Thursday, September 17, 2009

Just write, damn you!

So it seems I’m not the only one who’s engaged in a grim battle to write at the moment. Academic, Hopeful is trying to wrestle the thesis into submission. Clio Bluestocking has writer’s block (though she phrases it rather better as “I cannot get to the place where I keep the words.”). Fait Attention is writing the ‘why this happened’ chapter, and finding historical explanation is never as simple and straightforward as it may at first seem. And Notorious PhD reflects on writing as an act of defiant optimism in the face of the sterile corporatisation of education.

As for me, I got nuttin’. My word count for the day – hell, my word count for the month! – is a big fat goose egg. I can’t figure out why I’m not into full on panic mode at the moment, because I have a major essay due on Monday and no sign of even a shitty first draft yet. Oh, I have lots of notes, both in Word and scrawled on various index cards and sheets of paper (many of which are currently drifting aimlessly around the legs of my sofa. My feet are up on the coffee table so they can’t pounce on me and assert their demands to be immediately organised into their rightful paragraphs.) I even have a very detailed outline, including a bunch of quotes and citations I want to use, which is derived from a recent seminar presentation on this very essay topic.

But despite having all the groundwork in place, I’ve been finding all sorts of ways to procrastinate the act of writing. I’ve formatted up some references I have no real intention of using (for some bizarre reason, my institution does not use any of the standard citation models in EndNote but has its very own, unique-in-all-the-world reference system, so I always have to fiddle about with adding commas in the right places and other such pointless activities). I’ve read a completely extraneous book chapter that I know will add nothing to my overall argument but simply re-states information for which I’ve already got better citations. I’ve taken the pup for several walks even he doesn’t need. (Who knew ten-month-old puppies actually don’t have a boundless supply of energy?)

I’ve been alternately kicking myself around the house yelling, “just write, damn you!”, and falling into zen-like states wherein I manage to convince myself that inspiration will come when the time is right, and when it does, the words will flow “like water my friend”. Academic, Hopeful’s post backs me up with the advice, “Don't worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.” But if that’s the case, it better hurry the hell up!

Bruce Lee advises, “You must be like water, my friend.”


5 comments:

Digger said...

Chain yourself to your desk. Unchain only when you've written two paragraphs/a page/some other sort of manageable, non scary chunk (i.e., less than the whole thing).

The funny thing is, as PAINFUL as the two paragraphs are, once you've done those, you usually end up with a few pages as you get into it...

Bavardess said...

Thanks for the support! I have been chained to the desk, and managed to produce about 2000 words. Okay, a lot of it is bullet points and notes that will need to be smoothed out and re-written, but at least I now have some structure.

And now, it's back to the salt mine for another bash at it...

Digger said...

Yay!

Academic, Hopeful said...

Hey Bavardess, I believe the advice is not quite that easy: you just have to start writing/creating, rather than wait for the inspiration to come before you begin. Apparently, you just have to make yourself do it and then let the inspiration come along the way...and if it doesn't come, simply see it as a ghost that did not visit you that day rather than due to some internal fault.

Don't worry, I am battling over here too! I have been facing some intense personal dramas and have a 10 000 word chapter due on 30 Sept that too is not yet in shitty first draft form!

All the best

Bavardess said...

Yeah, the 'I'm waiting for inspiration to strike while I'm sitting in the sun reading this novel' excuse really doesn't wash. Good luck with that chapter - with all you've been struggling with lately, I think you're due a visit from the thesis muse!