January 15, 2022

Something I thought about:

• I wrapped one big chunk of work, so now I’m planning the next and also trying to give my brain a brief bit of transition time. The next semester is also coming up alarmingly quickly, so I’m trying to balance writing and course planning with some much needed down time to relax my brain.

Something I did:

• Sent half of a dissertation to my adviser.
• Submitted two more academic things.
• Caught up on email, cfps — everything, really.

Something I read:

• How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
• Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• From the Lithub Craft of Writing newsletter — some wisdom from Annie Dillard:

Out of a human population on earth of 4.5 billion, perhaps 20 people can write a serious book in a year. Some people lift cars, too. Some people enter week-long sled-dog races, go over Niagara Falls in barrels, fly planes through the Arc de Triomphe. Some people feel no pain in childbirth. Some people eat cars. There is no call to take human extremes as norms.