I’m working on a lot of things at one time, and the stress is at just about the right level. Too much stress: bad. Too little stress: arguably bad, too. I think my low-grade mania is the result of this stress. Either that or all the allergy medicine I’m taking. Not even counting the personal stuff, here’s what’s going on:
- I’ve organized my ASECS panel, so that’s done, but I’m hoping to put another one together, which will be chaired by someone other than me.
- I found myself a roommate for ASECS so the hotel costs will be half what they would ordinarily be. I need to go ahead and make the reservations just to get that task out of the way (or maybe that’s the allergy medicine talking).
- For the first time ever, I’ve been invited to give a talk. Actually, two of them.
- I’ve been asked to submit a paper to a special journal issue on Charles Wesley.
- I need to get cracking on editing a special issue of another journal on the eighteenth-century English sermon.
- I considered, then turned down, a request to organize next year’s meeting of MWASECS. I just can’t afford to take that kind of time until after I have tenure.
- About a half-dozen proposals and/or applications are due in the next two weeks. Stuff I’m excited about. Stuff I don’t want to screw up. Stuff that will take me to England next year and/or buy me a semester or two away from teaching so that I can work on the book.
- I’m revising an article for a journal. I’m late. That’s okay, right? I mean, turning in a revised article beyond the deadline is not a fatal flaw, is it?
- I need to finish my book proposal and circulate it among potential publishers.
- Classes are going well (I’m very happy with both of them), but I have a stack of grading I need to take care of.
- I have two students doing independent study with me this semester, and I really need to engage with them more actively than I have so far.
- I’m also involved in the UMKC Honors Program as their first faculty fellow, and that taking a lot of ideas out for a spin to see how they handle. Hopefully I won’t crash.
Here’s what I need from you: What advice do those of you who have had some success at academic grant writing have for me? And are any of you willing to read over something I write and give me your feedback?
Hmmm, the “New Scholars Program” of the Bibliographical Society of America looks interesting.
Oh, and this came through my email recently:
You could look at The Art of Grantsmanship (or in html format. It’s science-orientated, but nonetheless there’s a lot in there that I’ve found useful in the past.
Also some helpful guidance from the ESRC, a major UK grant-awarding body for the social sciences and related fields: ESRC
And if you want to email me, I’d willingly try to give you some advice/feedback based on my own experiences. I did start to write something down somewhere for the web pages… what did I do with that, I wonder. (I do have a good track record with these things at post-grad and now post-doc level, although I’m still not precisely sure why or what it is I’ve been doing right)
Thank you for the links, Sharon, and for the offer to read my applications. With luck and determination, I will get these done in time to take you up on your offer.
And of course I’ve always wanted to attend Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. Now they have scholarships!