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[conjugate]

I hope I'm not too late. 

I am trying to learn to write more quickly for a number of reasons.  I wonder if this thread and my goal to report in regularly will help.

It's not too late, I'm sure.  I mean, in August or so, yes, it will be too late to do much for this summer, but while it's still May we're good to go.

One trick I read, and occasionally use, for the prevention of writer's block: stop writing and take a break when you're going fast and making good progress.  If you stop writing when you're tired and starting to find it harder going, this means that at some level you'll associate the book project with the unpleasant feelings you had when you stopped.  The plan of stopping while you're on a roll is that you will have as your most recent memory a positive, exciting experience.  In that way you'll be more likely to start back up, and (having started back up) to get somewhere and get back in that "zone" again.

I don't vouch for the validity of the reasoning behind the approach, but the approach seems to work for me.

[tenured_cat]

Interesting. But while I'm on that "roll," I don't think of stopping. I'm having too much fun. Once I can't think straight anymore and need to stop, I either take a break or quit for the day. Today, I took a 30 minute break about two hours ago and then figured I could as well finish reading a chapter from a book I want to use. Right now, after the "Fora" break, I'll try for yet another one. But I also just put potatoes on for dinner :)

I'm mostly a morning worker (from about 7 to 8 am until 3 or 4 pm). Lunch at desk and cigarette/freshen up coffee breaks only. Once I'm done, though, I'm really done.

O.K., one more chapter.

[siduri]

Oh, what a great thread!  Am I too late to jump in? 

I don't have the pressures some of y'all have for writing (no book expected), but I do have:

• an article draft to revise
• another article to work on--I have a few scattered paragraphs written, but nothing substantial yet.  I'm really not sure where I'm going with this one
• a book review
• grant proposal due early in the fall (fortunately, I have a very reliable & experienced collaborator on this one)

My big problem is that I do have to teach during July (darn student loans).  But it's only one class, in the mornings, one that I have taught many times before. I may not have to prep much of anything, unless I feel guilty for rehashing.  So maybe I can stay marginally productive in the afternoons? 

By the way, I will personally vouch for conjugate's "stop while it's good" approach.  I try to stop in the middle of things, so that when I sit down to write the next time, there is no blank screen terror--I know exactly what I need to work on and pick right back up.  When I actually make an effort to do this, it really works.

[tenured_cat]

Jump right in, Siduri, the water's fine :)

I did finish reading the whole book now. Unsatisfying, because it stops about 20 years before I need it to stop, but a good fit with other texts. Will slay that dragon tomorrow, though.

Still not convinced. If I stop "while it's good," I tend to forget what I did just before I stopped - that's why I can't do this in the office (I am soooo looking forward to a student-free campus!). Call it middle-age senility if you must ... wait, no, I can call it that, not you (general all you all).

[history_grrrl]

Hi, all. I wanted to go to my union meeting this morning, but I didn't get enough sleep so I stayed home and just worked. I'm almost halfway through chapter 2. This isn't "from scratch" -- it's my dissertation -- but I'm doing some rethinking and rewriting as well as checking all citations (a big job but well worth it, since I sometimes find that my "impression" of a document wasn't quite accurate way back when).

I've also heard that writing the introduction at the end is the way to go. I'm planning to do that, but I'm also taking notes, sticking "don't need in this chapter anymore" stuff into a "maybe for intro?" file, etc.

One problem I have is related to compulsiveness. When I'm not procrastinating or overloaded with other work, and am really in "work mode," I forego things like, um, brushing my hair and changing from jammies into regular clothes. I also forget to take breaks, which may be a recipe for burnout (and migraines) that I need to watch out for. Any suggestions for how to work more "normally"?

And thanks again to the OP for this thread. I was already doing revisions, but this is motivating me even more.

[gobelin]

Can I join too?  I want to make progress with a book manuscript this summer, and I have a major r-and-r to do on a journal article. I have two other papers that are handily stalled with co-authors at the moment (sometimes this would annoy me, but right now I don't mind) and another that is currently stalled with me. This is embarrassing but the co-author is being awfully nice about it. The book is the project I'm most interested in at the moment, but I'm in an article field, so it's a case of balancing priorities.

Realistically, I won't get started for another two weeks, because I'm still grading just now, and then have a week's holiday booked.

I'm like conjugate: I like to stop writing when I'm on a roll, so that I have a specific thing that I know I have to do first next time I sit down to write. It helps me get into things.

[wanderer]

My plan for the summer:
(1) do 1-2 book reviews
(2) finish and submit one article
(3) work on at least one other article so as to submit in the fall
(4) write up big project and begin shopping to presses

The next week is still mostly a combo of grading, sorting out next year, and family stuff.  Be back soon...

[tenured_cat]

Fortified with coffee, having read all e-mails and "replies to your posts" threads, and parked the cat in the living room, here I am, ready to tackle the grindstone!

Now, somebody has to explain this to me - on Monday, when I got started, my desk (a medium size dining table, btw) had space. Now, I have one pile on my left, one on my right, one each at 2 o'clock, at 1 o'clock, straight ahead, and I think there are two books hiding just behind the screen.

I think the pile on my right are the articles and books for the first section of the first chapter ... *checks* yes. Good.

Go.

Wait - coffee is getting low ... must refuel.

[pep_sal]

Checking in for the day.  It looks like our company is growing!
Cat_on_track, when I started this week, my desk was clear.  Now, my laptop is on another table and books, articles, and notes are piled everywhere. 
I just saw that I received a message from Gina Hiatt's Academic Ladder about "How to organize your writing project for the summer," but I guess I'll read it later when I take a break and report back, since I'm getting started late today.

Have a great writing day, everyone.

[secretweapon]

Hi everyone.  My name is Secretweapon, and my book manuscript is due in six weeks.  I admit that I have a problem.

[tenured_cat]

I hear that admitting that you have a problem is a first step. Supposedly there are eleven more. Never got to any of those. When you find them, will you let me know, please?

Here's my admission to my current problem (well, one of them at least): I have this gorgeous sentence. Really well crafted. It manages to summarize a variety of social/political/economic messes forces quite nicely (all the text needs is such a summary; it's background). I love it. I really do. Problem? Well, it extends over 8 lines (105 words); it's a paragraph on its own. This would not be a problem in a German text; I've been told it's a no-no in English. Darn!

Going to refuel coffee and get the axe to take to said sentence. It is a pretty sentence, though. It will be mourned.

[secretweapon]

Can you just divide it into two? 

[sciencephd]

cat's off track

[tenured_cat]

If I divide it by two, it will make like Hydra (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hydra.html) and just grow more words. I will be strangled by it and will have to call in Xena to help. Given the topic of the book, that may not be a bad idea, actually.

Mmhh ... smirking, are we, SciencePhD? And how is YOUR writing coming today???

[sciencephd]

If I divide it by two, it will make like Hydra (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hydra.html) and just grow more words. I will be strangled by it and will have to call in Xena to help. Given the topic of the book, that may not be a bad idea, actually.

Mmhh ... smirking, are we, SciencePhD? And how is YOUR writing coming today???

Today, I cannot even read with comprehension, let alone write.  My brain hurts.