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A while ago, I read Joli Jensen 's book "Write No Matter What". It's delightful and offers a really chill approach to #AcWri - sustain constant contact with a writing project you like, under very little pressure. My reading notes here - raulpacheco.org/2018/03/write-…
I wrote about the different things I do to sustain "constant, low pressure contact with a writing project that I like" (I shared this blog post with Joli herself, BTW and we had a nice chat about it) raulpacheco.org/2019/03/what-d…
My students, particularly my UNDERGRADUATE students, feel under a lot of pressure to get stuff done, but because nobody teaches you time management nor project management in high school, they are still developing their personality, and face many personal struggles, they freeze.
So, while this thread is for ANYONE ever facing a blank page (MS Word, Scrivener, piece of paper), I am writing it mostly for my undergrads, because I want them to know that (a) I, too, often face writer's block and feel overwhelmed with the number of things I have to do, AND...
(b) I, too, feel the enormous pressure of publishing, mentoring students, reading theses, reviewing journal articles, teaching, preparing lectures, giving invited talks, and sometimes I feel entirely discombobulated, so I need a chill approach to writing that calms me down.
So here are several chill, non-stressful ways to stay in touch with your writing, homework, thesis, paper-to-write, etc. My list starts in the next tweet.
1) Write a note to yourself on the stuff you need to write (e.g. "this note is a reminder that I need to write 4 paragraphs of my methodology section, outlining how many weeks I've been on the field, how I cleaned up the dataset, which code generates which regression".
2) Briefly skim a paper using AIC raulpacheco.org/2017/01/findin… scribble on the margins of said paper as you see fit
2.5) If you like colour, maybe my colour-coded scheme might help you raulpacheco.org/2018/03/an-upd…
3) Drop your scribbles in a Conceptual Synthesis Excel Dump (CSED) row entry raulpacheco.org/2016/06/synthe…
3.1) Or maybe, drop those scribbles on an index card raulpacheco.org/2018/11/note-t…
3.2) Or transfer your marginalia to a Cornell Note raulpacheco.org/2018/12/note-t…
3.3) Or write a Synthetic Note based on your AIC raulpacheco.org/2017/05/writin…
3.4) Or, if you already have a Synthetic Note you'd like to expand into a Memorandum, you can spend some time writing said expanded SN->M raulpacheco.org/2017/05/writin…
3.5) Or, if you find yourself enthralled with your reading (hopefully so!) you may want to directly write a Memorandum where you can not only summarize a book but also bring along additional literature, so you can use this memo in a paper you're writing raulpacheco.org/2016/07/writin…
3.6) Or, if you're actually not all that enthralled but NEED to read a lot to cover a lot of ground, maybe you'll just do a quick rhetorical precis based on your AIC. raulpacheco.org/2016/10/using-…
4) Ok, so you've kickstarted your writing, even if the writing comes in short spurts. That works perfectly well. 15 minutes of writing. 75-125-250 words. raulpacheco.org/2018/04/125-25… the idea is to break the inertia.
Personally, I don't like the idea of a "Ventilation File" (e.g. a document where you vent that you're feeling frustrated). I have my own Ventilation File with my colleagues and my Mom, who is a professor of political science who understands the pressure I'm under. But you do you.
5) What does a writing practice look, in practice? For everyone, this looks completely different. I'm someone who wakes up early, makes a pot of coffee and sits down to write, and if he can't write, reads an article to "warm up the brain" raulpacheco.org/2016/10/a-few-…
5.1) I am a creature of habits and routines. I'm a Virgo, an Upholder, a Type A, and someone who is fastidiously systematic about his processes. My routine is well developed as follows: raulpacheco.org/2018/11/develo… but YOU and only YOU can decide your optimal routine, nobody else.
5.2) I have mentored and taught undergraduates for a very long time, and I was an undergrad before as well, so (and this is again, for my own students), I can completely understand feeling lost, overwhelmed, distracted, etc. My advice is to own these feelings, and work with them
5.3) I played competitive volleyball before. I'm an outside hitter. I also danced competitively, and I specialize in salsa. Specialization has worked well for me in some fields, and I work to my strengths. I can only recommend that you find your own strengths and work with those.
5.4) Working with your strengths doesn't mean that you don't get to challenge yourself. You can, and you should, if you are so inclined. But working with your strengths means writing term papers about topics you're excited about, using sources that are easily reachable, etc.
5.5) More importantly, what I've found works best for me is to Start. Sometimes starting means, opening the damn book and start reading. Other times, I need to start typing the damn interview I just conducted. The challenge I find for me and for my own students is STARTING.
5.6) We (everyone you encounter, even your professors) all have insecurities. Personally, I am an excellent first-draft writer and I hate, hate, hate, HATE revising my own work. I do it under duress and I find it PAINFUL. But I have to do it.
6) In closing: researching and studying are, contrary to what people think, very social activities. Ask your friends to read your drafts. Talk to your colleagues, peers, friends, anybody you trust. Study in groups. Go out and have fun and then refocus. Clear your mind. LIVE.
6.1) And remember that your professors REALLY want you to succeed, so don't feel afraid to reach out. I am incredibly busy, but I ALWAYS make time (I don't HAVE time, I MAKE time) for my students. No question is too dumb, no challenge too unsurmountable. We're all in it together.
7) I was going to close the thread with an emotional "YES WE ALL CAN" but I forgot to include one blog post on #AICCSED (the AIC + CSED combo) - I find that, to cover ground and stay on top of the literature, I need to read one article and summarize it almost every day.
7.1) This means doing a quick AIC and dropping it into a CSED row raulpacheco.org/2017/12/carvin…
7.3) I try to do a quick #AICCSED every morning as part of my #2ThingsADay raulpacheco.org/2018/04/the-ac…
7.4) But I've realized that most of the time, when I do #AICCSED consistently is when I'm trying to map a new field of study raulpacheco.org/2018/01/mappin…
8) Finally, I'd love some input from recently graduated undergrads or those who are studying their undergraduate on additional blog posts that I might need to write to walk my students through stuff - I do have some resources for undergrads raulpacheco.org/resources/reso…
8.1) But I recognise that undergraduates are much different from grad students (degree of independence required, assumptions of background, etc.) and I've become accostumed to mentoring Masters and PhD students, so I do need some refreshers on what works for undergrads.
9) For undergraduates writing their honours theses, my Dissertation Two Pager (DTP) should work for you too, just adjusting for scope of the research. raulpacheco.org/2018/08/the-di…
10) Ok, this was a long thread. Oopsies. I need a waffle. </fin>
10.1) I just realized I have a mountain of things to do. My students often tell me they feel overwhelmed by their To-Do list. I have found that I function better when I use the #AuntieAcid approach: take life one panic attack at a time (I'm not joking, I DO get panic attacks) 
10.2) I have like 16 urgent things to do. But instead of Paralysis by Analysis I have decided to do the Two Most Urgent Ones (tomorrow morning, because I make mistakes at night - I am an early morning person - making decisions at night is a bad idea for me). I'll get a good sleep
10.3) And then get The Top Urgent Thing done, then the Second Most Urgent Thing done, then I'll get on a roll. But if I can recommend one thing is: make decisions when you're at the top of your game (i.e. when you're well rested and can think, instead of when you're exhausted)
