In need of inspiration

I've spent most of today avoiding working on my NEH proposal. I need some of the drive and inspiration that led What Now? to go in about two weeks from should I even apply to hot dang, I've done it. I've been thinking about this application for the same length of time (since the end of February), but I've done little to make it a reality. I'm closer... but my approach to grant applications looks more like What Now?'s cleaning fantasies than anything else.

Then again, I do get things done, eventually. I just mull, and muse, cogitate, masticate, and ruminate, ... then bam, I spit out the cud, and there's the finished application. (I just couldn't resist giving Prof. Me another disgusting image to contemplate, sorry).

The problem is... I'm just grazing today. And getting nothing done. I made a to-do list, and I was checking things off. I submitted an abstract for the Scotland conference on Friday. I've got this Berkeley paper to prepare, then my host department colloquium talk.

Oh yeah... and I've been avoiding writing to the hiring committee chair at LVU. I really think it's something I ought to do. I might get some good feedback (or silence, which is nothing I haven't dealt with before). And, I need to decide whether to apply for the open lectureship, which I simply can't decide. Deadline is May 1, the same day as the NEH deadline. I'm still planning to apply for [Tough Commute U.], deadline: May 15.

There are ten items on my to do list, prioritized by deadline. None of them are expendable, so priority by importance is irrelevant. The first two are done. The third is simply a matter of putting something in the mail tonight. The fourth is the NEH grant. Need to get back to work. Okay, a quick lunch, then I have about three more hours to get cracking before The Rocket Scientist comes to take me home.