Post date: Jan 09, 2018 11:23:11 AM
Everyone has a different tolerance for work at a sitting. By that I mean, the length of time you can stay at your desk. Some can do a stretch of hours at a time. Others work best in short bursts. "Get the first draft written" something you hear lots of writers say. Another is "Show up your desk." Whatever you do or produce on a given day, however done or begun, brilliant or lousy, showing up at your desk is essential.
As I frequently mention in workshops and conversation, I am fond of Boice's idea of "constancy and moderation" as a general rule for getting writing done, since, overall, my own work life is not made up of long uninterrupted stretches of time. If writing is going to get done, it's going to happen by working in smaller chunks happening over time.
The dissertation bootcamp presents an opportunity and a challenge. Like any writing retreat, you find yourself in possession of what you may have said you crave constantly-- time and peace and quiet to get work done. Now, you have to manage that stretch of uninterrupted hours-- about three in the morning and three in the afternoon-- to get the most out of them. For some people, the sudden availability of that time is like the "worst best thing" that can happen.
Some of you may feel prepared for the week. It's simply a continuation of what you've been doing and now you have a stretch of the and solitude to get more done. For others, this week may be what prepares you for the semester to come. You can use this time to go deeply into planning and thinking through the project so that when the semester's commitments leap up, you're ready to work with and within them.
In the "Tools for Planning and Reflection" link you'll find tips about how to work with work sessions. I'd like to emphasize three things as you look towards your first full day of work.
Break up the time. One popular approach to maintaining focus and motivation is Pomodoro Time. The link takes you to the website Lifehacker and a blog post that explains this approach in more detail but the Pomodoro time comes down to the following. Divide your work sessions into twenty five minute chunks. Set a timer, Fix your goals in mind for that period of time (use your next action lists to identify clear tasks and write them down in your work log). At the end of the session, check off what you've done. Take a five minute break. After four sessions, take a longer break.
Some people break up time into forty-five minute sessions. The important principle seem to be that short chunks of time with clear intentions allow you to maintain focus. and that rather than allow distraction to creep in, you plan breaks to allow yourself to "re-set".
Remember that "writing" includes completing tasks other than composing text. On Monday, you started experimenting with project and next action lists. Whatever form of goals setting and planning you use, planning documents help you see what you need to get done and then choose based on what is most important to moving your project forward. Some things must be done be for other things can happen. Some things simply need to be done. Give yourself a wide range of choices of things to do while you're working.
Plan, gather, and sort. I'll write more about this tomorrow, but if you intend to write a chapter, essay or article this week, consider planning it out in some detail first, gathering notes and other material you might need and sorting your notes and material. Give yourself a map to follow.
There are some questions that get answered through the process of composing. The effort to articulate ideas for an imagined audience clarifies thought and, it's true, some ways of knowing are only available to us in the act of creating.
But outlining, mapping, storyboarding, gathering material and sorting labelled folders-- all of those are ways of composing. Design the text (or leverage a design based on what you've gleaned from a genre) as a way of clarifying what you mean to say. Consider creating the structure and ordering the contents of an article, essay, chapter or section as part of the process of composing and well-spent time.