The best laid plans

Forgive me cyberspace for I have been slack. It has been...ummm...several months since my last confession. The writer's mantra of write and write often has sadly been ignored. And will probably continue to be ignored for the next couple of months.

Today I squeeze in a blog for the following reasons:
1. You may have heard there is a massive heatwave in Australia. A/C is very expensive but it is free at university. I am taking advantage of the cool and the desktop computer at my institution, escaping the heat.
2. My second daughter is two days overdue. She was due 8th January and I am trying to fill time. I decided that planning to work on my PhD for a day in the A/C at uni might bring her on. FALSE! Oh well. Maybe the new trampoline in the front yard might work....
3. Its time I wrote again. I am not going to get the opportunity (or be too baby-brain-dead) the next couple of months and I haven't written  a phrase since I left my curriculum writer's job for maternity leave just before Christmas.

The best laid plans....

The plan for the coming year is to finish this PhD. You may think I am mad to be a stay-at-home Mum and scholar at the same time but below I am laying out my best intentions:

Early childhood literature suggests that if your children do not see you writing, then they are less likely to enjoy or learn writing. Scribble and colouring develops writing skills and toddlers are more likely to do these activities if their parents participate with them. I am planning on setting my two year old up with colouring books and paper and we will share highlighters or crayons. I will review and refine my data analysis while my darling daughter imagines pink and yellow dinosaurs. I will hang butchers paper next to her chalkboard and we will draw on the walls together.

I went to a conference where a deputy principal explained how she managed her promotion over maternity leave. Her approach was to do her professional reading during night feeds. For me, tweets, blogs and literature will be read and lectures watched in the dead at night. I am determined to not allow my mind to turn to mush this time around.

I watched the tweets during Academic Writers Month and was inspired. I will probably not be able to write every day but possibly the two days per week my 2 year old is in in child care. Even if I just do one activity from this list:  http://getalifephd.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/seven-ways-you-can-write-every-day.html?m=1

Those of you with children are probably nodding your head sagely and saying "Riiiiiigghhht. We'll see" and I know why. I may only get one thing done on the above list but that is still one step closer to finishing my PhD. Without the plan, I may do nothing.