You may be wondering why Kris has been carrying this blog single handedly for the past few weeks. The answer just so happens to be the topic of this weeks weekly topic: stress. Stress is why I neglected to post by thoughts on cinco de mayo and why I asked Kris to skip last weeks posting cause I didn't want to spare 5 minutes to come up with some bullshit CAUSE I WORK AT HIGHER QUALITY THAN THAT! At least I like to think I do. But now I'm finished with school for an entire summer so the blog can go back to business as usual. Actually, I'll probably be posting more often cause I have all this extra time now. Meanwhile, Kris is still working her ass off and somehow managing to keep up with weekly topic AND making extra posts when I was MIA. She must be some kind of super human.
So, for this post, I thought I'd walk you through my typical paper writing process. Here is a step by step of practically every paper I've ever written.
1. Initial encounter of assigned paper (for this example, lets say 15 pages) in syllabus.
2. "I have 3 whole months to do this!"
3. Forget about paper
4. Half way through semester, remember I have a paper
5. "I should pick a topic"
6. Think about picking a topic for 5 minutes
7. Forget about paper
8. 4 weeks left in class, remember paper
9. "Oh shit! Only 4 weeks left! I need to do some research!"
10. Pick paper topic
11. Put off research till 3 weeks left
12. Pick up 5 books from the library
13. Find 4 articles on Ebsco host
14. Put off reading until 2 weeks left
15. Read a few chapters
16. Make a super vague outline
17. Feel huge sense of accomplishment, take a few days off
18. "Oh shit! I only have 10 days to finish this!"
19. Panic
20. Decide to write 2 pages a day until its finished
21. End up spending 7 days reading and get 1 page written
22. Panic!
23. Write 3 pages
24. Panic!!!
25. 2 days left, write 5 pages
26. "OMG I STILL HAVE 7 PAGES AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOREVER!"
26. 1 days left, write 4 pages
27. Feel relieved that I only have 3 pages left.
28. Next morning, wake up early
29. "Shit I need to finish this by 4 o'clock!"
30. Get mad at myself for not finishing sooner
31. Find the courage to finish paper
32. Turn it in
33. Life suddenly has new meaning and feels beautiful
34. 1 week later, write blog about it, get PTSD
And that is my process. For smaller papers, its similar but toned down depending on the size of the paper. If the assignment has anything to do with writing fiction or telling a story (which is NEVER), I actually enjoy doing it and none of this applies.
So, for this post, I thought I'd walk you through my typical paper writing process. Here is a step by step of practically every paper I've ever written.
1. Initial encounter of assigned paper (for this example, lets say 15 pages) in syllabus.
2. "I have 3 whole months to do this!"
3. Forget about paper
4. Half way through semester, remember I have a paper
5. "I should pick a topic"
6. Think about picking a topic for 5 minutes
7. Forget about paper
8. 4 weeks left in class, remember paper
9. "Oh shit! Only 4 weeks left! I need to do some research!"
10. Pick paper topic
11. Put off research till 3 weeks left
12. Pick up 5 books from the library
13. Find 4 articles on Ebsco host
14. Put off reading until 2 weeks left
15. Read a few chapters
16. Make a super vague outline
17. Feel huge sense of accomplishment, take a few days off
18. "Oh shit! I only have 10 days to finish this!"
19. Panic
20. Decide to write 2 pages a day until its finished
21. End up spending 7 days reading and get 1 page written
22. Panic!
23. Write 3 pages
24. Panic!!!
25. 2 days left, write 5 pages
26. "OMG I STILL HAVE 7 PAGES AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOREVER!"
26. 1 days left, write 4 pages
27. Feel relieved that I only have 3 pages left.
28. Next morning, wake up early
29. "Shit I need to finish this by 4 o'clock!"
30. Get mad at myself for not finishing sooner
31. Find the courage to finish paper
32. Turn it in
33. Life suddenly has new meaning and feels beautiful
34. 1 week later, write blog about it, get PTSD
And that is my process. For smaller papers, its similar but toned down depending on the size of the paper. If the assignment has anything to do with writing fiction or telling a story (which is NEVER), I actually enjoy doing it and none of this applies.
No comments:
Post a Comment