Today's Goal
1. Eat only 2 butter cookies -- man, those things are good!
2. Read article on whiteness.
3. Research 1820's Settler Monument.
4. Write 7 sentences.
I like the idea of not have a word or page limit. That really hasn't worked for me so far and ends up making me anxious. But, ultimately, I need to produce, so in addition to committing to the time, I am also trying to say close to some kind of production goal, primarily so I can get a sense of how much writing I do in a day, so that going forward I have a better understanding of my writing habits/style. So far it's great to write with company. I know I will have to write by myself at different points in my career, but this format is quite nice!
I was able to write about 700 words today, so I definitely got my 7 sentences. I did quite a lot of research on the monument and was able to write 700 words because I had a few long quotes, but I'll take it. I did not read the article on whiteness. I may get to it tonight. The main reason I wanted to look at it is because I was quite stuck yesterday, looking at a blank page, so I wanted to look at the structure of an article to get some ideas to get going. As I have some material I am working with now, I may not need to look at that article immediately. My immediate goal is to write my analysis of the short story "White Encounters," and that is going fine.
2 comments:
Looks like you've successfully made your way back into the dissertation! I like your suggestion to finish the rest of your goal list tonight. I often push tasks off to the next day (which often rolls in the subsequent days), and then feel frustrated that I didn't complete the task the day before and/ or have to add it to new tasks I wanted to be ready for. Now I'm motivated to work keep working on the task I didn't finish earlier today. Thanks!
I have the same problem with falling into the rabbit hole of reading, reading, reading. I never feel like I'm quite ready to start writing and always afraid I'm missing something important. And I enjoy it more! I have a lot more practice at reading than writing! I like your point about doing easy writing first, to get into the flow of it. For me that's transcribing an interview and commenting on it as I go which often produces big chunks I can edit and use as the analysis, or summarizing an article. It also helps when I know that it's informal writing, I feel like I'm talking to myself rather than to the readers.
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