Phew, what a stimulating and exhausting start to EdJoWriWe!
Bright and early this morning, 19 George Square played host to our 21 participants, bright-eyed and eager to go.
Bright and early this morning, 19 George Square played host to our 21 participants, bright-eyed and eager to go.
Procrastination, and how to avoid it, was a theme in Dr Daniel Soule's excellent day-long workshop..
The self-sabotaging, “productive” kind of procrastination is a sneaky one – spending 3 hours seeking a reference (and finding 10 more articles to read in the process), agonising over formatting and footnotes, re-reading and polishing the same paragraph over again… A way to combat it is to build psychological tricks into your writing to make yourself feel that there is a deadline - because unfortunately, when writing an article for publication, there seldom is.
Key advice:
- Control your environment to eliminate distractions. Be as brutal and anti-social as necessary. Carve out space and time to write.
- Set clearly-defined goals - however small they may be.. X words. X amount of time. X concept. Build up your stamina.
Find the right time of day for you to productively write, and then…
- Make yourself do it.
Every day.
Whenever you can.
Don't stop.
Don't look up references (write REF! and move on).
Don't check your email (treat your writing time like a business meeting).
Don't go back and edit (yet).
Just shut up and write.
Recommended study tools include:
- The Pomodoro Technique - http://pomodorotechnique.com (also www.tomato-timer.com). (The group will be experimenting with this on Wednesday morning.)
- 750 Words - http://750words.com/. (To get into the habit of writing little and often.)
Daniel guided us through the 4 stages of writing:
Stage 1: Planning
Stage 2: Doing the 1st Draft
Stage 3: Re-Structuring
Stage 4: Copy Editing.
A key piece of advice was not to edit as you go along, especially not in the first draft.
The self-sabotaging, “productive” kind of procrastination is a sneaky one – spending 3 hours seeking a reference (and finding 10 more articles to read in the process), agonising over formatting and footnotes, re-reading and polishing the same paragraph over again… A way to combat it is to build psychological tricks into your writing to make yourself feel that there is a deadline - because unfortunately, when writing an article for publication, there seldom is.
Key advice:
- Control your environment to eliminate distractions. Be as brutal and anti-social as necessary. Carve out space and time to write.
- Set clearly-defined goals - however small they may be.. X words. X amount of time. X concept. Build up your stamina.
Find the right time of day for you to productively write, and then…
- Make yourself do it.
Every day.
Whenever you can.
Don't stop.
Don't look up references (write REF! and move on).
Don't check your email (treat your writing time like a business meeting).
Don't go back and edit (yet).
Just shut up and write.
Recommended study tools include:
- The Pomodoro Technique - http://pomodorotechnique.com (also www.tomato-timer.com). (The group will be experimenting with this on Wednesday morning.)
- 750 Words - http://750words.com/. (To get into the habit of writing little and often.)
Daniel guided us through the 4 stages of writing:
Stage 1: Planning
Stage 2: Doing the 1st Draft
Stage 3: Re-Structuring
Stage 4: Copy Editing.
A key piece of advice was not to edit as you go along, especially not in the first draft.
"The 1st draft is my favourite because it's SUPPOSED to be terrible! So shut up and write!" @Grammatologer #academicwriting #phdchat
— EdJo WriWe (@edjowriwe) December 9, 2013
While it is important to recognise (and work to combat) your personal tics as a writer, these are shortcuts in order to get your ideas down on paper. During the first draft, your tics are your friends. Later, they can be destroyed.
Writers’ tics: everyone has them, but they are unique to you – your own personal way to annoy everyone else! #writing @Grammatologer
— EdJo WriWe (@edjowriwe) December 9, 2013
The relaxed and engaging workshop involved critiquing examples of published academic writing, collective sighing over the glorious possibilities of structure, and lively discussion bordering on group therapy about our personal writerly foibles.
Participant quote of the day:
Participant quote of the day:
Everyone always says academic writing involves killing your baby. But you don't have to kill your baby. You can just put it under the stairs for a while.
All in all, everyone seemed pretty fired up and ready to get going tomorrow, when we kick off with a round-table discussion and then get down to the nitty gritty of writing that journal article.
THE EDJOWRIWE SATELLITE
Meanwhile, the gutsy Alison Garden,in her 3rd year of an English Literature PhD, is attempting her own EdJoWriWe challenge, working on her chapter: "TransAtlantic: History and crosscurrents of the Black and Green Atlantics".
This, despite both moving house and dealing with a broken laptop this week. She will be in need of encouragement and solidarity from the EdJoWriWe-ers., so be sure to mark particularly motivating tweets with #EdJoWriWeSatellite.
We'll be catching up with Alison throughout the week.
The plan for the rest of the week is to have regular blogs and guest blogs from the participants, providing a personal insight into the EdJoWriWe experience. We will also be subjecting some to mini-interviews and polls. and of course tweeting regularly about the experience - stay in touch with @EdJoWriWe or using #EdJoWriWe.
Thanks everyone for a great day!
Thanks everyone for a great day!
@Grammatologer's take home message: "Shut up and write. And then do paragraphs." #acwri #phdchat #writingtips Brilliant workshop!
— EdJo WriWe (@edjowriwe) December 9, 2013