The WIU writing studies faculty got together this week to confirm our AY2008-9 course schedules and sketch out AY2009-10, giving me reason to think about sabbaticals. I’ll be eligible in AY2009-10. (WIU provides one semester of leave every seventh year.) My current plan:
- Take the whole year off. This may require borrowing some money, but I see that cost as a pittance compared to the rewards of the extra time.
- Get out of Macomb, at least during the school year. Summers around here are great, with Barefoot Gardens in full swing and Chicago a three hour train ride away. But come September, it’ll be time to hit the road.
- Write and read and hack like a madman. XSLT, ANT, and UCD, among other things. A secondary goal: get a few freelance technical writing and usability testing gigs. I need to refresh my examples, so to speak.
Like Debbie says, all this seems like fun to me. I don’t feel a pressing need to “unplug,” or goof off. Maybe it’s just that I see the opportunity to drop committee work and teaching for full-on focus on research as unplugging. Or maybe I squeeze in enough unplugging already, with my running and football obsessions, and Erin very good about helping me not spend 18 hours a day in front of the computer.
It all begins 5/15/2009. Only fourteen months away!