Finding Time and Space to Write

This topic may seem incredibly pedantic, but you would be surprised how important it is to plan for your dissertation to work. Where do you work best? When do you work best? What is your significant other(s) going to tolerate in terms of your work? Where are you going to keep all your "stuff" while you work? I know when I was working on my dissertation I had the luxury of being alone. I got rid of my t.v. during that time and I was able to work at odd hours and have all my "stuff" out all over my apartment at the time. I know most if not all of you are not at a point in life when you can do that. So, you've got to figure out how to fit this into your life in a way that won't overwhelm you with guilt or consume your relationships - a tall order.

Here are some suggestions I've known from others - whether working on their theses, dissertations, or just writing prolifically as professors:

Marathon Saturdays

One woman who finished when I did took every Saturday - all day from very early to very late - and worked on her dissertation. She was married and had young children. She was tired of feeling guilty every time she did something with her family in the evenings or on Sundays, so she determined that one day a week would be devoted to her dissertation and the rest of the week was devoted to her family. Her husband supported her and made Saturdays "daddy days" with their girls. It took her a bit longer to get done working just one day a week, but she got done, didn't lose quality time with her family, and stayed relatively sane throughout the process.

"Class Night" Equivalents

Several of my master's students who had to write their theses in two semesters, took the same night or two nights a week they had previously been in class and stayed away from home the same number of hours to work on their theses. Since their families had become used to them being gone during that time they didn't notice the difference. That way these students didn't feel guilty not working on their theses at other times.

Early Risers

Most of my most productive writing was early in the morning. When it wasn't crunch time, I would usually allow myself an hour or two in the morning before work. That way, I didn't have to retool my brain after a day of suspending seventh graders, etc. When it was crunch time (remember - I was alone and I wouldn't recommend this if you have to be human toward others in your home), I would leave work, go to the gym, go home and eat dinner, and then go directly to bed (7:30ish). I would get up at 3:00 (or even earlier when it was that last dash to the end - typically before Starbucks closed at midnight), and write until time to leave for work. I was trying to mazimize the use of my brain not on assistant principal "stuff" like it always was at the end of the day. Plus, I knew that morning time was always my best time to write and think.

Every Day

If any of you have Googled or search engined Henry Giroux, you know the man has written more than should be humanly possible. From what I've heard, he writes something every day - even if it is just a page. It keeps it churning in his head so any "down time" he may have during the day can be used thinking about what he is writing.

Regular Writing Retreats

Another scholar who has been prolific throughout his career is Jesse Goodman. He told me that he has a country house (little more than a trailer) about an hour or so from Bloomington, IN, where he lives with his wife and two kids. He would leave home Thursday mornings, go and write at that house until Friday or Saturday evening, and then come home. The rest of the week he focused on teaching and being with his kids. Granted, this took an understanding wife, but I suppose she thought it was better to be a single parent a couple days a week and get his relatively undivided support at home the rest of the week. While this may be too much to think about - perhaps one long weekend a month - where you take a Friday off (yes, that could get expensive if you end up doing it a few times without pay but it may be money well invested) to go and write somewhere for three straight days.

Roald Dahl's Advice

While this isn't necessarily about a specific time, I once say a video of Dahl talking about writing. He had a gypsy caravan in his back yard (like in one of his books) and he would go there every day to write. His greatest advice was to never leave what you are doing unless you know exactly what you are going to write when you return. If you do, then you will be reluctant to return and will struggle getting started when you return. I always try to do this myself - and it makes an incredible difference.

What can you give up?

As I mentioned above, I put my television in the closet during the entire time I worked on my dissertation. I never watched it that much, but since I was recently divorced, I realized how often I would turn it on to fill the room with noise when I came home and how that would sometimes distract me from working on the dissertation ( I can't recall how many times I would mysteriously be drawn into a rerun of some dumb sitcom on TBS instead of writing). Plus, living in basically a one-room apartment in Buckhead, it would have been right there all the time - tempting me. Are there things that fill your days/nights - however innocently? I know I'm now "addicted" to the AJC in the mornings - spending at least 30 minutes scanning it while drinking coffee. When I'm on a tight deadline, I give that up. There may be something that you feel you can give up just while you are working on the dissertation that wouldn't affect you or your family too much. It might be a "fun" way (o.k., a stretch here) for your family to support you - to turn off the t.v. for one night a week or for a couple hours a night to create that time for you to work and for them to do something else.

Getting Started

I vividly recall my junior high school science class when my teacher assigned a big report.  It was one of those first encounters with a project that would consume my thinking and my parent’s dining room (the first of many).  On his handout he listed Q & A – one of which was “When should I start the project?”  His answer: “Yesterday.”  I feel as if I need to provide the same question and answer for students preparing to write dissertations.  When should you start?  Preferably before you even begin your doctoral program.  If not, then immediately upon being accepted. 

 

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t mean that you should pick your topic at that point.  My advisees would be the first to tell you that I deliberately encourage them to wait before they pick out their topics so they don’t spend all that time and effort in a Ph.D. program only to exit knowing a lot about one thing.  They’ll be the first to tell you that if they start to talk about topics in the first year or so I’ll start to quote Dewey, “It does not pay to tether one’s self to the pole of use with too short a rope.” 

 

So what do I mean about starting “yesterday”?  There are two critical capacities you must develop before successfully completing your dissertation – two things that seem so obvious they are often overlooked.  First, you have to learn how to write.  Second, you have to learn how to think.  Both of these things take time and effort to develop, and both are absolutely essential for successful dissertations. 

 

First, you have to know how to write, and it is far, far better if you can write well.  Think to your self, “How do I want my advisor to spend his or her time and energy?”  "At what level of my work do I want my advisor to focus: the details or the big ideas?" The time an advisor takes to mark up grammar, mechanics, and technical issues such as A.P.A. style is time not spent helping you develop your ideas.  Any writing coach can help you with your writing (to some degree, mind you).  You need your advisor to help you with your problem, your research design, your analysis, and your conclusions.  You need your advisor to help you abstract, to critically reflect, and to enlarge your understanding so you can enlarge the understanding of your readers.  This won’t happen if your advisor is consumed in the menial issues of your writing. 

 

Second, you have to know how to think.  Again, this seems obvious, but it really isn’t.  If you’ve not read Dewey’s How We Think, read it.  Think about the elements Dewey describes regarding thinking and then do your best to assess the degree to which you demonstrate those elements.  Your committee will expect you to abstract.  They will expect you to generate warranted assertions and to justify your judgments.  If you cannot think critically, then you will struggle.  If you cannot think, then you will have difficulty understanding the feedback you get from your chair and your committee.  Don’t assume your capacity to think is sufficient simply because you are a doctoral student and because you’ve managed to pass your classes up to this point.  Thinking is a capacity achieved over time through deliberate work.  If you do not recognize growth in this area from your own self-assessment, then start having conversations with your advisor to get a sense of where you are in relation to where you need to be for your dissertation.  These conversations often happen as you prepare for comprehensive exams, and often those exams will give you feedback regarding your capacity to think.  Nevertheless, have that conversation with your advisor as well.

 

So, how do you begin?  When I teach the capstone course at GSU, I ask students to engage in a series of self-assessments.  I ask them to look back over old papers and consider the comments professors made as “evidence.”  I ask them to draw out themes from those comments to identify their strengths and weaknesses regarding writing and thinking.  I’d encourage you to do the same.  If you are still not sure whether you are ready for your dissertation, then ask around for other resources to assess yourself and then discuss with your advisor ways in which you can improve your capacities as a writing and a thinker.  I’ll offer some suggestions in an upcoming blog entry.  .  .

Introduction

Welcome to my new blog.  This has been on my "to do" list for a long time, and even though I am currently overwhelmed with drafts of dissertations to read (Yes, yikes, the semester hasn't even begun), I nevertheless want to begin a blog where I can offer whatever words of wisdom that may pop into my head before they disappear.  As long as I can remember my password and how I got to this blog spot, I will do my best to add new words of wisdom as regularly as possible.  If you're one of my advisees,  I hope the entries will help you in the process - particularly at those times when we are not able to meet face-to-face.  If you are not one of my advisees, then by all means run these ideas by your advisor before embracing them.  We all have very different images of the dissertation process as well as the final project.

For now I've got two drafts I have to read before Monday, so the more substantive contributions will have to wait.  .  .