It is 5pm and it is still fairly bright outside. I am very happy that the days are getting longer again. My stint at the library has been productive. I have dedicated the full day, about 7 hours, to refining my White Paper. I continue to be amazed at the time and effort required to write. This is only a 20 page paper that builds off an existing 10 page report, yet I am fairly certain that I have spent about 30 hours on it already. I am beginning to get a sense of how much effort will be required to write and then refine my dissertation –scary!!!
I have also solicited feedback from my supervisors and two academics on this paper and should receive responses over the next few weeks. I am hoping to finalize this paper by early February. Next Saturday I will focus on refining my CDP Portfolio Paper and then submit that for feedback. The next step will be to work on a paper for the April Colloquium and also return to analysis. I am really beginning to understand the value and necessity of having these overlapping “streams” of activity.
I have made a commitment to take every fourth weekend off. This is in some ways hard for me because Saturday is typically the only time that I can consistently commit to research and usually accomplish a lot. That said, I need to try this because I was exhausted by the end of last year and need to find a more sustainable approach to balance life, work, and research.
I am going to depart shortly to complete some errands and then head home to watch the Australian Open on TV.