Wednesday, November 21, 2012

AcWriMo IV: Welcome to Procrastination Central

Yes, I know, AcWriMo is not about procrastination, it is about the opposite. Add a busy week so far doing things which needed to be done to staring at my laptop and when that doesn't prove productive move my books and whatnot from one room to another, and the result is no words written, and the sense of guilt mentioned on the No Matter, Fail Better, blog is something I'm feeling quite well acquainted with.

Also I'm feeling tired and head fuggy at the moment, and my ability to actually spell words and write things which make sense has been limited of late...

Got to get back on track tomorrow after reading an essay or two this evening. 

Now however I'm going to have a cup of tea. But which tea to have?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

AcWriMo III: derailed

Today has been less about writing and more about making sure I have the information to hand so that I can move forward with my chapter, which means I haven't done my 1200 words today. Yesterday went a bit wrong on the AcWriMo front because I had to leave the house and didn't get the opportunity to sit in front of my laptop until late, by which time I was tired. Tomorrow I have meetings but I hope to get something written by hand when I am travelling on the train to and from London.
This is all a bit frustrating because I wanted to have a productive week and build on the momentum generated at the end of last week, so on Thursday morning I will refocus and spend a few minutes setting some writing goals for that day. This is something which is really encouraged by the Thinking Writing department at QMUL and when I remember to do it I do find I am more productive. This evening, after reading through and doing a rough edit of the work I have written so far, I am going to spend a few minutes working out which section I want to focus on and then outline some goals so that I can focus them on Thursday morning.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

AcWriMo II

Although I'm a little over a week late in discovering AcWriMo and signing up to it, I've now committed to writing 1200 words a day (which is sometimes achievable and at other times a bonkers goal) which comes out as 25200 words over 21 working days - which I began on Friday 9th November, writing 1125 words on the laptop and probably around 100 in a notebook on the train on the way home.

If I achieve the 25200 it would mean a first (but hopefully not too rough) draft of my final chapter, a 250 word abstract for a journal submission and the surgery done on the second chapter which I've neglected for about 18 months - if not longer - and maybe even some other work as well. My main aim and major focus, however, is to complete my final chapter, not necessarily to write that many words.

Even though I discovered AcWriMo late I found that because I was starting writing my chapter this month anyway, I had already done some of work to meet some of the 6 rules of AcWriMo.

1. Set goals: I changed my goals after signing up and set a daily word count aim well above what I would usually set. So 1200 words a day 5 days a week and finish the final chapter.

2. Publicly declare participation and goals: doing that here now.

3. Draft a strategy: I've been reading and planning throughout October so I know what the strategy is - it is written down in ink in a notebook.

4. Discuss what you are doing: I will be doing that on here, maybe daily, maybe not because repeatedly posting 'I wrote 1200 words today' would be boring. One of the things I do want to think about is the process of academic writing, and how different processes might be useful.

5. Don't slack off: Phd students specialise in procrastination. Please feel free to post daily in the comments section to increase my sense of guilt over any thoughts of procrastination, or just to provide encouragement.

6. Publicly declare your results: AcWriMo is due to finish on 30th November, but I will actually be continuing until 7th December partly because I'm a week late in signing up to this, and partly because my chapter deadline is 7th December.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

AcWriMo

I'm on another 'writing retreat' at the moment; my issues with the word 'retreat' remain, but again it has been a useful thing to do, and sitting in a room with other people who are also writing creates a sense of silent collaboration in a shared goal.

The end of this PhD is in sight (sort of, maybe) but I still feel too distant from the possibility of finishing, but today I wrote the first 2000 words of my final chapter. These words are not in continuous sentences, some are just random sentences stuck somewhere at the bottom of the document as ideas which pop up but while others are proper paragraphs. I need to read it this evening and work out what I need to do tomorrow to make the same level of progress.

Coincidentally I learned this evening from another waif and stray staying on the floor of the same London flat as me while we're both in the city for work things that alongside NaNoWriMo there is AcWriMo which I'm now signing up for in the hope that it will continue the sense of collaboration in a shared goal and spur me on to complete this chapter by 7th December.