But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m not writing today about my career goals, or why I do the things that I do, or any of that meta-theoretical stuff. That’s an interesting discussion for another day. No, today I want to be very practical. As you know, I am currently writing. Quite a lot, actually. Scripts for NPR, a dissertation, papers to present at conferences, articles to publish… It never ends. Some days I can sit down and produce pages of prose, volumes of verbosity, a welter of words, even (these are the sort of lame, alliterative phrases I’d cut out of my “real” writing). Others days, I can’t. It just doesn’t happen.
I’ve been reading recently that the best writers treat their writing as a discipline—something that improves with daily practice (like running, lifting weights, or golf, for instance). Inspired by this, I’ve decided to use the month of February to cultivate this discipline, to find out what would happen if I actually did write every day, instead of just when I have a deadline looming. What will happen? I have no idea. I’ll post regular updates to let you know how this little experiment progresses.
To be specific, here are my writing goals for February (the procedures for the experiment, if you will):
- Get up at 4:30 every weekday morning.
- Write 4 pages of academic material every weekday (dissertation, conference paper, abstract, article, etc.).
- Write 3 NPR scripts every week.
*Of my dissertation. It will be signed. But perhaps not that valuable.
7 comments:
I'll tell you what I'm NOT going to do, and that's get up at 4.30.
Lunatic.
I'm with Coye. That doesn't sound healthy, but I guess you have a couple reasons to get your dissertation done ASAP.
Oh, and I'm doing software programming for a job. It's a good job. But "010000001001110, ab0183x0" doesn't make for good blogging among friends. I'll gladly talk my old job, economics though if there's interest in that.
Good luck with your writing goals!
Gee, I go to bed later than 4:30.
Strauss, I'm into economics...but more the social analysis kind than the financial stuff. "freakonomics" if you will.
Aeijtzsche,
I'm into many aspects of economics and much of my interest in the financials is based on how they interact with what you term the social.
Thank you all for your kind words of support. I assure you that my sanity and health are both intact, and that my attempts to be more productive do not constitute grounds for institutionalization. Whatever you might think.
I'll update you at the end of the week on this grand experiment (or Katie will, if I am indeed remanded to the custody of an institution of some sort).
Isn't this schedule evidence that you're already in the custody of an institution of some sort?
I know this blog is our site, but I would be very entertained by a couple updates from wives of our bloggers on their husbands' lives.
Katie, Sarah, Rachel, and any wives that I am unintentionally excluding could be one-time guest contributors.
Oh, and I don't think you're [Andy's] crazy for pushing hard at the dissertation. Surge now and hopefully slog less later.
I should take my own advice, as I've got a giant, certification exam at the beginning of June.
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