Are your children home on vacation from school? And you’re trying to keep an eye on your children, as well as make headway on your writing project? How’s that working for you? During the school year, most academics teach and try to write. Both teaching and writing are critical for an academic’s success and are [...]
Archive for the ‘distractions’ Category
Mom’s in Maine – Marking Boundaries for Space to Write
Posted in boundaries, children, choice, commitment, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, family, perseverance, planning, reasons for not writing, strategies, time management, writing, writing schedule, tagged assuming control, dissertation writing, juggling writing and children, Maine, making space for writing, producing text, productivity, setting boundaries, summer writing, work identity on July 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Writers and Spring Break–Sail on, Silver Girl
Posted in academic, accountability, boot camp, boundaries, commitment, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, finishing the dissertation, momentum, productivity, start writing, strategies, structures, success, time management, write more easily, writing schedule, tagged discipline, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation coaching, self-care, solitude, Spring Break, structure, thesis, use fail-proof writing strategies, Weight Watchers, writer’s retreat, writing on March 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Are you one of the lucky ones with Spring Break in the offing? Have you been thinking and hoping and waiting for Spring Break? Finally, you say, I’ll make some headway on my dissertation or book. Visualize how it will work when you have none of the usual demands that take your time and distract you [...]
Write your dissertation in small chunks of time
Posted in academic, accountability, boot camp, boundaries, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, getting started, restart writing, time management, training, write more easily, writing breaks, tagged Pomodoro technique, timer, train yourself to write in small chunks of time on January 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »
A productive, academic client says that the most important thing she learned while she was writing her dissertation was to use small chunks of time during the day for her writing. Working on her dissertation in just 30 minutes here and there allowed her to finish the project. What have you tried that will help [...]
Yes, Virginia, you do have time to write this week–and then, enjoy your holiday!
Posted in demands, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, family, goals, grading, mental toughness, planning, self-discipline, teaching, time management, write more easily, writing schedule, tagged finish grading, write during Christmas week, write early before you're frazzled on December 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
For Christmas celebrants, we’re down to the final week. What are your goals for the week? 1. If you’re teaching, have you turned in your grades? Don’t belabor the choices. This isn’t the time to give lengthy comments on a writing project. Wind it up. 2. If you’re trying to get in a few more days of writing and [...]
To focus on your writing, get a cat
Posted in advice, boundaries, coaching, commitment, courage, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, distractions, flow, focus, mental toughness, self-discipline, start writing, take charge, trusting yourself, write more easily, tagged cat's effect on a writer, focus, Murial Spark, Publishing, trusting the process, writer's self-discipline, writing on November 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Can’t concentrate? Having trouble getting into flow with your writing? Get a cat! Advice to writers can come from the most interesting places. An unexpected, but most entertaining source of advice is A Far Cry from Kensington, a novel by British writer Muriel Spark. A Far Cry takes place in 1954 London. Mrs. Hawkins, the narrator, has a job in publishing. And yes, [...]
Recording TV shows is a hazard to your writing
Posted in academic, accountability, anxiety, choice, coaching, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, email, habit, Internet, mental toughness, momentum, perseverance, productivity, self-care, self-deception, self-discipline, self-sabotage, strategies, television, time management, time theft, write more easily, writing models, writing, dissertation, tagged digital stress, recording tv shows, tv torpor, watching tv instead of writing on November 2, 2010 | 1 Comment »
A dissertation coaching client said that she stopped watching TV and picked up her writing pace in order to meet a deadline. Now that she has met the deadline, she worries that she will be sucked into watching all of the TV shows that she recorded during her heavy-duty period of writing. Do you record TV shows? It’s [...]
FutureMe–The one who met her dissertation deadlines
Posted in academic, accountability, coaching, commitment, deadline, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, email, finishing the dissertation, focus, following through, Lizard Brain, perseverance, planning, resources, self-discipline, self-sabotage, tagged accountability, check up on yourself, dissertation and accountability, do what you said you would do, focus, praise, support on October 17, 2010 | 1 Comment »
How do you keep focused on your writing goal? Our Lizard Brains can make it all too easy to let a goal slip, and with each deadline or marker you miss, it’s that much longer before you finish your dissertation. FutureMe at www.futureme.org is a helpful tool for accountability as you write your dissertation. You can [...]
Is Your Dissertation One of Your Big Rocks?
Posted in accountability, coaching, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, following through, mental toughness, planning, self-deception, self-sabotage, showing up, structures, take charge, time management, tagged Big Rocks, dissertation, distractions, late summer chaos, prioritize, self-sabotage, summer writing, time management, where you have control on August 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »
August can be a time of scrambling A friend who was taking her family on a trip to Europe was rushing to get everything done. She said, “All I have to do is just get to the plane.” I know what she means—what a wonderful feeling it is to settle in and stare into space, [...]
Is Writing Your Real Job?
Posted in coaching, commitment, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, procrastination, productivity, reasons for not writing, self-deception, self-sabotage, take charge, writing habit, writing schedule, writing, dissertation, tagged Ann Patchett, eliminating distractions, writing as a job on July 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
How would your productivity change if you looked at writing as if it were your real job? Ann Patchett, an award-winning author, has done her best to avoid writing. Her novel Bel Canto, has won both the PEN/Faulkner Award and England’s Orange Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She [...]
