I have successfully written every morning for five days now. It's going really well. After Wednesday I switched to just 5 minutes of prewriting (the spontaneous writing in a journal) and the remaining half hour is spent doing generative writing on my next paper. I have about five typed pages of text already. Some of that will be translated into actual journal article writing, some of it is notes and ideas to myself that have been surprisingly inspiring and motivating. (Some of it is just crap: "Hey, I've written 500 words already!") Doing this writing has pushed me to move further on the statistical analyses - which is a very strong argument for writing before you're ready!
In other writing news, my collaborators sent me some new data for my next next paper: another hypothesis of mine is totally correct. I must really be on to something here! It is VERY exciting.
Also? Yesterday I got a revise and resubmit decision for a manuscript that is on its third journal. Hooray! They want some major points addressed, but fortunately I already have data that I can insert into the paper that will overcome many of the reviewers' concerns. Also one of my mignons is currently in the field, very interested in the topic, and willing to do a little bit extra data collection for me. It will be a much stronger paper and should finally get published this time.
Of course, nagging away at the back of my mind is The Paper that Just Won't Die. It is not one of the three above-mentioned papers. I really, really need to get that one done so I can stop feeling guilty about it. Of course, if my co-authors would just stop disagreeing, that would be much easier. Maybe I will get back to work on that next week.
The main thing I am worried about is losing momentum. I have enjoyed the writing this week but it has that New Year's Resolution feel to it. Will I be able to keep it up? I really hope so.
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5 comments:
Yay for good progress!
Don't worry about the momentum dying. Just embrace the good feeling you have right now.
Sounds like you're doing great! Keep it up :)
Cool. It feels so good to be writing steadily.
Falling off the wagon is inevitable, so you should plan on it. The trick is getting back on the wagon quickly. I have been working on this:
1) Have a system that lets you recognize when you off the wagon quickly. You don't want to wander off track for weeks before noticing.
2) Have a mental triage for relapses: missing a day is no big deal, missing 2-3 days requires action and missing a week requires major re-commitment.
3) Have some easy "back on the wagon gently" tasks in your back pocket. Something simple that you can do even if you are feeling totally unmotivated.
So far, I am pretty good at 1 and 3, but I stumble on 2, mostly recovering from the 2-3 day lapse. Sometimes I have a totally legit reason to miss 2-3 days, but it screws up my rhythm and almost always turns into a longer gap.
Yay for the writing momentum!
Want to work on some of my papers now?
:)
I realy like what you have done and just wanted to leave a comment saying so.
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