In Lieu of InaDWriMo

I have decided to post here--in general terms--about progress made on my November projects. Before Thanksgiving, I need to do revisions on an essay accepted for publication: these include adding a section of new material, developing an underdeveloped section, and converting notes and bib from MLA to Chicago (which, while not intellectually challenging, will nevertheless prove time consuming). I also expect myself to produce ~4 new poems. Doing any more than that is highly unlikely, given the usual end-of-semester crunch, extra committee nonsense, and mitigating personal factors discussed in the last post. Still, I'd like to hold myself accountable and feel like I'm making quantitative progress.

My other November "project," which I might also report about, is getting back on my diet (wheat/dairy/soy free). Over the past month, under the influence of progesterone, I've found myself craving wheat and dairy (pretzels, milk chocolate, pizza). The result is gaining 3-4 pounds (not a bad thing in itself, as I recently lost weight and am already at the low end of a healthy range), headaches, and abdominal issues of all kinds. That is to say, I feel like crap, which doesn't help deal with The Psychology of November. So, back to the diet.

And now, having rambled [and voted!], I need to get on with the day's work.

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Updated to add: Two hours later, I have reread the essay, made marginal notes about necessary changes, written roughly a page of new material, ordered books via ILL that I need to consult to make additional revisions, and consulted the website for the author I am writing about (this is functioning for me as a primary text). I also took a stab at writing the introduction for the collection of poems (again, roughly a page of new material) and made notes about several possible new poems. Not bad for a morning's work!

In the meantime, I received a notice from the library that I have overdue books, which I am taking as a cosmic sign that I should go to the library and exchange the overdue books for some shiny new ones that will assist me on the poetry project. And as I need to go to campus to meet with students, a trip to the library is really not a bad idea...