Writing up a storm!

Today I have been working since 9.30 :)

I got up and made a coffee and fed the cat, then sat straight at my desk.  Worked for 15 mins then got some toast, work a bit more a phoned my family, worked a bit more a did some shredding, worked a bit more and had a shower and some lunch...

I have written 800 words today so far!  However, they are lifted from my MA thesis of 2005...  I hope it doesn't matter too much.  I haven't stolen them verbatim and haven't used them to illustrate the same point, as acutally my argument now is completely opposite to then!  I have switched sides from a youthful optimist to an old curmudgeon ;0)  So it doesn't feel like proper work, it has all been rather easy!  I have gazillions of references and stuff, and am working on a completely different section than I had planned, and am going to have just an enormous word count for this chapter.  eek.  I will have to trim it down a lot, and am sure I repeat myself often but for now, it is about getting words and ideas down.  Yesterday I edited a lot, today I am really wanting to write.

Am very pleased with my progress and starting to sort of wane a bit...  I have worked nearly as much as not, which for ten mins a day is brilliant :) 

I think I will keep going through my old thesis and hopefully will come to the end of it soon so can start writing fresh stuff!  I have tomorrow and Tuesday to work all day too, which is great but I do want to be have done a lot of this chapter by the end of Tuesday.  I am worried, but really, it should be ok.  I think generally I am worried about what I am going to do when Bean comes back and we have two whole weeks without any childcare.  Getting down to work will be challenging and i quite dread the slow pace and lethargy creeping back on me :(  This time is such a pleasure!  Just working all day, it is so ridiculously easy to get stuff done compared to when I am looking after Bean too.

I shall just have to carry on thinking in terms of '10 mins' and try to do a couple of 10 min sessions when he naps and later in the evening.  It'll be ok.

x J

Day's End

Arf I have worked hard today, and am stopping now.

A bit earlier than I said I would, but I am tired and my brain is stopping, so is best to stop now before I get all pissed off and that's all I remember when I am trying to come back to it tomorrow!

Today I managed to work a total of 3 hours 15 mins, out of a possible 7 hours; wrote 550 words (well, more than because I deleted a bit of old stuff which made my daily word count less so I had to write more to catch up again!); and did lots of editing and sorting which I am very pleased with.  Considering 10 mins is all I aspire to when I sit down :)  Sitting down and working this morning before I did anything else was a great idea, and easily the hardest of all the sessions, just opening up the document is hard!  I just want to procrastinate!

I have got the chapter into a place where I feel I can come tomorrow and just start working.  I am not completely confident about my next move but I think that is ok.  In fact, I just looked at the notes I want to add into the lit review tomorrow and have spied a paragraph I want to quote so that will provide a good start :)

I am off to get an illicite glass of wine and veg out in front of the olympics.

Back tomorrow for more of the same.  Tomorrow I would like to work more than not, I nearly made it today but just missed out!  I would also like to get through quite a bit of the next section and feel I am nearly halfway through the chapter.  It is turning out to be a really big chapter.  Maybe 12,000 words?!  Eek!

x J

Woooorking!

Ah ha I am working :)

My family went off to the South yesteryday at about half four, and though I felt I should I decided not to try and do any work and had a beer and watched the Olympics instead!  Working would have meant no days off in over a week and that would not be a clever tactic for motivation!

So I got up this morning and worked straight away.  Well, I fed and cleaned up after the cat but other than that, came straight up for my first ten mins, then plpanned to get a coffee and some toast, then do another ten mins etc etc.  But I ended up doing an hour!  I did some good editing and adding and have added 300 words.  It is coming along.

I am now going to get said cup of coffee and going to ring my family and say good morning to my darling boys.  Then I shall do another ten mins, then plan to have a shower and get dressed and go to the shop for the saturday paper and some lunch and LOTS of crisps and chocolate :) 

Then I aim to just keep doing 10 min sessions until 6pm.

I feel very pleased so far but also am very conscious of not wanting to count my chickens etc etc.  I am only as good as my next ten minute session!

It is so important that I work because I am missing my neice-in-law's 'being born bbq' today to do this.  I am gutted, really very sad to be missing it - I am the only family member out of both families not going.  What a total asshole.  But I know that as it stands I cannot take four days off from my work, then come back and face two weeks off (as the childminder is away) and even hope to get this PhD done.  I need to work NOW, I need to keep on going.  And so I had to pull out :(  I must make this time count - which thankfully, it is and so I am justified but...  Man, finishing a PhD really does have to take over your life.

x J

650 words done!

Yeah man!  I have finished one of my subsections and have written another 650 words today, and done some editing :)]

Today I worked for a total of 1hr 40mins, split into 7 sections.  I faffed a lot but by the end of this afternoon I was managing to only have 10 mins off between each session because I was getting into the flow of it and knew what I wanted to say next - and just wnted to get on with it :)

Tomorrow I will do two sessions, to be honest I don't know really when DB plans to leave so if he doesn't leave until after 6 I shan't work, but if he leaves early afternoon I will.

I better go and get my boy.  Thing is, I don't want to leave work!  How excellent is that.  What a turnaround. 

The brilliant thing about this way of working is that you don't have to be motivated to do it.  ou just have to sit for TEN MINUTES and then you can leave for however long you like.  Even I have managed to do that!

x J

Working Again!

Arf I am working again today :) 

However, my concentration and willpower are weakening!  I will do another ten mins after this.  I have done one stint of 25 mins and another of 13.  I am finding it hard to get back to do another stint though, I keep wandering off :)  I have to tell myself that this is ok though, that one 10 mins should be ok.

I have written about 200 words so far. 

I think I will have tomorrow off.  Well, I might do two sessions of 10 mins.  Then I will stop and mooch, because DB and Bean are off to the South tomorrow lunchtime and then I will have all of sat, sun, mon and tues to work - which is a long time and I could do with a small recharge of the batteries I think!  However, I don't want to lose momentum or enthusiasm so will do some after they go (if they really do go at lunchtime, I am skeptical).

x J

500 words done!

A-Wheee!  I have done 500 words!  It took...  about an hour of 10 mins slots...  (all morning) and I even managed one slot of 25 mins!  And only one twitch to procrastinate in that whole time!  Hurrah, hurrah.

And I have nearly finished a subsection, albeit in rough 'zero' form. 

So in two days I have written 1000 wds, which is a 10th of my chapter.  Oh happy day.  And technically I have 2 hours all to myself because I have hit my target!  Oh double happy day :)  I will come back and do some more, though might slope off now and have a coffee, some choc and read my book for half an hour.

I know what I want to write next too, which is an example of 'parking downhill' apparently. 

Super duper!

x J

Working again :)

Yay I am working again :)

This 10 minute malarky is great stuff!

Yesterday I did a total of 1 hour, 10 mins work and by the end of the day had written 500 words.  That is brilliant.  The amount of time I spent working was disappointing, until I realised that I am not marked on hours spent at my desk, but on the work I produce!

I think not writing to a script I had in my head has helped too.  Bolker (15 mins a day lady) advocates freewriting a lot, which is really the opposite of my strict writing and editing style which has actually managed to strangle any creativity I might have - because nothing I write is right.  Now, however, I have to tell myself that I have my subheadings and am now filling them in with my notes, quotations and arguments, and will edit it all and sort it out later.  For now, it is about getting the text down.

It is quite easy, although I am not cocky and am aware of how hard it is to stay on task.  My concentration is better today though, and my general awareness of my chapter and what I want to say.  Momentum really is the key.

I have also decided to discard my self imposed deadline of 12 Nov, as it is stressing me out.  Instead I will hand in when I can, or 31 Dec and we will move in the middle of editing.  I have personal deadlines of wanting my lit review and methodology chapters done for when we go on holiday in Sept (6 weeks tomorrow) which are achievable.  I will then only have the intro and concl to write from scratch :)  I can have my sup reading them while I am away.  I decided to move while we are finishing because then I will have an extra 6 weeks to work.  Even if I take two weeks off to move I would still have an extra month than if I decide to hand in early.  Having the space really helps in my mind too, as I am not using a deadline as a whip to force myself to work (and failing) but instead am just concentrating on my small deadlines and every day targets of 10 mins a day, hopefully culminating in 500 words.

I feel so much better about it all.

DB and Bean are off to the South on Friday so I shall have the whole of Sat, Sun, Mon and I think Tues too to work.  I am really, really looking forward to the freedom of being able to work as and when.  I plan to work from 10-6, but doing the 10 mins thing until I think I can achieve a bigger goal without freaking out :)

x J