Comments on: Week 2: Savage Minds Writing Group Check-In

By: Nancy M. Dammann

Nancy M. Dammann — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 08:40:48 +0000

Late check in for week two. Writing wise it was a disaster. The first week had gone so well, I couldn’t fugue out what happened to this week. Though I had plenty of excuses. I realized I simply didn’t have a real plan, nor an idea if what to do. A bunch ofoosy formed ideas, for a couple of different medium size projects, and a lot of see things that need taking care of. Over the weekend, I got some clarity, part of which was that at least right now, I need to have a clear focus. So for the next two weeks, I have two priorities mapped out. The smaller one I pretty much finished today…the bigger one will get my attention for the rest of the two weeks. And for when I just can’t figure anything out I have a creative project to play with. The third goal is that by the end of these two weeks I have a clear idea of what I need to do next.

By: Ishita Dey

Ishita Dey — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 03:45:06 +0000

After submitting my third chapter on monday (27 Jan) did not write much. I am yet to start working on chapter 4 and will devote this week to writing draft of an article and finishing two short pieces by Friday. I need to get back to a daily writing habit which I followed on Week 1. Week 2 started off on a nice note but I slackenned in between.

By: lorenagibson

lorenagibson — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:31:34 +0000

I’m very late to check in and did basically no writing in Week 2. I have started reading and taking notes on a book I’m reviewing, though, and churned through a big pile of administrative/teaching preparation work. My goal for Week 3 is to nurture a daily writing habit. I take a lot of heart as well as tips from reading the comments above so thanks everyone for sharing!

By: Aaron Seaman (@AaronSeaman76)

Aaron Seaman (@AaronSeaman76) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:07:10 +0000

As with much of this week, I’m doing this later than intended! However, I was able to write every day, which was good. Making progress on this chapter, and hope to continue this week. Good writing, all!

By: svenkate

svenkate — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 01:33:54 +0000

My week was more like a regular working week because of the interruptions and external demands on my time. I did spend many hours of 3 days writing and re-writing the one page summary for my funding application, organising my bibliography, cross-referencing to find more and coordinating the written stuff with the other 2 colleagues who are involved in the project. The other 2 days when it was impossible to settle into writing because of the interruptions, I mulled over the project, talked to others, and solicited feedback on the draft. I feel refreshed starting the new week because I made no attempt to write anything during the weekend. The feedback has provided me with new angles to consider and I look forward to the writing ahead this week.

By: Felipe Jocano

Felipe Jocano — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 10:06:24 +0000

Finished a paper for oral presentation this week (Thursday) and buckling down to revision. so easy to give in to paper fatigue and let the next set of writing objectives pretty much slide.

By: Marissa Mika

Marissa Mika — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 07:19:03 +0000

Just submitted my chapter (on time!) at 11:11pm.

By: Liz Lewis (@LizLewisAnthro)

Liz Lewis (@LizLewisAnthro) — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 06:25:01 +0000

I’m late to check in, but I wanted to give a quick update of my week. Although I’m still not in the flow of daily writing, I am happy to report that I (finally!) submitted a short article draft I’d been sitting on for a few weeks. Although I was and am excited about that project, for some reason it was nearly impossible for me to sit down and focus on it. Perhaps I just needed to time to think things out. Or maybe it was just that this was my first creative project in a while (as opposed to grants, reviews, etc.). Regardless, it felt great to submit it. I immediately closed my computer and headed out for a long run to reward myself. I have one more looming piece to finish by mid-week and then I can begin some new things. I have a few specific goals for the coming week. First, I want to create (or find) a good writing space. My current setup needs some tweaking. Second, I will make a point to do free-writing exercises daily. I’m a big fan of the Elbow method and I need to bring it back into my life. Third, I’m going to begin working in earnest on a blog I’ve wanted to start for months. My aim is to brainstorm and outline a few short pieces to get the project off the ground. I’d like to have 2-3 posts completed by next weekend. My week is fairly light, so this seems like an excellent window to delve into things and really focus on writing and creating content.

Thanks to all who shared their experiences over the week! This is incredibly motivating and I really look forward to continuing with the group.

By: Carole McGranahan

Carole McGranahan — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 17:32:02 +0000

Great to read about everyone’s experiences this week. So much sounds familiar and thus reassuring. Congrats to those who had deadlines this week and met them–a whole bunch of you! And the rest of us all at a minimum seem to be more “alive in the writing” than at least I was before we launched this group. For me that alone is a big personal and collective accomplishment.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 07:46:44 +0000

Not a bad week, but I am not going to make my self imposed deadline (today). Still, got a good amount done. I should be able to finish by Sunday/Monday. Most importantly, after wasting some time last week trying to track down sources and notes WHILE writing, this week I sat down and collected everything away from the computer, got it all in order, wrote up an outline on paper, and then sat down to write. This was more how I used to do things before I became a frenzied PhD student, and it works better for me. Sometimes when I sit down in front of the computer to write with a more basic outline I end up on tangents, chasing down too many ideas. Part of the problem is that I have all these notes and interviews at my fingertips, and it’s easy to get lost in it all. A little pre-organization goes a long way for me, especially when I get away from the computer a bit.

By: LaMa

LaMa — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 06:57:13 +0000

I was able to meet both of my goals this week (art piece and 1,000 words) and in fact wrote about 400 words more than I anticipated! Which was great, but needed to happen right at the end of the week in a bit of a squeeze.

Balancing my creative endeavors with the very logistical and stressful tasks required to plan and prepare for a six month journey back to the Americas after living in Tokyo for 5 years has been especially difficult this week.

By: Marnie Thomson

Marnie Thomson — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 05:05:56 +0000

This week was frustrating for me. I blame jet lag and the many obligations and distractions that come with being home. But I did continue to find the time to write every single day. I am struggling still with the flow of writing, but Gina Athena Ulysse’s post and conversations with colleagues and advisors–a benefit of being back on campus–have inspired me to be more accepting of my own writing process. I’m now trying to allow myself to be satisfied with producing small chunks, even if they are not yet sewn together into the quilt I aspire to make.

By: Tamar V S McKee

Tamar V S McKee — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 04:45:07 +0000

After my previous three week writing binge, I gave myself permission to have a little more lax writing schedule this week. Still got three days in, but only 1-2 hours here and there. The quote Carole shared of Dr. Ulysse’s essay from Monday describes what kind of writing I did: generating pieces (non judgementally too) to weave into a quilt – which I hope will become the conclusion of my dissertation. This was a very free-ing exercise, and I found myself able to get down in writing a lot of ideas and insights that tend to get bulldozed in my struggle to work linearly.

My writing up to now has been very much in survival mode – just generating text so I have something to work with. Now that I’ve gotten bare bones constructed, I look forward to the editing process in which I can not only make things read better, but fit in points / information that I was unable to get to in the first draft, and, moreover, infuse my writing with more of the creative “me” in terms of language, expression, diagrams, photos, etc. This all has to pass muster, of course, with the gatekeepers of my committee (which has often made it hard for me to find my voice and confidence), so here’s to striking the right kind of balance of sound analysis coupled with gripping, clear communication of that analysis…

I’ll work on my conclusion some more tomorrow and Sunday morning. Then Monday I will start addressing the first round of revisions I’ve received from my committee about my introduction.

This group is really wonderful – thank you so much, Carole, for instigating this!

Good luck, all!

By: yesnooraspider

yesnooraspider — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:18:03 +0000

Only drips and drabs from me. I devised some personal dead-lines for sections for my Preliminary Paper, started fleshing out the outline for the first section of that, and worked on the opening of a blog post/article today. Still no chair in my room, but working on it! I’m hoping to establish a more regular writing rhythm, despite like Gina being a note-scribbling quilt-maker. A luta continua!

By: spitivalley

spitivalley — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 21:26:34 +0000

Wow. Week 2 already. I have been swamped for the last two weeks revising two pieces: an article for publication due today and a thesis chapter. I submitted the article for publication this morning (same day as aljarrin above — phew! and yay!) and I am still revising sections of the thesis chapter. This is ‘the description of the setting chapter’, which is proving more challenging that I thought. I had crammed in a lot of information in three separate sections that I have been revising-editing-and-rewriting to make them more coherent and cohesive, in between other doing other things, such as now I must rush to pick up my wife from work. Cheers everyone and happy writing and doing whatever-we-must!