Writing #1--Getting started
A question I get a lot from people, from students to peers is, how do you make yourself write?
Nike provided a splendid answer: Just do it.
Okay, okay, I know that's not particularly helpful, despite being true. It took me years and years before I internalized this lesson, so I do know how hard it is to get motivated. All I can do is tell you what has worked for me. I hope that, even if my techniques don't work for you, you'll see a grain of truth that will help you find your way.
First, full disclosure: There are people who must write from an outline or they just can't stay organized. Then there are people who cannot write from an outline because they can't write an outline. Not that they don't know how, just that their brains don't work that way. I fall somewhere in between.
When I sit down to write a paper, I start with the easy stuff. What is the easiest part of a paper to write? For me, it's the methods. I use writing the methods to get myself started. Once I get going, I can usually continue.
Alternatively, I might start drafting figures. I always have at least a couple of figures that I know I will be including. While I'm drafting, I think about what I'm going to say about the figure, and that's often enough to get me going.
After that, I pretty much just start jotting sentences and paragraphs in various sections. If I get stuck in one section, I start (or continue) writing another. Basically, I do a mind dump. I make notes to myself on the manuscript using the comment function in Word. I write in a very non-linear fashion. I might stop writing something in the results and toss something into the introduction as it occurs to me or vice versa.
At some point, I get a bunch of writing that sort of looks like a paper, and I can't seem to find holes to fill. That is when I make an outline. I outline what I've got, and it becomes instantly obvious when I've mixed results into discussion or (more often) vice versa. And the holes start showing up, too.
Another thing--I'm ruthless. I will toss out entire paragraphs or more of what I've written if I find it's not helpful. I do not consider that writing wasted time, quite the contrary. Sometimes it's those incoherent or extraneous bits that document the process of constructing my arguments. Often as not, they are straw-man arguments that I find aren't needed, either because they turn out to be just that--useless straw men--or they are, frankly, BS. I've got to clear the garbage out before I can start to make sense. (Okay, maybe I've exaggerated a little bit--but not much!)
So I can hear you saying, "Okay, Dr. Professor Emerita, you're retired, so you've got giant blocks of time to write without interruption. How am I supposed to do that while juggling students, committee meetings, countless emails and pleas for reviews, and all the other time-sucking activities that go with being a working professional?" You're right. I can now set aside blocks of time, even though I'm actually only half retired. But I wasn't always retired, and I even managed to publish a few papers while I was dean. So it can be done, and I'll give some hints on how to deal with that in the next post on writing.
Nike provided a splendid answer: Just do it.
Okay, okay, I know that's not particularly helpful, despite being true. It took me years and years before I internalized this lesson, so I do know how hard it is to get motivated. All I can do is tell you what has worked for me. I hope that, even if my techniques don't work for you, you'll see a grain of truth that will help you find your way.
First, full disclosure: There are people who must write from an outline or they just can't stay organized. Then there are people who cannot write from an outline because they can't write an outline. Not that they don't know how, just that their brains don't work that way. I fall somewhere in between.
When I sit down to write a paper, I start with the easy stuff. What is the easiest part of a paper to write? For me, it's the methods. I use writing the methods to get myself started. Once I get going, I can usually continue.
Alternatively, I might start drafting figures. I always have at least a couple of figures that I know I will be including. While I'm drafting, I think about what I'm going to say about the figure, and that's often enough to get me going.
After that, I pretty much just start jotting sentences and paragraphs in various sections. If I get stuck in one section, I start (or continue) writing another. Basically, I do a mind dump. I make notes to myself on the manuscript using the comment function in Word. I write in a very non-linear fashion. I might stop writing something in the results and toss something into the introduction as it occurs to me or vice versa.
At some point, I get a bunch of writing that sort of looks like a paper, and I can't seem to find holes to fill. That is when I make an outline. I outline what I've got, and it becomes instantly obvious when I've mixed results into discussion or (more often) vice versa. And the holes start showing up, too.
Another thing--I'm ruthless. I will toss out entire paragraphs or more of what I've written if I find it's not helpful. I do not consider that writing wasted time, quite the contrary. Sometimes it's those incoherent or extraneous bits that document the process of constructing my arguments. Often as not, they are straw-man arguments that I find aren't needed, either because they turn out to be just that--useless straw men--or they are, frankly, BS. I've got to clear the garbage out before I can start to make sense. (Okay, maybe I've exaggerated a little bit--but not much!)
So I can hear you saying, "Okay, Dr. Professor Emerita, you're retired, so you've got giant blocks of time to write without interruption. How am I supposed to do that while juggling students, committee meetings, countless emails and pleas for reviews, and all the other time-sucking activities that go with being a working professional?" You're right. I can now set aside blocks of time, even though I'm actually only half retired. But I wasn't always retired, and I even managed to publish a few papers while I was dean. So it can be done, and I'll give some hints on how to deal with that in the next post on writing.
Comments
Post a Comment