Writing about Writing

The title of this post is a bit of a misnomer. In this blog post, yes, I am going to be writing about how I have been in a phase of writing recently; but I am not going to be writing about my chapter that is called 'Writing about Writing (About Myths)' that you may have heard me mention before. Maybe when I write a post about that chapter I will call it 'Writing about Writing about Writing (About Myths)'. 

I have said 'writing' way too much already and I'm only on the second line. This does not bode well. 

In my life as a PhD student, I seem to go through fairly equal phases of focussing on planning, reading, writing, editing, and teaching. The editing and teaching refer to the jobs I do in order to afford to live (I do freelance work as a tutor and academic & fiction editor),*** as well as to gain useful experience for my future career, as I hope to go into academia. Of course, there's also a fair amount of editing of my own work, too. 

As you'd expect from a PhD in English Literature, I do a hefty amount of reading. That's everything from fiction to academic texts, journal articles, news articles, blog posts, and so on. Even so, I often feel that I'm not doing enough reading, that I'm never caught up with recent scholarship, that I don't have enough of a critical foundation. Logically, I know this comes down to imposter syndrome comprised of being working class and unfunded, and having an unhealthy tendency to compare myself with the people around me. Less logically, I always feel as though I am falling behind. 

In my process, the planning tends to come both before and after the reading. I plan what I am going to do (a chapter, an article, a paper, or whatever), and then I set to reading. After reading everything can, I go back to my plan and amend it. Then I plan again, and again, and again. 

Finally, I get to writing. 

I get a lot of compliments on my ability to write, on the way I say 'okay, it's time to write,' and then I just do. I realise that a part of it is luck, but a big part of it is practice and finding what works for you. Here's a list of things that work for me, in the hopes that some of them may work for you: 

TheShelbiad's Writing Tips:

1) Planning

Okay, I know I've already talked about planning, both in this very piece and in my previous post. It's a really important part of my process, though. If I'm struggling to write, like really struggling with getting started, I know it's probably because I haven't planned enough. For me, if I am staring at the blank page, unable to write for a long time, it's because I don't have all the knowledge I need in order to start. 

Just to be contrary, though, I don't religiously stick to my plans. Sometimes as I'm writing I get more ideas, and I do just go with them. Some points end up being shorter than I thought they would be; some points end up being longer - it evens out. 

2) Writing style

Find the way of writing that works best for you. For me, despite being chaotic in so many aspects of my life, I write best in chronological order. I start at the beginning, with the introduction, and work in order until I finish with the conclusion. It helps me with the flow of my argument, and it gives me an accurate idea of how much I've already done versus how much is still to go. But that's just me (and I'm aware that it's a pretty unusual way of doing things). 

Maybe you will work best by doing the bits you're most excited for / comfortable with first, and then work on the parts you're having difficulty with later. Maybe you like to write down brief ideas and then go back and flesh them out, adding more and more detail until you're where you need to be. Maybe you like to gather all of your evidence first, and then construct an argument around it; or start with the argument and then find proof later. Maybe you start with your BIG IDEAS and then go back and connect them later; or maybe you build up to them. 

Maybe you work at it day in day out, or maybe you do nothing for ages and then get bursts of inspiration. I'm the latter. 

I could keep doing this all day, but my point is that you should work out which one you are, and then own it. None of these approaches are better than any other, and there are so many different ways to write, try not to compare yourself to others. There's more than one way to skin a cat but, whichever way, the cat gets skinned (in which "skin a cat" is "write a PhD"). 

  'Fierce Female: Making shit happen'  

3) Try exercises

There are so many writing exercises and so many blogs expounding the virtues of each of them, I don't really feel the need to detail them all. I'll just tell you the one I do, which is 'cappuccino writing'. You sit down for 10-15 minutes with a pen and a notebook (I'm sure it works with the computer too, but I prefer analogue for this) and just... write. Absolute stream of consciousness. Whatever pops into your head. I try and write about what goal I want to accomplish (write this conference paper, write that blog post) and the things I need to do to accomplish it. It often ends up as a tirade about feeling like an imposter, but it's oddly cathartic either way. 

Also, if you really struggle with the whole blank page / getting started thing, I sometimes start with something stupid like 'Gather round bitches I'm about to lay down some spicy myth takes'... just make sure you delete this before sending it to your supervisors. 

4) Make notes

Okay, this is my big thing. I always have a notebook with me, and I make a lot of notes. Before I write, I do my plan in my notebook, and then I track my progress throughout the writing phase. I write myself to-do lists and make a note of when I've completed a paragraph or a section, and what the word count is. It gives me little bursts of happiness when I tick things off my to-do list, and if I feel like I've not accomplished much, I can see my progress written there. I also write entries about what I've done that day, what I need to do next, how I'm feeling, and if I've had any good snacks recently. It just feels good to have an outlet for random tidbits, and a space to note my plans and small accomplishments. Honestly, journalling is such an important part of the PhD process for me. 

Art by Eshvari

5) Embrace procrastination 

All of this isn't to say that I don't procrastinate - anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I can procrastinate with the best of them. 

"I was going to write that paragraph but oops, ended up taking a quiz to see what kind of onion I am,"

"I was going to write that paper but oops, spent three hours scrolling on social media," 

"I was going to write that chapter but oops, I baked a cake instead," 

The thing is, though, I don't think procrastination is a bad thing. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting distracted, or falling down a research hole, or procrasti-baking. Also, beating yourself up about it, or sitting in front of your computer screen feeling progressively more stressed and guilty, just wastes more time. 

So I've procrastinated: I've read three different blogs, decided to perfect my hot chocolate recipe, and cleaned the bathroom. Now that's done, it's either too late to do anything, in which case I'll try again tomorrow, or it's time to get cracking. I know from experience that I can easily lose more hours and days feeling guilty about procrastinating, which is further procrastination in itself. 

***

So that's that. I've found that one thing I really enjoy recently is reading blogs about people's PhD processes: how they write, how they organise their research, how they do their referencing and bibliographies. So I thought I'd give it a go. I'm sorry there was no myth content, but life isn't all Olympus and asphodel. 

*** If you would like more information on my freelancing work, email me at SJEditing7@gmail.com or DM @SJEditing on Twitter.