Tag: day job

Two archaeologists walk into a bar

The title of this post pretty much sums up how my weekend is going to play out.

I’m heading to Austin, Texas today for the Society for American Archaeology meetings. I’ll be presenting two papers, attending sessions, and listening to some interesting talks. But mostly the conference will consist of a bunch of archaeologists hanging out in a bar, drinking and catching up.

In the end, then, archaeology conferences are not very different from writing Cons.

This will be the first time I’ve attended the meetings in several years and I’m excited to see old friends from graduate school and from my fieldwork in Honduras. Since I’ve funneled my money and time mostly into writing workshops and Cons these last few years, I expect it’s going to feel a little strange to be at a big convention filled not with Doctor Who enthusiasts but people whose eyes light up at the mention of lithic analyses and studies of surface treatment on pottery.

Clearly the two communities to which I belong are unconventional, albeit in different ways 🙂

The flight to Austin is pretty long, so I’m hoping to take advantage of the time to work on revisions to my novel and begin preparing critiques for the upcoming Paradise Lost Writing Retreat (also in Texas, one week from today).

I didn’t get as much writing and editing done while on vacation last week as I intended, though I did come up with a whole new plan for the ending of Project Awesome, so I have a very full to-do list. Plus, as soon as I get back from the meetings Spring Break will be officially over and end-of-semester madness will begin. Any serious writing I want to accomplish between now and the end of the May will probably get done in the next five days or not at all.

So–to the airport and adventure-bound!

 

 

 

 

 

A month without travel

Normally I’d consider a month without travel akin to a month without sunshine, or food, or episodes of Dancing with the Stars.  But nothing about the last few months has been normal and the fact that we aren’t going ANYWHERE for a whole four weeks feels, quite honestly, awesome.

Our most recent trip (to London) was rife with highs and rather awful lows, and all I want to do right now is stay at home in Brooklyn.  In fact, we have a party to attend on the UES tonight and even that feels like an unreasonably long distance to travel 😉

What will I do with all the the extra time?

Well, midterms are looming, so there’s exams to write (and then exams to grade).

There’s lots of soccer to watch, and plenty of writing to do.  My goal for the month is to finish the current draft of ABSENT and if I’m going to make that deadline, I’ll need to knuckle down.

Also, I’ve been offered a temporary (Spring semester) position as a Visiting Assistant Prof at Queens (I’m currently working there as an Adjunct).  This is deeply awesome, but it also means more work — most notably in the form of developing a new course on the Archaeology of Identity.  That shit ain’t gonna prepare itself.

So, time away from travel doesn’t mean I’ll be lolling around eating bon bons and bathing in champagne (well, except on the weekends).  And, of course, it’s only temporary.  In November I’ll head to San Francisco for an anthropology conference and to New Orleans to spend time with my mother-in-law, and then there’s Christmas in Seattle and a writing retreat in Vegas.  So, never fear, your favorite always-on-the-road writer will be back to her old tricks in no time.

For now, though, I’m happy to be home.

Eaten alive by my day job

First, an apology for the paucity of posts this week.  My day job has opened it’s maw and swallowed me whole – something it does infrequently but with great skill.  As many of you know, I teach archaeology at Queens College and this week was the last week of classes; next week is finals.  So, it’s been grading, grading, grading, plus some fun exam writing and review session planning on the side.  None of which has left much time for writing, revising, or even thinking about writing.

My day job is just about the best one I can imagine.  It isn’t too time-consuming, yet is (usually) very rewarding.  But…it also has this great ability to storm in and demand I push EVERYTHING else aside.  As it is doing now.

So, I promise to be back with a more substantive post in the next day or two.  In the meantime, enjoy a few cute pictures of Mr. Ramses:

 

KILL! Mr. Ramses shows his scratching post who's boss

 

...and now, weary from his exertions.