I'm not good at revising. I never have been. I've always been a one-draft kind of woman. But that doesn't work for this process. So I'm revising. I've basically got a full draft of my dissertation (I'm saving the brief conclusion for the end, appropriately enough) and have a chapter revised (chapter 2). I'm working on revising chapter 1 -- my lit review -- this week. And last week, actually. I need it done by Friday so I can send it to my writing group. My deadline (May 2oth, I think) is fast approaching, but my motivation level is incredibly low. I am just soooo beyond done with all of this.
But it has to get done, so here I sit in the grad carrels in the library with my bag of almonds, my piece of string cheese, and my Odwalla Strawberry C Monster, trying to face the day of meetings and writing. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping these are magic inspirational and motivational almonds. Tony Robbins almonds. Here's hoping.
4 comments:
Way to go, Abby! While some people (like you) can write well the first time through, most of us depend (and depend heavily) on the revision process. Hang in there, though. You'll get through it.
I don't remember who said this, but you are going through, and I'm about to go through in a very big way the "butt-in-seat" method of writing.
:-)
so true -- the butt in seat part. Which I should go do. Right now. :)
I know what you mean. My writing moves slowly until I'm certain things are fitting in the way they're supposed to. Worked well until the MA thesis and end-of-semester papers in the PhD program. But the dissertation is a completely different beast from an unheard of planet for which only the revising process will work. The "get it done" principle as it were. I find that forcing myself to give into the uncertainty and not letting it get in the way of writing helps me get the first draft together but the lack of motivation and perhaps a lot of fear about still not being able to complete a draft that is not rough but finished enough to not require additional revisions get in the way. When they don't, there is momentum of course. I'm supposed to be revising chapter 1 aka The Lit Review too...here's wishing us both and others in any part of the dissertating process good luck, success, and motivation.
here here!
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