Don’t tell my dissertation committee, but I have a few hobbies. Last year, I rediscovered cross-stitching as an excellent method for calming the eff down when prospectus writing starts triggering a panic attach. About fourteen months later (as of yesterday), I wound up with this (click to embiggen):
Yes, that is cross-stitch, a cross-stitch rendition of James Christensen’s The College of Magical Knowledge in hundreds of thousands of teeny, tiny stitches. I guess I have weird ideas about what constitutes relaxation.
Shitty First Drafts 
Oh, wow!
My stress-buster is lace knitting–I always, always, always have a complicated piece with tiny yarn and tiny needles sitting next to the computer while I write. I find the slightly repetitive motions help keep the wandering part of my brain busy while the problem-solving, creative part goes to work on figuring out what my next word or sentence or paragraph needs to be.
Well… Virginia Woolf talked about this – the weaving in of threads, ideas – as we work through our lives. I think it was in “To the Lighthouse,” but I’m not sure. I’m making socks (for anyone and everyone!) and slouch hats for one of my daughters and her friends. I can’t seem to make it through an evening without knitting.
By the way… _I_ want to go to the College of Magical Knowledge! It’s so lovely.
Wow! I’ve got a cross-stitch project I’ve been working on for about nine years. It’s not that it’s so enormous, it’s just that I only take it out once a year or so for a few weeks. I am in awe of your productivity!
Dissertating has led me to take up crochet. I’m currently making amigurumi kitties to calm me down when the stresses of writing and preparing to be on the market this fall threaten to shut me down.