There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~~ Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith I read this quote and immediately thought of you all. What kind of writing is more painful than dissertation writing? (None that I’ve found so far!). What makes dissertation writing so painful? Let’s look at a few reasons: 1) It can be open-ended. The whole point of writing a dissertation is to write until you’re done. But when is that, really? 2) It is lonely. The dissertation is one project in your whole life that is almost totally up to you. You can ask for help along the way (and should), but this project is your baby. 3) It’s tough to get feedback. When the act of writing is so painful, revising what you’ve already written can be like adding salt to the wound. There are other reasons why writing the dissertation might be painful, but these are the three that come to mind today. How can you write the dissertation most quickly and effectively? 1) Write everyday. (No matter how bad, or stupid, useless, or futile it feels, write every day.) 2) Do not revise until you are finished writing. (This will keep you out of the endless loop of endless revisions.) 3) Seek feedback at defined points, and work as quickly as you can to reach those points. (If you contract to have your dissertation read chapter by chapter, get from this chapter to the next as soon as possible.) Most of the time, dissertation writers make 2 big mistakes: They take too long to write the damn thing and then They think the draft has to be perfect Really, if you just draft the whole thing as fast as you can, you will have more than enough to revise. Revision is often easier than writing, though. And it is much easier to believe you’ll actually finish when you have 150 pages drafted, rather than just 15 perfect lines written.
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