ROW80 2013:3 Goals and 1st Update

Here I am returning to ROW80 after sitting out for the last Round and a half. I know, I know... I crashed and burned back in January and pretty much fell off the face of the earth in ROW80 circles. For the first half of this year, I did very little writing, aside from a few small bursts of intense productivity. Some of that was probably due to increased workload from both jobs, but some was because of the Self Doubt Monster rearing its ugly head. But now I am hoping to change that by starting to write regularly again, even if it's only a small amount. I've written 4,000 words today, probably spurred on by the fact that this is my first full day off in months, but I need to keep that momentum, or at least some of it, if I'm ever going to get this manuscript finished.

So, here are my goals for this round:
Creative Goals 

• Write at least 500 words per week: Yes, this is a pretty small amount; some might say too small. But in light of what will be a much higher work load this year, I'm wary of setting too high a word count in case I can't reach it, which will make me feel all guilty and self-loathy which will probably affect my academic progress in a vicious circle of suckiness. 500 words is probably doable in an hour or two, which shouldn't make me feel too guilty about writing when I should be researching/studying/marking or whatever.
• Do one painting or drawing each week: This is a tentative goal, but I'd like to at least try to re-hone my artistic skills, even if it's just with small sketches.

Academic Goals

• Begin research on PhD topic: I officially started my PhD last Friday. I sort of have a rough idea of what I'm doing for my thesis, but need to refine it and put together background research, as well as clarifying my actual research question. Because I am doing my PhD full time I am expecting my progress in other aspects of life to be be relatively limited due to time/energy constraints.
• Teaching stuff: We finished exam marking earlier this week and the next semester doesn't start til the end of July, so no goals here yet.
• Research assistant stuff: Ongoing work where I'm doing some new graphics for an educational website. Still need to get the necessary software on my computer, though. (actually, need to upgrade computer because this one is on its last legs)

Health Goals

• 20 minutes slow exercise-bike riding per day: My knee is still crap, and it looks like it always will be (at this stage the surgeon has essentially said, "Yes, your knee is buggered, but not quite buggered enough to warrant an operation at this stage"). I'm limited to non-weight-bearing types of exercise but I still need to maintain my fitness somehow. I can at least walk (mostly) normally, though I still have to wear the knee brace and use the walking stick, and slopes give me a lot of grief.

As always, Judgemental Dog will be along for the ride:

To see how other ROW80ers are going, click here.