Saturday, September 19, 2009

How the hell did I manage to do THAT?

In the last 13 days, I have written a draft of an article, from start to finish.

There are caveats to be had, of course. First caveat: it's based on material from the book. This essay is supposed to be a more condensed version of the most innovative parts of that book's argument, but also with a broader geographic and chronological scope, so there's work to be done. Still, it's mostly familiar ground, not at all like starting from scratch.

Second caveat: it is indeed a Shitty First Draft, lacking introduction and conclusion, and replete with square brackets saying things like "[300 words here on topic X; see professor B's book, pp 67 => ??]" and "[get info on country Y -- check authors Q & Z]", and also, more than once, "[rewrite this para. to avoid self-plagiarism]".

But, wow! I wrote 7,000 words in 13 days, working no more than 2 hours a day. I wouldn't believe it if the evidence weren't sitting right here in front of me.

There's still a long road to go before I can show this to anyone, much less until it's truly finished. But this is seriously encouraging.

6 comments:

ER Doc said...

Outstanding work! The Shitty First Draft is the essence of accomplishment. So how long to tune it up to your standards?

Comrade PhysioProf said...

That's ~300 motherfucking words per hour! Not too shabby!!

Monster Scholar said...

Congrats! I notice that blogging has helped my work in this area. That and my participating in National Novel Writing Month. They challenge you to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Coffee anyone?

Notorious Ph.D. said...

Thanks, guys. As I said, I'm amazed myself. I'll be working on it throughout the semester -- I need a review-ready draft by December, in order to keep up with my own schedule. I've also got a conference paper (new material -- eeep!) that I need to do by mid-November, so expect to see that one word-counter joined by a second within the next week.

Tenured Radical said...

This must be why you are Notorious.

Good Enough Woman said...

Yay, Girl Scholar! Way to blaze that trail.