20150917.0605

Work continues, as it ever must. Among others, I have papers to grade. I would like to get them done before the end of the weekend, which will mean I need to start on them in earnest today. I had meant to do so yesterday, but I had other grading to do first, as its deadline is a bit earlier than that on the paper-grading I have to do. The papers are "worth more," and so it makes sense that I would take more time assessing them than, say, quizzes. But I still need to get to doing them; I have other jobs that need doing, as well, and I have family coming up to Sherwood Cottage this weekend, so that while I may be able to get some of that other work done, I need to be available to them.

One of those other jobs is a freelance piece I need to write. I have already bought the book for it, downloading it to an e-reader my wife bought for me some years back. It is a relatively short novel, so I should not have any trouble plowing through it--once I can begin on it. As I note above, however, I have grading to do in the meantime, so it will be a bit before I can start on the novel and thus on the write-up of it. It is a next volume in a series, though, so some things will carry forward, and that will be to my benefit. Working with familiar materials is always welcome.

The freelancing is not the only work I do with familiar materials; my search for a permanent position continues, and at this point, I am intimately familiar with the application data I send out. I have seen it enough times that I very much should be. The peril in that ties to the old adage about familiarity and contempt. I am no longer sure how to present myself in such a way that I am attractive to others; while I have some idea how to show myself in person in such a way that I read well (although I do not typically do so, usually lapsing in concentration and being too loud), I do not know how to translate that to my application materials. I suppose I could try to talk to a career coach of some sort, but that costs money I do not have--I think. It will take more research, perhaps. It is fortunate, then, that years of academic training, which has more or less ruined me for the "real" job market, has equipped me admirably to collect and process information that appears in print. (To a large extent; I am increasingly aware of what I have missed through my course selections.) If I can but find the time to do it...for work continues, as it ever must.

Medievalist that I still am, I cannot help but think that the line now reads gæð a weorc swa hit sceal.