And more Friday

MY MANUSCRIPT IS DONE AND SUBMITTED.

This is huge for me because this thing started out as "I'm not even sure I have enough for a poster" and gradually transformed into a whole paper. I still don't know 100% if it will be accepted. I would say there's probably an 80-85% probability of acceptance of it. In its favor: it's pretty well-written and has been edited/had suggestions made by my co-author, who himself has a good publication record. And the field methodology wasn't terrible, nor was the data analysis. It's just....there's not a whole lot of cool conclusions, which might work against it.

Then again: the editor is seeking submissions, so that might work in its favor.

And at any rate: if they reject it, it's likely my state's Native Plant Society journal would publish it; it's not any "thinner" in content than some of the papers I've evaluated for the journal.

But if it is accepted by the proceedings: that's cool, and that's another publication I can use to feed the gaping maw of Must Update Vita (and the gaping maw of Yet Another Post-Tenure Review in Three Years).

(Ugh. I've actually started counting "time to retirement" in terms of how many more post-tenure reviews I have to endure. At this point the answer is "still too many" [four, or if they decide to let people close to retiring off easy, three. Or five, if I decide to push it out until 65 or 68 to try to minimize my financial risks - like waiting to go off the decent "employed faculty" health insurance until I'm Medicare-eligible. If Medicare still exists....)

But I think I can "put a pin in it" for now, and it's a relief to be able to mark something as "done," even if I know I will have revisions to do later on. (God willing? They will come over Spring Break so I can get to them in a timely fashion).

And actually, that link reminds me: if I get home early enough this afternoon I am watching Pony Reruns. I don't even care if they're all Season 3. I need some cartoon time, badly. I've had my head wwaaaaaayyyy too much in my work (to the point where I was nearly hyperventilating yesterday thinking about "I will get the post-tenure review letter soon with the 'developmental' suggestions and depending on what they are I will walk around feeling lousy and down on myself for a few days."

Yeah. I really need something in my life to make work loom less large; I know someone else once said that every academic should have a Significant Other (spouse or partner or, I presume, child, or sibling that lives close to them, or whatever) who is NOT in academia. Part of that is just the logistic thing: if I had a husband who, I don't know, painted houses for a living, he might be more free in the evenings and therefore be willing to do things like run to the grocery store when I'm too overwhelmed to do it. Or if I had a sister* living near me whose live was different and simpler, maybe once in a while she'd have me over for lunch and remind me that there are bigger things than publications and what your colleagues appear to think of you and all of that.

(*I always kind of wanted a sister but never had one. My sister-in-law fills that role in some ways except she lives far away from me.)

I just need to get my head out of my work, when it gets too far in it makes me sad and crazy and do things like walk around after a meeting replaying everything I said and wondering if something was awkward or crazy or could be misinterpreted. So: I need this weekend shopping, and I probably need Sunday afternoon to knit or work on a quilt or maybe even clean house. And I think I need this afternoon more open to take a long, hot shower and wash my hair (my shoulders are griping me again) and stare at cartoons and maybe try to do the finishing on Raven.