 miles on the elliptical at the gym this week.

Are you up for joining me?