writing spaces

I just finished sending out a number of job letters to colleges all over the country (with many more to go) and oddly felt satisfied after the fact. Sure the hope that at least one of these strange letters will land me an interview was satisfying in itself; but what I mean is that having another space in which to write about my dissertation was helpful. Like this blog (I hope), other spaces to write about the diss, what it's hoping to do, how it works or does not offer opportunities to write through the frustration and find new ways to approach the topic. I recommend it heartily.

The job market has slowed me down but I'm still committed to writing at least a few hours a day. One recent graduate over at Phinished.com has a useful post on daily habits that helped him get through it all. The essence: he writes in 40 minute blocks, with 20 minute rests, and does this six times a day. It sounds like a recipe for a 15 year dissertation, but advocates like Robert Boice strongly argue for daily, short, repeated routines that create a habit. (See Boice's Advice for New Faculty. The writing style will annoy you, but the advice is sound and grows out of years of empircal research.)

Another approach fellow writers and experts recommend: make it public. So here are my goals. I need to put together a draft of my first chapter, the one that has added new grey hair. I also need to get a working draft of my sonnet chapter since I'm presenting a short part of it at a conference in a month! By this Sunday, Nov. 2, I'd like to have 20 pages together on the first chapter. By the 20th of November, I need to have around 20 pages done for the sonnets. I'm aiming low so that the goals are not too lofty so as to encourage more frustration and procrastination. This is a little too vague now, but maybe tomorrow I'll have a more specific set of goals with details on which parts of which chapter I hope to fill.