2815.
let's call this day 2 of "so...how much progress could i make if...". i was thinking this morning (don't be so surprised!) about what kind of progress could i make on my dissertation if i made a commitment to write at least 500 words per day through september 30th. this question was inspired by a post on the time-management ninja blog that i read a while back where the writer asks what could you do in a year if you really set your mind to it. one of the ideas was get in the best shape of your life. while that would be fantastic, right now, i have two goals: finish my dissertation and find some kind of job in academia for the 2011-2012 school year. so i asked myself: what kind of progress could i make on my dissertation if i made the commitment to add at least 500 words to my dissertation over the next 25 days? i'm here to say that i have taken up this challenge whole-heartedly, though i do already foresee some challenges.
the first and most difficult to surmount is the fact that i'm taking a mini-vacation starting on september 16th, and i won't return home until september 20th. so i'm going to lose those 5 days because i highly doubt that i'm going to be able to write while i'm away. if i were going on my own, that might be one thing, but i'm meeting my aunt so i don't anticipate having enough alone time to get any amount of writing done. though i have already made the promise to myself to try to do some revision if at all possible. i also need to plan ahead for this lack of writing by trying to exceed my writing goal whenever possible for the remaining days that i will be writing.
the second challenge that i've already been faced with--what about those days when i need to revise or read? so what? i can still add at least 500 words b/c if nothing else, i can add relevant quotes to my document as well as start forming an outline and the most important questions that i want the chapter i'm working on to answer.
those are the biggest challenges that i foresee, but i'll just have to wait and see what happens and how committed i am to dedicating the majority of my time and focus to getting this dissertation written.
as for today--i had an awesome day as far as writing goes. i got up and the first thing i did was write. now here's the thing--i do believe in the power of the advice "write first". i used that idea when i was nano'ing two summers ago and i met the 50,000 word goal in 30 days because of it. the reason i made writing first a priority this morning was because i wasn't able to get as much done last night as i wanted. so i set freedom to run for an hour and fifteen minutes and i'm not kidding when i say that in 1 hr and 15 minutes i wrote 1372 words. for real! it was such a fabulous way to start the day. i went to the office tonight for my regularly scheduled writing session and managed to write another 1443 words. but don't be fooled. this chapter draft is still very much a mess and is going to need lots and lots of revision. but i am grateful for the steady progress i am making in terms of getting the ideas out of my head and onto paper where i can actually work them into something coherent and organized. although today was a holiday, i feel like i've had double potions and managed to avoid snape's wrath. double potions-double dissertation writing sessions.
oh, and i almost forgot. the final verdict about last night--i do believe that i was having a mild anxiety attack. when i got home i got straight into bed and just concentrated on breathing and trying to relax my muscles and slow my heartbeat down, which was racing. after about forty-five minutes the queasy feeling went away and i was able to eventually fall asleep. it was just such an oddly timed anxiety attack because i was actually getting some writing done. i dunno. the human body is still a mystery. but the good news is that it didn't happen again today, and hopefully i can stop having to schedule meetings and such during my work out time so the exercise should help to alleviate some of my tension.
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