Slowing Down

I can feel it. I can just feel  my head and body telling me to slow down or I am going to careen off the nearest cliff and fall into the ravine that is Burn Out City. How do I know this? Well, first, because it isn't just that I'm tired today. I've been feeling off since Thursday. I just been feeling kind of disconnected from things, especially writing related. Part of this could be why it feels like my brain is not working on all cylinders today, or doesn't seem to want to. This sucks not only because I have a ton of things to do, but also because The Walking Dead is on tonight. I should be excited about this. Sadly, I am not. Going back to bed like right now sounds like a way better idea to me at the moment. LOL  Add to this the cold I feel coming on and the fact I have not been sleeping well for the week and well, yeah, I can feel myself losing control. This next week upcoming will be all about me trying to wrest some of that control back.

Anyways, tomorrow starts another week and I've been finishing the prep for the lecture on Bartleby, the Scrivener. I need to start a discussion thread on blackboard for the students to respond to. I decided last week to start using that more, instead of having them type it out, print it, and then hand it in. Not only does it save me from lugging the papers around, but I think it gets the students to interact on the boards and *hopefully* see the different ways their fellow students are looking at, and understanding, the fiction we're studying. It should also prepare them for the mid-term and final as well since they will get used to the types of questions I ask. (Not to mention, my 9am class is very, well, quiet. And I keep telling them that participation counts like a lot, but they don't seem to get it. So this is my way of giving them a chance to step it up. We'll see if they take it.)

Speaking of teaching, and adding to my general sense of malaise today, is the weather report for tomorrow. It's calling for ICE tomorrow morning. I have to be on the roads before the plows come out. This annoys me not because of the weather itself or the fact the plows won't be out. No, it annoys me because every day that I've had to teach a class (MWF for the last two weeks) -except for one- has been crappy weather to drive in. And usually it clears up around the time I get there. I swear, the weather gods are screwing with my head and I do not appreciate it. I never thought I could possibly want spring to get here as much as I do right now. 

Oh, and in case anyone was curious, the major snow storm missed us though we did get about 7 inches of snow in a 5 hour period. This is a lot, but nothing unusual for where I live. Watching it through the window it truly was a beautiful thing to see. The snow fell and it was like a curtain. It was so thick and the flakes were just seriously huge. It was awesome but again, this was awesome to me because I was safe and warm inside my house. As for those places that got hit way harder and with a ton more snow, I do hope everyone made it through safe and sound.

And now on to my goals and how I did this past week. I got several of them done, while others (specifically the final two) kind of fell by the wayside. Anyways, here's my update:

• Finish edits of Finding Home by Wednesday night: This got finished on Tuesday so...YAY! 
• Prepare query letter for Finding Home:  I did some research and started this on Wednesday. I have a decent draft but it's a half of a page too long. This week I will work on cutting it down and being more concise  I have also chosen several publishers to send to. EEK! This is scary. 
• Spend a minimum of 2 hours/week on collaborative project: This is my Sunday project! 
• Minimum of 1 Book Review posted here or on Goodreads:  Posted my review on my blog for Graceful Submission by Melinda Barron. I also did a review for a book on GR so, I'm actually plus one here!
• Read/comment on min. of 5 blogs/updates: Done!
• Reply to comments on this blog: Done.
• Check in for ROW80 on Sunday: Well this post takes care of that!
• Send out 2 resumes this week: I failed at this. *sighs* 
• Workout a min. of 3 times this week: One out of three. Gah. I need to get back on top of this like, asap.

Next week my goals are:

• Work on revising and cutting down my query letter
• Spend 2 hours on collaborative project
• Post at least 1 book review here or on GR
• Read/comment on at least 5 blogs
• Check in for ROW80 on Sunday
• Workout 3 times

I scaled things down a bit for the week upcoming. As I said in the beginning of this post, I think I need a bit of a break from the frantic pace I'd been setting for myself.  In past rounds I've hit a peak and then plumetted in terms of productivity so I really want to avoid that. Slow and steady wins the race, right?  I hope everyone has had a great week and good luck with your goals!