One of the tasks most postdocs end up doing a lot of is writing. Articles from the dissertation, posters for conferences, the backlog of articles from your new PI, blog posts. I went down an Internet rabbit hole a couple of months ago , as the semester was winding down and I had several writing deadlines on my calendar, looking for advice on how to write. Translation: I’m not sure how I ended up exactly where I did, but I was happy with the result. Not how to string sentences together into something coherent, but more about the logistics of writing (I have a fellow postdoc friend who is convinced that this part of her life/career is all about logistics). When is the best time to write? How much time out of your day/week should you devote to writing (as opposed to the hundred or so other tasks on your to-do list)? Is it better to write is short bursts, or to block out several hours or more to write effectively?
The answer to all of these questions is, not surprisingly, it depends. On what the rest of your work schedule looks like, other commitments on your time, how much sleep you would like to get in the next two years. But, having said that, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, is a nice guide/pep talk for budding writers.
I’ll admit, I skipped the sections devoted to fiction writing (chapters on plot, dialogue, and character), since my writing is primarily technical non-fiction. But most of the book applies to any kind of writing. In fact, the title comes from advice that the author’s father, who was also a writer, passed on to his procrastinating son, who had an elementary school report on our feathered friends due at the end of a long weekend. Having put the assignment off for several weeks, he was overwhelmed by the amount of material he was expected to cover and didn’t know where to start. Those who have written dissertations understand that feeling completely. His father’s advice? “Bird by bird.” One piece at a time.
With chapters on short assignments (blog posts fit nicely here), shitty first drafts (everyone, no matter how good a writer they are, has them), how to know when you’re done, writer’s block, and publication, there’s a lot of advice for technical writers. For me, it’s still a luxury to have time to write. I end up squeezing it in around other deadlines, meetings, commuting, dishes, and taking care of the baby. I’m taking the summer off from classes just to get the articles from my dissertation written. One down, two to go! From my experience:
- Keep writing, even short pieces like blog posts put you in the writing frame of mind.
- Set deadlines, or work from ones that have been set for you, nothing like incentive to get the creative juices flowing.
- Have others read your work, except those shitty first drafts.
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Bird by Bird! This is what I’m going to tell myself until the dissertation is done…two chapters down, three to go!!
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Ellen,
The analogy I heard as a kid was “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: “One bite at a time.” For my dissertation, it really helped to take it one section at a time; chapters were too long and too big of a chunk to think about at that point. But I could write a section on a particular method, or one piece of the results, in a sitting.
Also, the best advice I got from my mentor was “You can make revisions after you defend.” Annie talks about the problem of perfectionism in her book, also. Don’t let it be the enemy of good enough, or of getting a decent draft that you can defend and then revise. No matter what it feels like, a dissertation is not supposed to be your life’s work, just the beginning. As you know, my mentor is pretty smart, and his 30+ successful PhDs over a career are a remarkable track record.
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New Blog Post: Bird by Bird http://bit.ly/cfchEb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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I agree with Kris. Definitely our advisor is smart. He used to tell me that it’s not hard once you set your mind. Now I don’t even remember how I did it. It’s all blurry, but keeping everyday goals helped me a lot. I used to just write all day (of course with breaks) and worried about editing at the end of the day with a hard copy in my hand.
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