Looking Back...July and August 2017

Holy smokes, it’s actually September. This is terrifying on so many levels lol. I’m now less than 60 days away from London and I had set a goal to have a complete draft of my dissertation done before I fly. I also still need to write my conference paper. But this post isn’t about looking forward, it’s about looking back…at July…and August. Because I have totally let this blog slide by the wayside and missed July’s “Looking Back” post, as well as all my posts planned for August. It’s been a busy couple months.

July went buy in a haze where I focused pretty much only on two things, my dissertation and teaching summer school. It was probably the quickest month in a while, I think. It’s hard to tell these days.

Summer school started at the end of June (the 29^th), but we only had one class in June, we had the day off for the 4^th of July but then it was full on with the schedule. Overall the class went really well. I had a great group of students who were all super motivated, which made teaching them even easier. It was also fantastic to be back in a classroom for the first time since last summer as I’ve been teaching online during the last fall and spring semester. I love the flexibility of teaching online but I’ve really, really missed being in a classroom and actually interacting with my students and getting to know them all as individuals and not just as names on a computer screen.

Summer school ended on August 9^th and the fall semester started the following week (no rest for the weary). I had the start of the year staff meeting on the 14^th and then my online classes started on the 17^th. It was a crazy week getting all the last little details sorted out and ready for my students. Thankfully final grades for my summer class went as smoothly and quickly as possible so that saved me some time. The rest of August went well as far as teaching goes. This semester has been a little easier than last year because this is my second time teaching this class online so most of the content is already created and just needs to be updated for the new semester. But, as always, the struggle with online teaching is the massive amounts of reading it requires on the discussion boards. Time is the main thing I’m running seriously short on. 

My dissertation has been the other main focus, and boy what an experience. I talked about it in more detail in a recent blog post, but that was more focused on observations and things that would be useful for other academic writers heading into their dissertations (or similar projects). On a more personal side, it’s been incredibly difficult, full of ups and downs, and definitely bringing up lots of old insecurities about my abilities as a scholar. I’m still slogging through it, one word at at time. I’m feeling really anxious because I’m behind the schedule I set for myself for the summer. On the one hand, that schedule was very ambitious. But on the other hand, I’m really, really behind. I had wanted to have at least 4 chapters drafted by this point, and I only have 1 and a half. I’d feel a bit better if I had at least 3 chapters and was half way through drafting it all. My trip to London at the end of October is coming up really quickly and I had wanted to have a full draft before then. I’m still planning on that and working really hard. But my problem hasn’t been so much not knowing what to write as much as it’s been not knowing how to write it. My framework has been a mess and I’m struggling with how to do the analysis. But I think I’m finally getting there.

Other than teaching and my dissertation, July and August also had some good moments. The 4^th of July was spent at my parents house having out with them and the dogs. My friend Hannah was in town from China, so we got to hang out and catch up which was great, we hadn’t seen each other since Christmas. Then, as Hannah was preparing to go back to China, my friend Nicole and her family were driving in from Michigan. It had been almost 2 years since I’d seen Nicole in person so it was great to see her and her adorable kids. It’s always nice to catch up with friends and spend time doing something other than teach or write. 

Oh! And I cut off about a foot of length from my hair. I went from my waist to just below my shoulders. It was a huge difference but I'm loving it.

I have no idea what the next couple months are going to bring. September is already crazy. The only reason I’m able to take time to write this post is because it’s Labor Day weekend. I wish I could say I’m going to get back to weekly blog posts. I do miss it. But I haven’t even been able to keep up with my YouTube uploading schedule. I’ve been missing videos and missing blog posts and it’s driving me crazy. I miss it and I’m trying to find a new “normal” in between all the dissertation work. I’m getting there lol. 

I’m going to wrap this up. My brain feels so scattered these days and I’m hoping this post has been at least semi-coherent. How have the last couple months been for you? Let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments. 

xo Andrea