Summer 2008 was the closest thing I’ve had to a normal summer in a couple years. And it wasn’t all that normal. It began with my return from Europe in the middle of a TA strike, and then ICA hit, which meant that May was a very busy month. By mid June, things slowed down enough that I hit my stride with writing, and had about 5 good weeks of intense work on the book. I am the type of person who sets unrealistic goals every summer and then fails to meet them. This summer, perhaps because of the chair thing, I didn’t do that. The result is 90 new pages, a personal record in the pages to weeks ratio, and so the ms. stands at 340 pages and the end is in sight. The only problem is that I keep talking to people about it and realizing there are other things to be included. My dream is to send it out for review in January 2009. We’ll see. I can say that those 5 weeks of intense work on the book were incredibly satisfying. I also got my 2 courses ready, worked on the annual report and few other miscellaneous chair things and spent 3 weeks in Australia (blog entries forthcoming). My only “failed” goals were a finished draft of my SSHRC application (though I’m well on my way) and some spring cleaning-type stuff (going through papers let over from our move last year; I hate going through papers). What more could you ask for, except for more summer?
Perhaps that September optimism is my consolation prize.