I’m hoping to complete the manuscript for Foucault: The Birth of Power over the next 12 months – a sabbatical year and summer. I’ll be based in London most of the time. I’m also hoping to make considerable progress on the Shakespeare project. So, based on some previous experience – the Leverhulme fellowship which I had for The Birth of Territory, for example – I’m going to try to stick to the following plan.

1. No email in the morning.
2. Use the morning to write.
3. Use afternoon (and frequently evening) for email, admin, editing, and reading.
4. Facebook, Twitter, Feedly, etc. are not to be used on main computer; you have an iPad (kept in a different room) for that.
5. Go to the British Library regularly, even if you don’t need to consult things. The Rare Books room is a place you’ve done a lot of good work before. Renew your ticket to the Warburg Institute for the same reason.
6. Concentrate on the primary literature; the secondary literature can come later.
7. Try to only agree to do talks that move the writing forward.
8. You really can’t take on any other writing or editing projects.
9. Going to see Shakespeare in the theatre counts as research. Make the most of being in London.
10. Get to Paris regularly.
11. Long bike rides help with coming up with ideas. This is not easy to do in London, where cycling requires constant concentration. So try to get out of the city at least once a week.
12. Analogue Sunday – or at least, no work.