Well, spring weather seems to be well and truly here now, and lots of changes are afoot. This week, I started a new two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Department of Gender Studies at Memorial University. I’ll be talking more about my project soon, but for now I’ll just say that I’m so excited to have this opportunity to do some focused work in such an exciting, lively, and vital department. I have an office with a window that opens and a door that locks, so I’m happy.
To create some structure for myself, I’ve joined some different writing groups and programs. I re-joined an excellent in-person writing group that I’d been part of toward the end of my PhD, and that group’s given me a huge boost already. I also re-joined an online group called The Clearing, which is part of Thrive PhD‘s selection of offerings. And, as timing luck would have it, Tara Brabazon has just released a four-episode series in The Post on getting your writing life back on track, and has followed it up with her 30 Days of Shared Writing series — essentially, thirty half-hour asynchronous write-along videos. I’m three days in, and so far, so good.
In terms of writing that’s happening now, I have a short creative nonfiction piece coming out in the next print issue of the Newfoundland Quarterly, and I’m also doing final revisions on a memoiristic book chapter for an edited collection on experiences of ADHD women in academia (publishing details TBA). I’m also working with the editor-in-chief of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies on a thematic issue which I’ll write more about as we get closer to publication. I’m the guest editor on that one, which means I get to have the honour of writing an introductory note for the issue. Very excited about that!
In other news, I have two graduating kids in the house — my eldest just finished her honours degree at university, and my second eldest is just about to finish high school, and is heading off to study visual art in the fall. More changes for all of us, but fun ones.
Andreae Callanan 