Bad writing habits may not make such a big difference on a small paper, but when writing a dissertation, they can really derail the whole project. And boy, do your bad writing habits come floating to the surface when writing is your job every day.One bad writing habit I’ve been struggling with is re-reading the whole chapter I’m working on, no matter how long it is, and tinkering with diction and sentence structure. Every day.
There’s a logical reason that I fell into this habit. Each morning, when I start back to work, it takes a while to get my head back into the project. So, re-reading’s a logical place to start, right?
Well, yes, but not the way I was doing it. The longer the chapter got, the more time it took to read, and adjust, and tinker, and change, and switch, and substitute . . . You get the idea. You can pass a whole morning that way.
So my solution was to limit myself to the last three or four pages. I can usually read, make minor proofreading changes, and be ready to move into the next section within half an hour or so. That's pretty reasonable, I think.
Another thing I’ve been doing to help ease my return is never to stop without making a note about the next point I plan to cover. Then, when I return, I’m not faced with figuring out what the next big structural element will be. It’s already been decided. All I have to do is write about it.
As if that’s not enough . . .
1 comment:
I read an article today about author Scott Westerfeld. He described his daily writing process: he begins by editing his previous three days' work, and then writes 1,000 words. I thought that was interesting.
I have your same problem when it comes to professional writing. That's why I love blogging. I never re-read or edit the blog. It's the one place where I just write as my thoughts come to me, for better or worse. :)
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