"That's what you get for having an MS in your name!"

THAT was what R told me a couple of days ago, after I randomly vented out the anxiety of gradually being sort of "in-charge" of the Peer-group-youth paper and how it felt wrong not to feel stressed about it.

It's not like I want to back out (yeah, like stubborn me would do that) but the pressures of producing grade A paper worth publishing by the 7th of next month can get to me. I have encountered two arguments that should supposedly make this task simple. First, the deadline, which is still days away--so why worry? Second, I have two other members to slavedrive, I mean, help me. It shouldn't be hard.

My rebuttal for those two would go something like this. First, this is not just some course requirement that we can wing in a day and still get above decent grade. This is for a PUBLICATION, where even experienced writers can get rejected and where a noob like myself have experienced many, MANY times. The thing is, it's not just about writing but actually thinking of WHAT to write and PLANNING how to make that happen...and that takes time. Second, I have the best group members in P-chan and N-kun, but they do have other lives too, the former being the medstudent (who I think trully deserves this school break) and the latter an incredibly serious grad student who's about to take the comps and do a thesis proposal. Those clearly spell out how much they can contribute in the long run, not because they are inefficient but because I really understand where their priorities are coming from.

So that leaves me with recruiting a new member (she has an M.S. also, maybe that should help : ) that needs orientation about the whole thing; I have no access to the school's online journal articles because I assume part-timers only get a full term's access, possibly delaying the actual writing until school opens. Wah, Google Scholar, please don't fail me now.

I'm going to meet my team now, and hopefully I don't lose my voice--this sore throat just became a tad bit nastier. Maybe my M.S. can work some magic around this whole thing, too.