After the Hiatus...

I frequently recommend small, regular, persistent work habits - as recommended over and over again by one of my heros, Robert Boice, a psychologist who spent his career studying the writing habits of academics. (Please do read Professors as Writers and Advice to New Faculty Member if you have not done so already.)  Unfortunately, my own proclivity is for bursts of enthusiasm directed in a few hyperfocused marathons, followed by a shift to a new burst of focused attention at an equally beguiling project.  Sustained consistency is far from my forte. Those that can't do, teach. Sigh.

In June, when I discovered blogging and the blogsphere, I became an addict.  By the end of the summer, my obsession had shifted to controllable enjoyment.  Come September, my focus shifted - with the onset of the school year - into high gear mommy mode, in part, because of the necessity of being the afternoon chauffeur queen and in part because of the increased homework demands placed on my third grade twins (fortunately, my fifth grade daughter is homework-independent and my kindergartener daughter gets no homework - yet.) 

Come October, I developed a procrastination passion sparked by my curiosity over this fad called Sudoku.  Cursed be Sudoku.  November brought a slew of new requests for coaching and the concommitent need to refer most folks to colleagues (my wonderful colleagues/friends Joanna Friedman and Sam Ball and Gina Hiatt -- if you need a coach I'll tell you more about these helpful folks.) But I "took on" a few new clients and therapy patients and thus have been swamped with the fascinating and consuming process of getting up to speed and getting to know these folks. (I'm so very blessed to have found work that consumes me with a never-subsiding passion.)

About two weeks ago I returned to playing in the academogosphere and learned what a fun, ephemeral, playground it can be.  I've discovered many new academoglers - among them Dr. Virago at Quod She, Bewildered Academic, Maggie May at Professorial Confessions, Ryan Claycomb at Raining Cats and Dogma, Bardiac, Becky at Eportfolio Journeys, Science Woman, Astroprof, Dissertation Hell. Lisa at The Paper Chase, The Ph.D. Explosion, Seeking Solace at Thoughts from the Waiting Room, and others - look for new additions to my blogroll. 

What fun to read all these fresh voices - I highly recommend checking them out if they are unfamiliar.

There are also folks with new (at least to me) banners and templates.  For instance, jo(e)'s banner is now as beautiful as her prose. New Kid's new banner is eloquently academic. What Now? has switched to typepad and created an effective and attractive template. Another banner I adore is that of Manorama of The Home and the World and I so appreciated her courage in bucking the universal trend and writing about the rewarding aspects of grading. 

I also notice in my resumed browsing that others have taken or are taking a hiatus as well.  One voice I'm missing is Cleis at Sappho's Breathing who hasn't checked in since mid October.  I'm terribly sad that Camicao has stopped splurting at Academic Spat! - perhaps permanently - his was one of my favorite voices and already-tenured advice seems relatively rare among the circles I travel.

What was the most wonderful post I read upon my return?  That's easy, it was the Scrivening Whiskerino's November Teaching Carnival (calling this my favorite post is cheating, of course, because it comprises about a gajillion awesome posts and comments.)

(And yes, this post is reminding me why I took a hiatus from keeping track of blogs -- I've spent many hours over many days writing this post because of all the linkydinks.)

Probably the best news I've seen now that I'm back: Mon at "My So Called ABD Life" has already gotten a tenure track job.  Wow.  Attention job hunters: before you go to the MLA or other job-hunting convention or individual job interviews, be sure to read Mon's job hunting advice for thinking about exactly what kind of place you want to find.

There is the sad and worrying news: the difficult-to-diagnose health problems of the lawyer in Yankee Transplant's life or the shifts in Bright Star's life (that have at least led to a gorgeous new template.)

But the saddest news.  O. Dear.  The day before I went on hiatus I read about a fall family picnic.  The next entry (missed by me) was about hospice.  And last ditch treatments.  The very saddest news is that Dorcasina's dear husband lost his fight with cancer in mid-November.  My thoughts rest with her and her daughter.  I'm awed by her ability to write beautiful, thought-provoking passages about grief and survival even during this darkest of months.

I quote the e.e. cummings poem that Dorcasina posted when Badger lost her husband:

one's not half two. It's two are halves of one:
which halves reintegrating,shall occur
no death and any quantity;but than
all numerable mosts the actual more

minds ignorant of stern miraculous
this every truth-beware of heartless them
(given the scalpel,they dissect a kiss;
or,sold the reason,they undream a dream)

one is the song which fiends and angels sing:
all murdering lies by mortals told make two.
Let liars wilt,repaying life they're loaned;
we(by a gift called dying born)must grow

deep in dark least ourselves remembering
love only rides his year.
All lose,whole find

Comments

[bright star (B*)]

This post is very moving. You do a great job at helping us perpetuate and build our blogosphere community, Academic Coach. Thanks for that.

Oh, I like this term: "academogosphere"!

[Lorianne]

I've been reading your blog for about a week or so...so fancy my surprise when I read that we have a mutual acquaintance: Sam Ball, with whom I'm currently finishing coach training. I guess the virtual world is just as small as the "real" one.

[academic coach]

Hello Lorianne,
And if you know Sam from Mentorcoach, then we have other acquaintances in common -- Ben Dean and Carol Solomon. Carol was my small group leader in Marty Seligman's Authentic Happiness Coaching class and she suggested that Sam get in touch with me since he was interested in coaching academics. Small world, eh?
Glad to 'meet' you.
Sam is awesome. So is Carol.

[Mon]

Great post! I see I have a few blogs to catch up on....

[Lorianne]

Yes, Sam & I have Carol Solomon as our coaching instructor...and I know Ben Dean "virtually" through his ABD Survival Guide, which helped me immensely when I was finishing my PhD. (And yes, I finished...with the help of a dissertation coach who inspired me to take up coaching as potential moonlighting gig on top of my work as a perpetual English adjunct.)

I think you might have sent me an email...which I accidentally deleted from my bulk folder before clicking to the name/subject line. So if you said anything additional there, please resend. Otherwise, it's great to "meet" you, and I've been enjoying your blog.

[Scrivener]

Thanks for the links, some of which I don't know. I miss Cleis quite a bit too...

[Dr. Virago]

Thanks for including me in this post -- I'm honored.

[academic coach]

Dr Virago, I'm sure you'll soon be Widely read. You are so FUNNY. love the "fear of santa" pic :)

[camicao]

Hi A.C.- Thanks for the kind words. You've made me want to say a few words about what I'm up to and why I really stopped blogging (for now, or permanently, I don't know). Sorry for the prolixity to follow.

I do hover around and read blogs from time to time. My partner and I will be closing on a house tomorrow (I blogged about our house travails a while back) which is very nice. I am devastatedly exhausted by work, but happy to be reaching my students. I drink more wine with dinner. I think about writing a novel. Or studying classical music in my free time. Or taking up oil painting. I want to make love with my partner more often, I dare say. I try to work out harder at the gym. Maybe we'll get a dog soon.

For me, stopping to blog (for now at least) has meant getting outside of my own head. So much of what I read on blogs is just like what I feel, or what I felt. And alot of it is so loaded and negative, so difficult. I could not process it anymore--blogging made me feel like I could not stop talking about work, or only listening to conversations about work. I decided I wanted to "leave the office" if you know what I mean, and go home.

So much of my professional life is spent in front of this glowing screen-- it's downright ridiculous. I used to want to be a poet, a musician, a novelist, an actor, a lover of woods and animals, and now I find myself living mostly in front of a screen. So I just cut back a little, see if I could find something else.

Blogging was good to me, no question about it. But maybe I took it too far. I miss the people, who seem as real and lovely as the people on my hallway that I care about.