Because there’s never enough. Because subtracting sleep still doesn’t accomplish. Because this is the life I’ve chosen for myself.

For ENGL 621: Research in Theory and Practice of Writing, our professor is asking us to keep a time finder log for one week. The idea comes from a chapter of Chris Baty’s No Plot? No Problem!, a book on writing a novel in a month. While we’re not writing novels, we’re composing MA projects. The idea is that if we can find ten hours in a week by eliminating the FORGO-ABLE, then completing a project in a semester is possible. To log one’s time, the day is broken up into 30 minute sections in which activities are recorded/reported. After a day is complete, one is to return to this log to differentiate time that is REQUIRED (eating, sleeping, showering), HIGHLY DESIRED (exercising, social calls/emails, social gatherings), and FORGO-ABLE (internet, internet, internet).

I’m interested in this activity because it is intriguing, but moreso because I feel like I lose time, or am not mindful enough of its passing while working on something.

DAY ONE: OCTOBER FIRST

5:00-5:30 wake up, feed cat, eat breakfast, make lunch

5:30-6:00 make a slidedeck for today’s class (discussion points, connections to course outcomes, where we’re going from this unit)

6:00-6:30 shower and get ready

6:30-7:00 still getting ready, drink coffee, read for class

7:00-7:30 walk to school, set up materials for class (which included snacks today for our project one gallery)

7:30-8:00 work with a few students on technical issues before class starts

8:00-8:30 teaching

8:30-9:00 teaching

9:00-9:30 teaching, put away stuff at my desk, go to interview professor for a class project

9:30-10:00 interview with professor

10:00-10:30 meeting with professor/advisor

10:30-11:00 eat snack, pack up stuff to go tutor in the writing center

11:00-11:30 tutoring in the writing center (during this time/in between clients from 11-1, I work on composing an email/announcement for my class for our next meeting on Wednesday, email students about missing class and turning in their projects)

11:30-12:00 tutoring in the writing center

12:00-12:30 tutoring in the writing center

12:30-1:00 tutoring in the writing center

1:00-1:30 ran over with client, walk to rental office to pay rent

1:30-2:00 eat lunch and catch up on emailing students

2:00-2:30 make rubric for first project

2:30-3:00 look through first projects briefly, decide how to start unit two from this – what we need to return to, look at closer, dig deeper

3:00-3:30 try to plan unit two for teaching, skimming reading

3:30-4:00 teaching – I am a writing consultant in a fellow GA’s 120 class

4:00-4:30 teaching

4:30-5:00 teaching, walking back to office from art gallery (we took students to interact with the exhibition), debriefing/reflecting on how the trip to the gallery went and how this will start the new unit

5:00-5:30

5:30-6:00 eat dinner while reading for class; informal meeting with professor/boss about how teaching is going

6:00-6:30 leave sticky notes for myself for what to do tomorrow/fill out my planner, pick up my desk, finish reading

6:30-7:00 in class

7:00-7:30 in class

7:30-8:00 in class

8:00-8:30 in class

8:30-9:00 in class

9:00-9:30 in class; walking home from school

9:30-10:00 dishes, putting away stuff I carried to school, Facebook

10:00-10:30 phone conversation informal

10:30-11:00 phone conversation formal (lesson planning)

11:00-11:30 working on research project proposal

11:30-12:00 working on research project proposal; email proposal to professor

12:00-6:00 sleep