Eating the Elephant One Bite at a Time

O.K., all you writing academics, here's a portion of a post by the Elephant Eater in which she gives such a good summary of some basic writing goals that I wanted to remind us all of these strategies:

Histgrad writes about her plan of attack on her mostly-done dissertation:

"1. Look over introduction, make a list of the sections and paragraphs that need work.
2. Break that down into do-able daily goals.
3. Break those daily goals down into even smaller goals. Today I worked paragraph by paragraph. After writing one paragraph, I could take a quick "break" to hang up laundry or empty the dishwasher, etc.
4. Just write! Go! Say something! I've learned that something is better than nothing, so I'm trying very hard just to put down sentences that vaguely resemble what I want to say. It makes the revising process more painful and makes it much more likely that I will grow quite tired of this before it is finished, but at least I've got something written. As a friend of mine says, "Black words on white paper. Black words on white paper. Black words on white paper."

So those are my four golden rules, and they seem to be working."

Histgrad, Go Girl!

Comments

[BrightStar (B*)]

I was disappointed that I only wrote 3 paragraphs yesterday, but a friend of mine cheered me by saying, "Yay for 3 paragraphs!" :) This was on a new article, so getting started is one of the hardest parts. Also, I think getting started leaves me more motivated to keep going with it today.

I love the mantra about words on paper. Nice. Much more healthy than telling myself something like, "this isn't smart enough..." It's good to have words to replace the self-critique.

[Friday Mom]

At Scrivener's recommendation, I started a dissertation blog. It has been very helpful. It provides a different space for free writing which encourages me to get going. The accountability of having people read also helps me shut out the perfectionist voice enough to just put words down. And, since I was selective in who I told about the blog, I have very supportive commenters who provide a lot of encouragement and good feedback. I recommend this as a way of staying on top of the dissertation.

[Academic Coach]

Friday Mom,

We're all glad that Scrivener suggested you start a dissertation blog (what a mentoring mensch he is, n'est ce pas?)

Hope you get hooked up with the right congregation and minister to good people (as well as to us through your blog :)

Oh, and B*,
May I suggest reading one of my newsletter articles? It's about how those negative inner voices -- like "this isn't smart enough" -- get in our way.

[BrightStar (B*)]

Academic Coach -- I just bookmarked the article. Thanks.

I want to formally thank you for the work you do. It's so helpful / great / encouraging to have your perspective in our blogging community. I'm thankful for you today!

[ianqui]

I'm late to commenting on this, but I want to second B*. Your insights have been really helpful since day 1. I hope you stay with us!