Follow-up to ‘writing spaces’

Congrats on getting the letters out, Kevin. I agree that writing about the dissertation is a big part of writing the dissertation. (You know, from my vast experience so far.) I’ve been re-reading Joan Bolker’s Writing your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day, and she champions starting to get in the writing habit early and writing about your process and work in an informal way.

The PhinisheD post was great, and when I described the guy’s strategy to T (husband who wrote a dissertation in Computer Science in 8 months), he said, “With that strategy, I could have written a dissertation in 4 months!” I think the trick to the poster’s strategy is that all the writing time is accomplishing something, rather than being wasted getting distracted or being unfocused. His 20 minute breaks sounded especially valuable, based on ideas about insight I read in a recent New Yorker article (abstract). The gist is that the best way to get to a point of insight is to switch from detail-oriented, linear, analytical left-brain activity to more global and connective right-brain thinking, and the best way to get your brain to switch is to relax. Staring at the problem won’t make it any better; taking a shower or a walk might.* I’m counting on this kind of writing strategy not taking 15 years--I’m pretty sure someone in charge would tell me I needed to graduate or quit--and my favorite advice-giver at UMass (David S.) said you can finish if you’ve got 20 hours of writing time a week.

I’ve taken to writing “snippets” every week: a list of what I’ve completed in the last week and what my goals are for the following week. I keep it all in one text file, so I have an easy way to assess my actual progress. So my goals for this week: finish reading Anne Clifford’s diary, start reading ER’s Collected Works, write my 15 minutes a day, and increase my evening reading time over the course of the week.

This past week, I’ve been writing to start developing my topic (Kevin, thanks for the Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations recommendation), and I think my first dig into the material will be about the representation of Elizabeth as mother to her country. I’m interested in how the metaphor plays out for various groups of people (and individuals, including ER herself), and how the representation expanded her role as monarch (if it did) while highlighting her potential limitations as a woman. I’m new to the topic and idea, so I’m sure it will get changed and refined as I go.

*A friend who’s a learning specialist also told me that some people benefit greatly from movements like running where the body has to move the left arm and right leg at the same time (and vice versa) because it increases the connections between the hemispheres of the brain. Can't hurt to try.