Clockwork Muse

I've tried observing my writing proclivities yesterday and today, and it's helped me to at least be more cognizant of my habits and tendencies. When I learned class was cancelled on Wednesday, I went to Barnes & Noble to work on the paper I plan on using for my PhD application writing sample. (So granted these were a couple of "re-writing" sessions, and I'm afraid I just can't bring myself to actually start from scratch, at least not yet.) Anyway, it was very helpful, both in terms of recognizing the stages of my process, and in improving the paper significantly.

Usually for my warm-up I go straight to ESPN to agonize over how close the Braves are to blowing the wild-card, or Hulu to watch an episode of the Daily Show. If I'm being completely honest. I think it helped for me to be away from home, I got right down to work. For the warm-up, I started reading the first couple pages of my paper. I was only a couple minutes in when I had an epiphany. My writing binge lasted a couple hours, and I paid more attention to my state of mind as my energy and mental capacity tapered off. I ended my session with 2 or 3 specific uncompleted tasks that I could pick up the next day. I felt good after, rather than drained. And I was excited to keep working the next day. I think that was a key piece of advice for me, to end when I'm on my high.

Thank you, Dr. Christie, for that. I think it is going to make a big difference for me.