Today I'm back to my usual message (to myself, mind you -- I use this blog to keep myself focused): getting writing done is about doing the work, putting in the time, and not waiting for serendipity to happen. If it's going to happen, it'll do so as a result of that work, not in the absence of it.
And part of getting the writing done, for me, is about chunking the work in a very prosaic, down-to-earth manner. Some people rely on outlines, and you know, if I'd ever been able to do that consistently, I might be a more prolific writer today. I do use the concept of outlining more than I used to, but at the beginning of any article (and let's say, for the purposes of academia, an article is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000 words), my so-called outline may consist only of four or five section headings. That's it. As I move through each section, I'll have an idea of what I want to address where, but the structure of a section morphs quite a bit during the writing process.
This morning, moving into the home stretch of this current project, I'm now thinking of it as a piece of furniture from Ikea. It's not the finest quality in the world. However, it's functional and it will do what it's supposed to do (i.e., find a home in a refereed journal and give me another publication credit on my c.v. -- or so I devoutly hope and earnestly intend). All the parts are there now, and I simply have to assemble the final few pieces.
Today's goal: to fit Parts X, Y, and Z to Part W.
(Tomorrow's tentative goal? To draft a conclusion and then let the entire thing sit for a day or two. But I find that I'm most productive when I take things one day at a time, address the tasks immediately at hand, and plan the next day when I've finished with the present one.)
Time to get out my Allen wrench. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
