RBOC: Plugging Right Along

• Well, you all asked for it :) Since you seem to enjoy watching my "process" so much, I shall entertain you with a wee update. Thanks for the comments, by the by. They are very, very motivating, which I suppose is one of the benefits of blogging - having some supportive peeps that one feels like one can't let down.
• At any rate, I think one of the reasons that things were coming so slowly was that I forgot how to draft from scratch. See, I've not written anything longer than a conference paper that was brand spanking new in.... yeah, like two years. And so I was attempting to draft the way that I draft a conference paper, or to write as I write when I'm working on something that's already in progress, and that's no good for this sort of thing. I guess when I'm working on something already in progress or on something short that I'm a bit more... meticulous in the first go around. I forgot that I like to do things like put "add stuff about x here" in bold and just keep going. After a few hours, though, I remembered that I like to do that, and so now things are fairly solidly underway.
  
• One of the issues, too, is that I'm a beginning-to-end drafter. That's not to say that I don't go back and change the beginning parts, but I can't launch into an easy section of the outline first because I've got to work through the tough stuff in order to know what to do in the easy sections. So, for example, if I were actually talking about the novels I'm discussing and analyzing them (which I just realized is the bulk of what I do in a conference paper, which may then be why I can write more smoothly in that genre), this would be going much faster.
  
• Instead, though, I'm working on the introductory stuff that leads up to all that - a combination of lit review, some theory, some engagement with the field, and that's all stuff that comes in 1-3 sentence bursts. In other words, I find myself writing a sentence, or a half of a paragraph, or when I'm really in the zone a paragraph, and then I have to stop and figure out what to do next. This is annoying and time-consuming.
  
• But I think I'm doing something really fricking cool. And let me tell you, I was not so sure of that this morning.
• Though I'm still trying to do too much.
• And I don't think it's a good sign that for the past hour I've been debating about when is an appropriate time to have a glass of wine. As in, I'd really like a glass of wine right now but it's only just after 4 PM and I've still got it in my head that I'd like to write some more and so that's probably not a good idea.
• It does help that I don't have wine in the house, though I'm thinking now might be a good time to go and procure some.
• What's disgusting is that it's like this gorgeous spring day outside and I've been chained to my computer for all of it.
  
• Which makes me think that I really should break and go buy some wine. (Though really what I should do is break and go for a walk or something in the outdoors.)
• The kitty had a disgusting hairball earlier. That was gross, but it was nice because it was a legitimate excuse to take a break.
• As opposed to all of the illegitimate excuses that I usually use for breaks.
• So yes, that's the latest. I've got about five solid pages. I'm hoping to get about five more before I collapse. I'll be happy with only 3, however. We shall see.
• Which also means (and this is annoying) that I'll be writing again tomorrow instead of cleaning my house. Is ok, though, as I'd sort of known that would be the case when I began this week.
  
• Until later... and I may try to get Medusa over to the Lounge this evening. Will keep you posted on whether I can make that happen.