A Daily Dose of Writing

Since my last post mentioned a certain particular craziness that preceeded my defense I have been trying to find the time to get back to write about it. Of course now that I have a stack of books to read that is nearly a foot high it is the PERFECT time to do this. I am rationalizing this post as my daily writing habit, so I don't feel so guilty about posting to my blog... as a matter of fact, it might be useful to make this my daily writing space until the time comes that I need to be writing the text of the dissertation findings. I am straying a bit from my initial purpose of posting to the blog, but humor me here. I will post again about the crazy 4 days in Rome finishing the prospectus to meet the deadline!

A few days ago several of the post candidacy stage doctoral students were asked to talk about our experiences getting to that stage to a group of 1st and 2nd year doctoral students. It was an interesting reflection on the process and the varied experiences of each of us. One of the doctoral candidates spoke on how to choose your dissertation committee and the various things you want to avoid (such as putting 3 non-tenured members on it is probably not in your best interest). Another spoke on how you present your research within the proposal defense. His point was that since you have the most knowledge about your topic and what you are trying to achieve, attempting to cover up weaknesses in your methods/questions or the like may come back to haunt you later on. The proposal is a contract between you and your committee to carry out the research in the manner you have outlined. If you end up not being able to get the type of answers you need because you futzed with your methods or you saw inconsistencies prior to the defense and were not truthful about these you could find yourself in a very sticky position. I spoke about time management and the work invovled in writing the problem statement and the lit review.

TIME
I found that it took me about six months from the time I began working on my annotated bibliography until I had something that was useful to the development of the problem statement and the lit review. It took another six months to get the problem statement and lit review in a form that was ready for the committee to look at. Of course throughout this second six month period I expanded the annotated bibliography with materials which were more specific to the questions I was trying to answer.

TIME MANAGEMENT
The most useful thing for me was to set aside specific hours of the day that I needed to be writing, reading and thinking about my dissertation. I have been working 9-3 daily. It is a brutal schedule to maintain long term but I know if I want to finish I have to stick to to. If I have a meeting to attend or other things that need to be done during those hours, I make that time up outside my normal working hours. This means some very late nights... when I find my energy level flagging I do the picky work that doen't need lots of mental fortitude to complete. All of these tasks need doing and so I just try to pick the most appropriate task to my capabilities at that moment. Also, don't put things off just because you don't feel like it. Alright, I should re-word this to: try to limit procrastination because you will find yourself doing just about anything to keep from working on your dissertation! You are going to find yourself "stuck" (read Disnertation Hell post) and you will be kicking yourself about the time you frittered away playing chuzzle, chatting, or what have you. Prepare for getting "stuck". Find tasks that need doing. Keep a list of these handy, and work on them when you reach this/these point(s). You are still being productive and this will make you feel so much better... nevermind getting you back on track since productivity breeds productivity.

Above all else WRITE about anything that has to do with the dissertation on a daily basis. I do this for at least an hour a day every day except for the occasional Sunday. It can be as mundane as "I hate sitting here working on my dissertation when it is so beautiful and I haven't seen the sun in months..." Like any activity, your body needs to get used to writing, focusing, thinking. You are excersizing a whole bunch of different body parts when you write your dissertation. You need to remember that it is going to take some time to get used to this new routine. The routine will become ingrained if you keep at it and you might find yourself getting uneasy if you haven't had that chance to do your "Daily Dose of Writing."

MODELS
There are three types of models that I used to get me through the prospectus phase. The first model was merely looking at other dissertation formats that had some similarity to my topic. Sometimes just noting what others have done with their problem statement and literature review will help you along. Other times you will want to look at how they organized their thoughts. They were a great source for beginning steps into writing my dissertation. The second type of model were the theoretical constructs that have been used within the domain. Even those that aren't close to my dissertation have been brain food... what is possible, what works, what is less successful, the level of specificity, etc. All of these help me to think about where I might go with my dissertation. The final models I have used have been the people who surround me. My committee obviously is molding my dissertation in a certain direction. Other researchers working in my area have also exerted an influence over what I am doing. Getting yourself out there and talking to these experts in your area is a wonderful experience. They are nearly as excited about your material as you are and they have experience that you can call upon. Plus, it is good for one's visibility.

FUN
Finally, I have enjoyed the work involved (for the most part). Yes, the hours are long and the work is sometimes tedious, but I LOVE my topic. I feel very strongly about my research. I have a firsthand knowledge of the difficulties image users experience and I want to help them. I don't know if you can get fired up about a dissertation topic that you have no personal interest in.

I am sure I have left off a dozen other things, but these came to mind as I wrote. Alright, I have written for an hour and so I have done my daily dose of writing. :-) In all honesty, I will be taking notes on this stack of books next to me for at least 3 more hours. This was a very good brain warmer activity, nevertheless!