What a Gift

Today my sabbatical ends.  Oh man, was it a gift.  Hardly ever in my professional life do I get to uni-task.  My professional days are usually like a multi-task dance recital of teaching classes, attending meetings, doing committee work, developing my courses, grading assignments, leading workshops, and emailing.  Not that I don't like all of those responsibilities, but it was a fantastic change to concentrate on just one thing:  writing a book.

That's it.

One task.

Just write a darn book.

Of course, that is easier said than done.  Uni-tasking, though, totally helped.  My goal for myself was to write half of the book before my sabbatical ended.  With eight chapters in the outline, I wrote four of them.  Four!  Half of the book.  Hurray!  Up to this point, I have written roughly 27,000 words.   I probably wrote a few thousand more words than that, but those words were deleted.  Some days, my writing was a total disaster.  My voice was unclear.  My comma usage was out-of-control.

But, I wrote.  "A goal without a plan is just a wish."  My wish became a goal.  I am incredibly grateful.

I knew from this blog post here, I had something to say.   I knew it wasn't just a wish anymore, it was something burning inside of me.  Do you ever have those burning inside of you feelings?  They are like caged wild animals; they must be freed.

Though I'm certain I have many more people to thank, my sabbatical was successful due in part to following people and groups:

• My college, Anne Arundel Community College - who granted me a sabbatical and thought my goal to write a book wasn't insane
• My department chair, director, dean, and vice president  - Thank you for going to bat for me!
• My amazing colleagues who have reached out and cheered me on during this journey.  Jax and Karen, you led the way!
• My coach, Sue, our deadlines kept me focused
• My lovely friends and family members who helped me edit my work:  Sue, Jesse, Susan, Jenn, Mom and Hilary.  One day we will celebrate at a book signing together!
• My sister, brother-in-law and their amazing staff - They welcomed me in their office all sabbatical long to write and just be
• My parents - who consistently checked on me to hear the progress I was making
• My extended family and friends, your interest in the book was incredible

To Mr. UpCyclist and Lil O - I don't think it is even possible to say thank you to you both in words. You picked up my slack around the house when I was writing.  You gave me so much time to think, be, and just write. You took care of me on long writing days.  You provided space when I needed it most. You put up with me when I turned into crabby pants at night.  I am so not a night person.  You believed in me - and still do - and know how important this project is to me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  

The rest of January, I will be back in the teaching-college groove and writing much less.  I do plan to pick up where I left off in February and find either a literary agent or publisher for the book in late spring.  Have a shared the working title with you, yet?

Grow:  Championing the Growth of Others (and Yourself)

It feels so good to share that with you.   Thank you, amazing blog reader.  You keep coming back to this space and sharing in the journey.

With immense gratitude,

Jen

Sabbatical Update: Spoiler Alert! I love it!

The title of this post gave it away.  I am loving my sabbatical.  LOVING.  In my Jen style, here's a list of why - some of which will be totally obvious; maybe some a surprise:

1. I am digging all the research.  DIGGING.  I could read research all day related to the topic I am studying - engaging others (to maximize learning).
2. I have a 20+ page outline going and I LOVE it.  LOVE.  I've realized there is so much I've wanted to say for years and this book will be the opportunity to seam it all together.
3. I am adoring working from interesting spaces - my vehicle, my sister and brother-in-law's cool office, with a friend, by myself (technically with Jedi by my feet), and coffee shops.
4. Speaking of coffee shops, sometimes while I am researching and writing I listen to this.  I love the background noise.  In fact,  I am listening to it now.   Latte, anyone?
5. I've had to shut up that voice that says, you can't write a book!  You aren't an author! a few times.  That voice pisses me off (yep, I used "pisses" in a blog post).  I actually now think there is a book in all of us.  Everyone single one of us.
6. This sabbatical is a great metric of my ability to stay focused and on-task.  I would say my skills are fairly good at this until yesterday.   Procrastination visited and she wasn't helpful.  My cure was to take an hour to get out of the house and come back and get back to work.
7. Work.  It's actually hard to call this sabbatical work because I am enjoying it so much.  Makes me think of this Dear Abby quote I blogged about a while ago.

Right now, this sabbatical feels like a dream job.  DREAM.  I'm digging deeper into a topic I love.  I believe the end product will add value to the world of education.   And I'm getting more in touch with my voice.  

Which apparently has much to say.

Off I go to work...Have a stellar weekend, fantastic blog reader,

Jen

It's Sabbatical Time

Time to celebrate and get down to business.  My sabbatical starts today!  As you know, I am a teacher and college professor.  Engaging others in learning is my business.  The book I will begin researching and writing during my sabbatical will be about just that - engaging others.  I won't be actually teaching this semester, just researching and writing.

And writing some more.  And some more.  And then some.

Though I still have about two weeks of travel left this summer (follow my Instagram account to see where I'll be), the drive times will be fantastic for brainstorming chapter themes and mapping out the table of contents.

I certainly will miss teaching this semester, but I'll be back on campus in 2015!

Let's do this.  I'm totally psyched.

All the best,

Jen

PS - I am incredibly grateful my college supported my sabbatical request & wild dream.  My dean, director, and department chair have all been over-the-top amazing and my department colleagues are fantastic supporters.  Thank you all!