Files
kfitz-site/so-many-projects-so-little-focus/index.html
Kathleen Fitzpatrick eda3fd6b51 get rid of built on update
2025-04-20 11:42:06 -04:00

710 lines
16 KiB
HTML
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters

This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>So Many Projects, So Little Focus</title>
<meta name="description" content="The long-running and erratically updated blog of Kathleen Fitzpatrick.">
<link rel="alternate" href="feed/feed.xml" type="application/atom+xml" title="kfitz">
<script async="" src="https://talk.hyvor.com/embed/embed.js" type="module"></script>
<link rel="webmention" href="https://webmention.io/kfitz.info/webmention">
<link rel="pingback" href="https://webmention.io/kfitz.info/xmlrpc">
<style>/**
* okaidia theme for JavaScript, CSS and HTML
* Loosely based on Monokai textmate theme by http://www.monokai.nl/
* @author ocodia
*/
code[class*="language-"],
pre[class*="language-"] {
color: #f8f8f2;
background: none;
text-shadow: 0 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
font-family: Consolas, Monaco, 'Andale Mono', 'Ubuntu Mono', monospace;
font-size: 1em;
text-align: left;
white-space: pre;
word-spacing: normal;
word-break: normal;
word-wrap: normal;
line-height: 1.5;
-moz-tab-size: 4;
-o-tab-size: 4;
tab-size: 4;
-webkit-hyphens: none;
-moz-hyphens: none;
-ms-hyphens: none;
hyphens: none;
}
/* Code blocks */
pre[class*="language-"] {
padding: 1em;
margin: .5em 0;
overflow: auto;
border-radius: 0.3em;
}
:not(pre) > code[class*="language-"],
pre[class*="language-"] {
background: #272822;
}
/* Inline code */
:not(pre) > code[class*="language-"] {
padding: .1em;
border-radius: .3em;
white-space: normal;
}
.token.comment,
.token.prolog,
.token.doctype,
.token.cdata {
color: #8292a2;
}
.token.punctuation {
color: #f8f8f2;
}
.token.namespace {
opacity: .7;
}
.token.property,
.token.tag,
.token.constant,
.token.symbol,
.token.deleted {
color: #f92672;
}
.token.boolean,
.token.number {
color: #ae81ff;
}
.token.selector,
.token.attr-name,
.token.string,
.token.char,
.token.builtin,
.token.inserted {
color: #a6e22e;
}
.token.operator,
.token.entity,
.token.url,
.language-css .token.string,
.style .token.string,
.token.variable {
color: #f8f8f2;
}
.token.atrule,
.token.attr-value,
.token.function,
.token.class-name {
color: #e6db74;
}
.token.keyword {
color: #66d9ef;
}
.token.regex,
.token.important {
color: #fd971f;
}
.token.important,
.token.bold {
font-weight: bold;
}
.token.italic {
font-style: italic;
}
.token.entity {
cursor: help;
}
/*
* New diff- syntax
*/
pre[class*="language-diff-"] {
--eleventy-code-padding: 1.25em;
padding-left: var(--eleventy-code-padding);
padding-right: var(--eleventy-code-padding);
}
.token.deleted {
background-color: hsl(0, 51%, 37%);
color: inherit;
}
.token.inserted {
background-color: hsl(126, 31%, 39%);
color: inherit;
}
/* Make the + and - characters unselectable for copy/paste */
.token.prefix.unchanged,
.token.prefix.inserted,
.token.prefix.deleted {
-webkit-user-select: none;
user-select: none;
display: inline-flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
padding-top: 2px;
padding-bottom: 2px;
}
.token.prefix.inserted,
.token.prefix.deleted {
width: var(--eleventy-code-padding);
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,.2);
}
/* Optional: full-width background color */
.token.inserted:not(.prefix),
.token.deleted:not(.prefix) {
display: block;
margin-left: calc(-1 * var(--eleventy-code-padding));
margin-right: calc(-1 * var(--eleventy-code-padding));
text-decoration: none; /* override del, ins, mark defaults */
color: inherit; /* override del, ins, mark defaults */
}
/* This is an arbitrary CSS string added to the bundle */
/* Defaults */
@font-face {
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible";
src: url('/css/files/atkinson-hyperlegible-latin-400-normal.woff2') format('woff2');
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible";
font-weight: bold;
src: url('/css/files/atkinson-hyperlegible-latin-700-normal.woff2') format('woff2');
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible";
font-style: italic
src: url('/css/files/atkinson-hyperlegible-latin-400-italic.woff2') format('woff2');
font-display: swap;
}
:root {
--font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible", -apple-system, system-ui, sans-serif;
--font-family-monospace: Consolas, Menlo, Monaco, Andale Mono WT, Andale Mono, Lucida Console, Lucida Sans Typewriter, DejaVu Sans Mono, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, Liberation Mono, Nimbus Mono L, Courier New, Courier, monospace;
font-size: 18px;
}
/* Theme colors */
:root {
--color-gray-20: #e0e0e0;
--color-gray-50: #C0C0C0;
--color-gray-90: #333;
--background-color: #fff;
--text-color: var(--color-gray-90);
--text-color-link: #d61d4a;
--text-color-link-active: #853439;
--text-color-link-visited: #e8325e;
--syntax-tab-size: 2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--color-gray-20: #e0e0e0;
--color-gray-50: #C0C0C0;
--color-gray-90: #dad8d8;
/* --text-color is assigned to --color-gray-_ above */
--text-color-link: #1493fb;
--text-color-link-active: #6969f7;
--text-color-link-visited: #a6a6f8;
--background-color: #15202b;
}
}
/* Global stylesheet */
* {
box-sizing: border-box;
}
@view-transition {
navigation: auto;
}
html,
body {
padding: 0;
margin: 0 auto;
font-family: var(--font-family);
color: var(--text-color);
background-color: var(--background-color);
}
html {
overflow-y: scroll;
}
body {
max-width: 40em;
}
/* https://www.a11yproject.com/posts/how-to-hide-content/ */
.visually-hidden {
clip: rect(0 0 0 0);
clip-path: inset(50%);
height: 1px;
overflow: hidden;
position: absolute;
white-space: nowrap;
width: 1px;
}
p:last-child {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
p {
line-height: 1.5;
}
li {
line-height: 1.5;
}
a[href] {
color: var(--text-color-link);
}
a[href]:visited {
color: var(--text-color-link-visited);
}
a[href]:hover,
a[href]:active {
color: var(--text-color-link-active);
}
main,
footer {
padding: 1rem;
}
main :first-child {
margin-top: 0;
}
header {
border-bottom: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
}
header:after {
content: "";
display: table;
clear: both;
}
footer {
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-50);
}
.links-nextprev {
display: flex;
justify-content: space-between;
gap: .5em 1em;
list-style: "";
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
padding: 1em 0;
}
.links-nextprev > * {
flex-grow: 1;
}
.links-nextprev-next {
text-align: right;
}
table {
margin: 1em 0;
}
table td,
table th {
padding-right: 1em;
}
pre,
code {
font-family: var(--font-family-monospace);
}
pre:not([class*="language-"]) {
margin: .5em 0;
line-height: 1.375; /* 22px /16 */
-moz-tab-size: var(--syntax-tab-size);
-o-tab-size: var(--syntax-tab-size);
tab-size: var(--syntax-tab-size);
-webkit-hyphens: none;
-ms-hyphens: none;
hyphens: none;
direction: ltr;
text-align: left;
white-space: pre;
word-spacing: normal;
word-break: normal;
overflow-x: auto;
}
code {
word-break: break-all;
}
/* Header */
header {
display: flex;
gap: 1em .5em;
flex-wrap: wrap;
align-items: center;
padding: 1em;
}
.home-link {
font-size: 1.5em; /* 16px /16 */
font-weight: 700;
margin-right: 2em;
}
.home-link:link:not(:hover) {
text-decoration: none;
}
/* Nav */
.nav {
display: flex;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
list-style: none;
}
.nav-item {
display: inline-block;
margin-right: 1em;
}
.nav-item a[href]:not(:hover) {
text-decoration: none;
}
.nav a[href][aria-current="page"] {
text-decoration: underline;
}
/* Posts list */
.postlist {
list-style: none;
padding: 0;
padding-left: 1.5rem;
}
.postlist-item {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
align-items: baseline;
counter-increment: start-from -1;
margin-bottom: 1em;
}
.postlist-item:before {
display: inline-block;
pointer-events: none;
content: "" counter(start-from, decimal-leading-zero) ". ";
line-height: 100%;
text-align: right;
margin-left: -1.5rem;
}
.postlist-date,
.postlist-item:before {
font-size: 0.8125em; /* 13px /16 */
color: var(--color-gray-90);
}
.postlist-date {
word-spacing: -0.5px;
}
.postlist-link {
font-size: 1.1875em; /* 19px /16 */
font-weight: 700;
flex-basis: calc(100% - 1.5rem);
padding-left: .25em;
padding-right: .5em;
text-underline-position: from-font;
text-underline-offset: 0;
text-decoration-thickness: 1px;
}
.postlist-item-active .postlist-link {
font-weight: bold;
}
/* Archive list */
.archivelist {
padding: 0;
padding-left: 2.5rem;
}
.archivelist-item {
align-items: baseline;
margin-bottom: 1em;
}
.archivelist-item::marker {
text-align: right;
margin-left: -1.5rem;
font-size: 0.8125em; /* 13px /16 */
color: var(--color-gray-90);
}
.archivelist-date {
font-size: 0.8125em; /* 13px /16 */
color: var(--color-gray-90);
word-spacing: -0.5px;
}
.archivelist-link {
font-size: 1.1875em; /* 19px /16 */
font-weight: 700;
flex-basis: calc(100% - 1.5rem);
padding-left: .25em;
padding-right: .5em;
text-underline-position: from-font;
text-underline-offset: 0;
text-decoration-thickness: 1px;
}
.archivelist-item-active .archivelist-link {
font-weight: bold;
}
/* Tags */
.post-tag {
display: inline-flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
text-transform: capitalize;
font-style: italic;
}
.postlist-item > .post-tag {
align-self: center;
}
/* Tags list */
.post-metadata {
display: inline-flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
gap: .5em;
list-style: none;
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
border-bottom: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
padding: 3px 0px 3px 0px;
margin: 0;
font-size: .8em;
}
.post-metadata time {
margin-right: 1em;
}
/* Direct Links / Markdown Headers */
.header-anchor {
text-decoration: none;
font-style: normal;
font-size: 1em;
margin-left: .1em;
}
a[href].header-anchor,
a[href].header-anchor:visited {
color: transparent;
}
a[href].header-anchor:focus,
a[href].header-anchor:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
}
a[href].header-anchor:focus,
:hover > a[href].header-anchor {
color: #aaa;
}
h2 + .header-anchor {
font-size: 1.5em;
font-weight: bold;
}
h1 {
font-weight: bolder;
}
summary {
font-size: 1.5em;
font-weight: bold;
margin-bottom: .5em;
}
img {
display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
blockquote {
display: block;
margin-left: 2em;
margin-right: 3em;
padding-left: 10px;
border-left: 10px solid var(--text-color-link);
}
hr.new {
border: none;
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-50);
}
/* Webmention Section */
.webmentions {
display:block;
text-align: left;
}
.webmentions__facepile {
display:flex;
align-items: center;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.webmentions__face {
width: 2rem;
height: 2rem;
border-radius: 50%;
object-fit: cover;
flex: none;
}
.webmentions__list {
list-style-type: none;
padding:0;
}
.webmentions__item {
margin-bottom: 2rem;
}
/* Single Webmention */
.webmention {
display:block;
}
.webmention__meta,
.webmention__author {
display: flex;
align-items: center;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.webmention__meta {
margin-bottom:.5rem;
}
.webmention__author {
margin-right:.25rem;
}
.webmention__author__photo {
height: 3rem;
width: 3rem;
border-radius: 50%;
object-fit: cover;
margin-right:.5rem;
}
.webmention__pubdate {
font-style: italic;
}
/* Message Box */
.message-box {
--color-message-box: #ffc;
display: block;
background-color: var(--color-message-box);
color: var(--color-gray-90);
padding: 1em 0.625em; /* 16px 10px /16 */
}
.message-box ol {
margin-top: 0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
.message-box {
--color-message-box: #082840;
}
}</style>
</head>
<body>
<a href="#skip" class="visually-hidden">Skip to main content</a>
<header>
<a href="/" class="home-link">kfitz</a>
<nav>
<h2 class="visually-hidden" id="top-level-navigation-menu">Top level navigation menu</h2>
<ul class="nav">
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/">Home</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/blog/">Archive</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/about/">About</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/projects/">Projects</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/presentations/">Presentations</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/teaching/">Teaching</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/feed/feed.xml">Feed</a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
</header>
<link href="/pagefind/pagefind-ui.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="/pagefind/pagefind-ui.js"></script>
<div id="search"></div>
<script>
window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => {
new PagefindUI({ element: "#search", showSubResults: true });
});
</script>
<main id="skip">
<heading-anchors>
<h1 id="so-many-projects-so-little-focus">So Many Projects, So Little Focus</h1>
<ul class="post-metadata">
<li><time datetime="2007-07-03">03 July 2007</time></li>
<li><a href="/tags/writing/" class="post-tag">writing</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Its gray and rainy here in Paris today, which is actually kind of awesome because it enables me to refrain from feeling guilty that Im sitting here at the computer, again, rather than being out in the streets wearing fabulous scarves and shopping in open-air markets.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the rain isnt doing great things for my morale. And my morale is already suffering a bit today, under the weight of my to-do list. The good news is that all of these to-dos are my very own projects — nothing handed me via email (and yes, as of 11.23 am CET, the inbox <a href="/there-are-no-items-to-show-in-this-view/">remains empty</a>), nothing that I owe anyone else. But the problem is that Ive got three major projects that I want to be working on, and Im not doing a fabulous job of dividing my time among them.</p>
<p>The morale problem comes from two different directions: on the one hand, my sense of the summer zipping by, and my fear that, come August 15, when I really must turn my attention back to stuff-for-others, I wont have completed any of the three, but will instead have managed dribs and drabs on each. And, on the other hand, the tyranny of the empty window: for two of these projects, the next thing I need to do is <em>write</em>, and Im having no small difficulty getting started.</p>
<p>Im curious what your strategies for getting out of such cul-de-sacs are. The getting-started-writing problem is one Ive <a href="/there-was-something-back-there-about-practice-right/">encountered repeatedly</a>, and the best way I know to handle it is simply the head-against-the-brick-wall mode of setting a timer each morning and doing nothing but staring at that document, putting down whatever crap sentences one can manage. Usually the first two days of that regime are excruciating, but by about the third, something starts to break loose, and the head-banging turns into actual writing.</p>
<p>But I dont have good strategies for the multiple-projects problem. When you really need to be working on two things at once, how do you divide your focus? Two separate timers, with two separate writing windows, each banged against each day? Or two timers, two windows, but only in sequence — full attention given to one until its complete, and then full attention to the other?</p>
<ul class="links-nextprev"><li class="links-nextprev-prev">← Previous<br> <a href="/there-are-no-items-to-show-in-this-view/">There Are No Items to Show in This View</a></li><li class="links-nextprev-next">Next →<br><a href="/semi-random-thoughts-about-books/">Semi-Random Thoughts about Books</a></li>
</ul>
<hyvor-talk-comments website-id="9100" page-id="/so-many-projects-so-little-focus/"></hyvor-talk-comments>
<div class="webmentions" id="webmentions">
<h3 id="webmentions-2">Webmentions</h3>
<p>No replies yet.</p>
</div>
</heading-anchors>
</main>
<footer>
<p><em>Built with <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/">Eleventy v3.0.0</a>. All content <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en">CC BY 4.0</a> if you're human.</em></p><p></p>
</footer>
<script type="module" src="/dist/rJ3_G-2ArF.js"></script>
</body>
</html>