Professor Lee Tobin McClain teaches English and directs the master’s program in writing popular fiction at Seton Hill University. During her sabbatical, she chronicled the experience in a thoughtful four-part series for The Chronicle of Higher Education, offering an honest look at what a sabbatical actually feels like from start to finish.

She began with Going on Sabbatical, walking readers through her preparations, from choosing a sabbatical project to formally making the request. In Mom on Sabbatical, she wrote candidly about the competing pulls on her time as she tried to balance her writing with raising her daughter. The series grew more reflective in Sabbatical Blues, where she confronted the thorny problems raised by her project alongside the unexpected monotony that can settle into unstructured days. Finally, in A Sabbatical Ends, she reflected on the full arc of the experience and her return to the classroom.

Click the links above to read Professor McClain’s full articles. Her reflections capture both the rewards and the challenges of stepping away from the classroom, and they’re a great starting point for anyone planning their own sabbatical.

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