Update: So, this is unexpectedly complicating my life

Okay, so Monday the 22nd is the first day of the Fall semester. This is fine. I have a predictable part-time schedule and can easily take time off when —

Phone call: Rachel! Can you please teach a General Biology class this semester!

Me: Long, reluctant pause.

Phone call: We really need you to take this class! Tuesday / Thursday at a time that will totally interfere with your ordinary job! But it’s okay, we’ll work it out!

Me: Loooong, very reluctant pause.

But here we are. I guess I’m teaching this class, starting tomorrow. This all happened at the end of last week, with just days to get things in order for the beginning of the semester. I’m still, even today, in an intense flurry of getting things ready, although I did figure out how to remove the other instructor’s syllabus from the course page and put mine in its place. I think.

Did not see that coming. It’s definitely going to be awkward to work this out without utterly destroying my highly prized part-time schedule. I have warned the department coordinator and division chair that if Naamah has puppies, there is substantial risk of a sudden absence at the beginning of October. I also (reluctantly) assured them that I would develop an out-of-class assignment to cover one or two class periods if necessary.

I like the teaching part. The hasty, last minute scramble, not so much. The impact on my schedule, not at all. Well … it’s only one semester. It had better be only one semester.

Meanwhile! Tasmakat update!

So, yes, this Biology thing is already in the way. I expect a significant slowdown. Though this doesn’t exactly count as an Act-of-God disaster, it’s definitely a complication. I … kind of don’t know if I’ll have this draft finished by October. Maybe by November. In a week or two, I guess I’ll have a better idea of how all this is going to work.

Also, before all this happened, I went back to fill in a gap and fiddle around with some stuff, with the result that we’re still in Avaras, which I grant is disappointing.

Although I’m definitely peeved about this, I will add, I did write 190,000 words of this book, more or less, since the middle of June. (When I picked it up in June, I already had 40,000 words). So it’s not like I can complain about the work going too slowly. It’s been thoroughly satisfying. Even if it slows down now, I really do hope I will have it finished well before Christmas Break begins. That would be great, as I have other things I would like to work on during Christmas Break. But even if Tasmakat drags on into December, this has still been a satisfying couple of months.