Successful Writing Tips

Writing can be like rowing a kayak.

This past week-end my husband and I visited long-time friends at their lake house.  In the early evening, when it was a little cooler, they suggested it would be a good time to go out on the water.  I hadn’t really noticed that the only boats available were individual kayaks, and when I realized that I would be alone in a kayak in the middle of the lake, I became more than a little anxious.  My friends equipped me (though not my husband) with a life jacket and pushed me out into the water. I was scared, and I had to talk myself into the moment.  As I think back over it, I could have upended the kayak two inches from shore.  But I didn’t.  However, I was spared by a storm.  We had to get out of the kayaks and make for the house.

The next morning, soon after breakfast, we were back in the kayaks, rowing into the little fingers of the lake, gazing at houses along the shore, hearing my friend’s stories about this neighbor and that neighbor.  We were the only people on the lake, and I was fine.  Well, sort of fine.  I had to beat back my many incredulous head voices who routinely doubt my ability to do much of anything, but I managed to turn down the volume of the head voices, settle myself, and keep rowing. 

One point of my story is that having had 5 minutes in the kayak the night before prepared me for the morning’s rowing.  Those few minutes gave me a good overview of the situation.   I knew how to get into the kayak, and I had evidence to support my belief that I probably wouldn’t tip over.
 
A second and even more important point is that there was no choice.  My friend, the self-confident extrovert to my scaredy-cat introvert, had it all planned.  And it was her routine.  We just settled into it.

And now we’re down to why I think this event might be of interest to you. 

Here it is—if you can’t set up your own routine for writing, hang out with friends who will push you to get going or make it easy to jump in.  Get a friend or a writing buddy or a coach, who will put you into your writing kayak and push you out into the lake.  You don’t have to row around the lake the first time out—just get everything into place and make a few attempts.  Row a bit and tell yourself how well you’re doing.  The next time out, it will be easier. 

Writing and returning to your writing gets easier with each outing.  Don’t expect much from yourself the first time or two or three, but do it first thing in the morning before the heat or other demands slow you down or take over your life.   And continue to put it first.  Writing is hard work, and you need to go at it when you’re at your best.

So much comes back to writing for me.  Many things take courage as well as hard work, but nothing takes more courage and hard work than writing.

Courage!
Nancy
Your International Dissertation Coach
nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com

This morning as I was reading a paragraph here and there in Newsweek, I swear I saw the words “put off finishing his dissertation” rise off the page in 3-inch-tall block letters, or so it seemed. 

Procrastinating on one’s dissertation isn’t unusual, but to get your name in Newsweek because what you’re doing to procrastinate is so important is unusual.
 
The person in question, theology graduate student Alastair Haines, says he has joined the Wiki Bible Project (http://www.newsweek.com/id/141516) as a way to put off finishing his dissertation. 

The 22 project contributors are creating “an original open content translation of the Bible’s source texts,” which number about 30,000.  It sounds like exciting work to have a hand in translating texts that have ruled the lives of so many people over the centuries, as well as to be part of such a controversial undertaking.  Some biblical scholars say the project could produce an “inaccurate, bias-filled mess.”  What theology graduate student wouldn’t want to go toe-to-toe with biblical scholars?

“Working on the Wiki Bible Project as a way to put off finishing a dissertation” has to get this week’s award for best excuse for Procrastinating on My Dissertation. 

When most of us procrastinate, we aren’t having nearly as much fun as this Wiki contributor.  Most ABD’s that I know would gladly clean toilets instead of writing their diss. And we certainly don’t get our names in Newsweek for what we’re doing instead of writing.

If you’re going to procrastinate on writing your diss, then make what you do instead be the most fun you could possibly imagine. 
 
Even though I am not writing a dissertation, I still allow time-wasting, boring tasks assume such grandiose proportions that they consume whatever discretionary time I had for writing.
 
I recently discovered a novel way to procrastinate.  I’ve started cleaning the walls of my upstairs hallway, but the incentive is what I use as the cleaner. Recently a cabinetmaker told me about magic eraser cleaning pads.  You can clean your walls with the help of a magic sponge and some water. Who would have guessed? So now I sabotage my plans to write by using the amazing eraser sponge to clean that wall, which, not coincidentally, is directly across the hall from where I should be writing at my computer.

I’ve heard many people rationalize and say that when they’re procrastinating they’re actually doing valuable work and that they aren’t wasting time.  I’m skeptical.  I know how easy it is to get carried away. In fact, I’m a case in point.  I’ve gone beyond cleaning that one wall.  I’m starting to move down the stairway now– there are lots of marks on that stairway wall. I’m too engaged in this project to see it just as a bit of cleaning.  I know myself too well and self-regulation is not a top strength. The task that had been something to do during a writing break has taken on a life of its own. 

I need to regroup!

How do you procrastinate?  I’d love to hear from recovering procrastinators.  What do you do to keep on track with your dissertation?

Write today–

Nancy

nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com

Have you turned up the heat on your dissertation now that summer is here?  Is your summer writing starting to take off yet? What are you using as an incentive?

One of my clients has a new powerful incentive—one that she says has given her a sense of purpose about finishing her dissertation.

Let me tell you her story of how she found this incentive.  There are three parts to her story.

1. First of all, she admits that she has had fear and uncertainty around what finishing her dissertation might mean for her.  And that fear has at times held her back.

She has resisted seeing herself as an expert or emerging expert. She has also resisted the idea that she is carving out a niche for herself in the academic world as she writes her diss.

Because she has questioned her own knowledge and the quality of her research, she has at times avoided people and avoided situations where her self-described inadequacies might show her to be the fraud she feared she was. 

2. The second part of this story has to do with a shot in the arm that my client received by going to a conference.

As a graduate student, she has been to many conferences, presenting and discussing, but even so, in many ways, she has held back and hid out. She said that the most recent conference got off to the usual slow start that she’s experienced at many conferences.  As she usually did, she spent the first night in her room, resting, and missed an initial gathering.

The second day of the conference was the beginning of her transformation.

Her advisor said that at the gathering which my client missed, that he had talked to several people about her work.  In addition, some of the other graduate students and professors attending the gathering were interested in talking with her and hearing more. 

This was the push she needed.  She began to drop her fear of being revealed as an imposter and gradually became more at ease talking about her work. 

She dared to think more boldly about her diss and tried out some of her ideas by asking questions in the sessions she attended.  She sought people out and for the first time enjoyed networking.  This was all new for her and took courage, but she was acting on the sense that had come from the revising and honing of her ideas as she had worked on her diss over the last many months and years–that she did indeed know a great deal about her topic.  Furthermore, during the conference, she almost allowed herself to feel like an expert.

3. The third part of this story is that she came home with a new realization of why she is writing a dissertation—she wants to share her ideas and thoughts.  Sharing her ideas and testing her ideas at this conference were such powerful experiences that she no longer sees research as a way to stay insulated or in her bubble.  She is starting to see the excitement that can be hers, and she wants to burst out of her self-imposed academic bubble. Getting her dissertation out the door is the next step, but she no longer feels that the diss has to be perfect before she lets go of it.  Now she says that she needs to get her ideas out in the market place, and she has hopes that finishing her diss can be the start of much more work on her ideas.

With this wind at her back she says that she needs to do a last, strong push toward the finish line, rather than hovering around the last mile or two.  This confidence in her future is just what she needed.

And that’s as far as the story goes today about my client and the boost she got from
(1) getting out of her own way,
(2) enjoying the thrill of sharing her ideas with others at the conference, and by
(3) acting on her excitement from the conference to fuel her rapid movement toward the dissertation finish line.

How about you?  How can you motivate yourself?  What if you acknowledged your expertise and started to act as if you, too, have ideas and writing that you want to get out there into the world?  It could be a brand new day!

Have a brilliant writing session today.

Nancy
nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com

If you’ve been teaching this past year, isn’t it a joy not to have to work on lectures or grading?  Maybe you have the house/apartment/office to yourself. 

So–how are you doing on your summer writing?

If you are almost ready to get started, but not quite there yet, perhaps you had a project dumped on you as did one of my dissertation clients.

She was co-authoring a paper for a presentation and realized that as the deadline approached, she was, as she described it, “flying solo.”  So she spent a good part of a week working on the paper and in the end produced something she was proud of.  Plus, she was proud of the process she put in place to get it done. She got up each day much earlier than she ordinarily did and stuck with it, hammering it out. 

She had to assume responsibility and look at the work as her project alone.  There could be no slacking off in hopes that the other person would clean up after her and catch any problem she had left dangling. 

She congratulated herself on a job well done, but the problem came about when she needed to refocus on her dissertation.  Her adrenalin had been surging while she was hammering out the paper she was supposedly co-authoring.  When it was out the door, she had a bit of a bottoming out.  She had to work on getting re-started on her diss.

If you’ve become similarly stalled or have fallen off track as you approach your diss, it may help to remind yourself that you are the project manager of producing a chapter or a draft or whatever your summer goal is.  And, no matter what, you are going to deliver it on time. 

While you don’t want to add undue anxiety to your work, you do have to add some urgency.  If we think we have all the time in the world to do something, then it will take all the time available and then some.

1.  Writing space.
To get back on track, set up your writing space.  Rent a space somewhere if you can possibly do so, or go to the library every morning.

2.  No excuses.
Each evening get everything you need ready for the next day. Be very clear what it is you need to have ready in order for you to walk out the door each morning. 

3.  Add a structure.
Add another element in your morning if you need to have some sense of necessity at getting out the door on time.  Remind yourself that your favorite table in the library will be taken unless you get there early.  Promise to call someone on your cell phone at a definite time as you walk into the door of the library.

4.  Sit down and wait.
When you get to your writing space, sit still and breathe for a moment.  Don’t grab a newspaper or magazine.  Just sit there and collect yourself. 

5.  Remind yourself of today’s goal.
Do you know what your goal is for this writing session that stretches ahead?  If not, decide what is at the top of your mental list.  What do you want to do first?  Make a decision—remember that you’re taking control of this project.

6.  Don’t over-promise.
Decide how long you will stay at your table and work.  Don’t over-promise.  It’s better to under-promise.  Be steady and deliver a good day’s work, no matter what amount of time you have given. 

7. Make it easy to start again.
Before you shut down your work for the day, set specific goals and make a plan for tomorrow’s writing session.
 
This is a summer for substance, a summer when you will deliver your project on time.

So what if you meant to start writing last week?  Start now!  Get on with it.

And give yourself a little smile. 

Take care.

Nancy
Your Dissertation Coach
nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com

Is your university enforcing hard deadlines for finishing dissertations?  Are you getting any signals from your university about what might be ahead for you? Has your advisor become more critical of your work?

Every day I talk with dissertation clients who are trying hard to finish their doctoral degree.  This week several people sounded a similarly unsettling concern.

Two people in particular think their advisors are being less than forthcoming. One person over the past seven years has had an emotional personal life with severe physical struggles but has tried to make progress toward her degree.  With her advisor’s becoming newly critical of her writing, this person thinks she is being pushed out. Another person has had two extensions and fears that he can’t get a third.  He, too, has begun to receive less positive feedback about his writing from his advisor.

Clearly, statistics on completion rates within different departments are being scrutinized more closely.  Some clients believe that their universities are actively pushing faculty to advise students to reconsider their plans for finishing their degrees. 

As one client said, “My department is putting the screws to people who are taking too long because the numbers might scare away the new students the department wants to attract.”

Have you seen or experienced a shift in your department’s attitude toward the time it’s taking you to finish?  Have you seen anything to suggest that some faculty members are choosing to undercut the work of long-time graduate students? 

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on the enforcement of deadlines and also on finishing the dissertation.

Nancy
Your Dissertation Coach
nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com

P.S.  If you haven’t subscribed to my Smart Tips newsletter, please sign up at www.nancywhichard.com. An issue about strategies for drastic situations is going out Tuesday.

One of the top 3 posts on my blog is “Motivation in Writing the Dissertation–It’s All about Mental Toughness and Discipline.” Day after day, it stays in the top 3 posts.  As yesterday turned into today, the first two hits of this new day again were on “Motivation in Writing the Dissertation–It’s All about Mental Toughness and Discipline.”   

What is it that is drawing readers to that post?  Is it because writers are looking for the secret of how to become motivated?

Are they putting off writing, but at the same time telling themselves that if only they could get motivated that they would then start writing?

In an email last night, a dissertation client suggested that he wasn’t feeling particularly motivated.  Tonight—which is Monday– when he came to our call, he didn’t even mention a lack of motivation. 

What he did say was that his week was off to a good start and that he felt like he had actually accomplished something today.  He didn’t say how difficult it was to get started working.  His focus was on how feelings of accomplishment had given him “a good start.”  His use of the word start implies that more is to come.

He clearly capitalizes on whatever success he achieves to help him become motivated.
 
When he leaves his day job to come home, he says that he tries not to think about being tired.  He focuses on what comes next.  And what comes next isn’t a nap.  He never takes a short nap after coming home because he knows that giving into the desire for a short nap would result in a 3-hour nap. 

That’s being mentally tough.  Motivation doesn’t come easily. It requires you to train yourself into thinking that you can have a day job and then come home at night and write toward your week’s writing goal.  Or you can bathe your kids and put them to bed and either write then or get up early the next morning and write before going to work. 

It means digging down to find the discipline to hold yourself accountable and to accomplish something.

You may be doing writing connected with your job or writing that you have chosen to do.  It’s either something you choose to do or it’s thrust upon you.  Either way, once you make some headway, then you’re ready to keep rolling.  You will feel motivated.  But mental toughness and discipline come first.

How are you doing with being mentally tough?  I’d love to hear from you.  I’d also love to send you my e-newsletter, Smart Tips.  Go to www.nancywhichard.com and sign up.

You want to be at a good place with your writing at summer’s end?  You can absolutely do that, especially if you approach the summer with a bit of urgency and heat. 

Get a picture of yourself in your mind’s eye of you taking charge. What would your taking charge look like?

1.  See what’s the big deal about writing early each morning.  Even if you’ve always said that you’re a night person, get up early and put in a couple of hours of writing before doing anything else.  No email; no newspaper; no headlines.
 
2.  Cut back on night-time TV. Turn the TV off before you find yourself watching Oprah re-runs in the middle of the night.  One place in your life where you absolutely have control is clicking “off” on the remote.

3.  Know your cut-off date for research. Have that cut-off date or time in place before you ever start. Reading can go on forever. It’s a wonderful, nearly guilt-free way to procrastinate.  If you need to do a bit more research, you can slip that in later.  For now, be clear on your deadline for cutting off the research.

4.  Boldly wade into the tough parts of your diss.  What needs to be done?  Plan to start working on the parts that have given you fits, or you’ll be tempted to read the parts of your draft that you like and tweak the writing that’s already in fairly good shape. 

5.  If family should visit you this summer, still keep your head in your diss.
Give your mind something to chew on each day.  If demands take you away from writing, open your diss just to read a section or two. Check on how you referred to something in your writing.  Keep the connection to your writing fresh and alive.

6.  Let dust be your badge of courage.  Say to yourself, “I’m brave enough to put my diss ahead of cleaning.”  If you have to move your files for someone to sleep on the spare bed, fine, but don’t move your papers or files too far.  Don’t put them out of sight.  People can accommodate you.

7. What is your mid-summer reward? Tie work to reward. Plan something at mid-summer.  Whether it’s something big (3 days in Italy or Mexico) or small (an overnight camping trip or a day at the museums), put something in place that you can look forward to.  That reward is what you can lock your eyes on and work toward.

Make this summer the one that you’ll look back on with pride.  Work hard, have fun at your mid-summer reward, and then finish your summer with a bang.  Have something to show for your Summer of 2008.

What will you do to take charge this summer?  I’d love to hear from you.

Happy Summer Writing,

Nancy
Nancy Whichard, PhD, PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach
www.nancywhichard.com
nancy@nancywhichard.com

P.S.   Did you sign up for Smart Tips at www.nancywhichard.com?  No?  You didn’t?  Hustle over there and sign up.

I always look forward to Memorial Day week-end.  As I enjoy the current Memorial Day holiday here in the U.S., I am thinking back to a Memorial Day week-end a few years ago when I had to choose my dissertation over the holiday week-end with my family.

In my Washington, DC suburb, Memorial Day has always been a day for ritual and fun.

The day begins with a 3K Fun Run. In the front of the pack are young military people and other determined-looking runners.  Behind them are the kids from the local track teams and other people who love to run.  Way back, and this is a big pack of people, are the walkers.  One reason everyone in town wants to participate is because, for years now, the local Volvo dealer gives away terrific t-shirts to everyone who finishes.

The day proceeds with a fair and a parade and back-yard brunches and that sort of thing.

And it’s fun to spend the day with my family and to catch up with friends and long-time acquaintances..

 Except for the one year when I had to spend the whole week-end once again revising the intro to my diss.

I thought I was finished with the intro.  My advisor had given me a fairly straightforward suggestion for revising the diss.  I had done what he said and sent the revision off to him.  Just before Memorial Day, he returned the revision to me with a note saying that I should take out all of the newly added pages and re-work the whole chapter.

To meet the deadline, I would have to work straight through the Memorial Day holiday.  I knew better, but I wrote to him, saying that I had done exactly what he had told me to do.  His only comment was that he didn’t want to be told what he had said.

Hoping that I hadn’t alienated him, I gave up my holiday week-end with my family and sat in front of my computer for 3 days. 

I got through the revision, and finished the dissertation, but that was one of the times that I strongly felt that the dissertation process had demanded too much from me.

I have coached many people who somehow write dissertations while juggling the demands of family life.  It’s difficult to juggle the daily demands, but to give up a holiday with one’s family is a particularly hard choice to make.

For those of you who are facing the dilemma this week-end of deciding whether to spend  time with your family or meet a writing goal, I send all good wishes.  Whatever you decide to do will be the right choice for you. 

Warm regards,

Nancy
Nancy Whichard, PhD, PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach
www.nancywhichard.com
nancy@nancywhichard.com

What do you want from your advisor that will make your life as a writer easier? 
Great feedback, some feedback, or maybe just feedback once in a while?  How about an email saying hello?

If you’re not getting feedback or not even getting answers to your straight-forward questions, here’s one idea.  I’m not advising that you take this tack; I offer it with some provisos.

One of my dissertation clients has had great trouble getting his advisor to respond to email. 

The student likes and respects his advisor.  The two get along extremely well and have a long-standing relationship. The problem is that the advisor travels extensively, juggling a huge amount of work, and you know who and what get overlooked or put on hold. 

After waiting weeks and weeks for an answer from his advisor to a fairly straightforward question, my client wrote to a respected member of his committee and asked the specific question.  This question was obviously in his advisor’s area of expertise. 

Of course, my client cc’d his advisor.

The committee member, well aware of the issues students routinely had with the peripatetic professor, replied at length, also cc’ing the student’s advisor.

Shortly thereafter, the advisor was back in touch.

While the problem has not been completely resolved, my client feels less helpless.  And, if need be, he plans to write the other committee member again.

I salute my client for his resourcefulness and courage.  This could have blown up in his face.  What made this strategy feasible is that my client, no matter what, does everything he can to maintain good relations with the advisor.

What do you think?  Could your advisor take being cc’d in this way on an email?
What kind of relationship do you have with your advisor?

I’d love to hear from you.  I’d also love to send you a fr.e.e. newsletter.  Register on my website at www.nancywhichard.com.

Until next time,

Nancy

Nancy Whichard, PhD, PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach
www.nancywhichard.com
nancy@nancywhichard.com

P.S.   Sign up for Smart Tips at www.nancywhichard.com and get the next issue on “Strategies for Drastic Situations.”  It is going out right away. Don’t delay; the train is leaving the station.

The doctoral experience is rife with minefields and potholes and all other kinds of things you don’t want to step in.

It’s important to be politically savvy in order to make your way to the other side of this experience. 

1.  Are you writing for your dissertation advisor?  If you’re not writing for your dissertation advisor, then for whom?  Unless you’ve had an irreparable rupture with your advisor, and maybe not even then, write for your advisor. Many problems can be averted by recognizing that your dissertation advisor is both your audience and the gatekeeper. 

2.  Avoid finger pointing. What if your research isn’t coming to much?  If your advisor has an investment in that research and you feel that it’s coming to a dead end, assume blame (without being transparent and pathetic).  This isn’t a time to alienate your advisor.  Be smart.

3.  Put yourself in a public place where you can shine.  Consider giving a talk at a graduate forum or a gathering that your advisor nd perhaps other professors in your department attend.  Don’t be afraid of the questions that will be raised because generating a great discussion among those gathered is a place for you to score big or sort of big.  It can work wonders in how your advisor looks at you and how you look at yourself.

4. No sighing; no whining.  Try to be positive, both about your work and about your relationship with your advisor. Particularly when you talk with her or email her. Try to take energy from a positive thought or place.  This isn’t the time to roll your eyes or sigh. (I’m right there with you in controlling the sighing—I sigh far too much.  Try to sigh only in private.)  You want her to gather that helping you now will be good for both for you. If for no other reason, helping you now will get you off her back! 

 5. Ask for what you want.  Don’t assume that your advisor won’t help you get a postdoc or that she won’t introduce you to the big guns or muckety-mucks in your field or that she won’t talk strategies.  Just because you haven’t had such discussions with her doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be interested in helping you.

What strategy have you used with your advisor that surprised you in the good way it turned out, particularly one that would upend any suggestion I’ve made here?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Nancy

Nancy Whichard, PhD, PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach
www.nancywhichard.com
nancy@nancywhichard.com

P.S. It’s not too late to sign up for my Smart Tips newsletter—go to www.nancywhichard.com.