Amy Frykholm

I had, shall I say, the privilege of spending time with some doctoral students last week. It had been awhile since I had imbibed that heady mix of insecurity, arrogance and intellectual dynamism that seems to accompany dissertation writing. Some dissertation writers seemed terrified that if they sauntered anywhere near the non-academic world, engaging in such basic humanness as asking thoughtful questions or making a personal statement, they would be dragged kicking and screaming from the academy exposed as a fraud. It was painful to envision myself with such people as future colleagues. It made me think that I escaped the academy just in time to save my mortal soul. 

But another of the graduate students emailed me later asking if I had any advice on how to get the dissertation writing job done. Dissertation writing is a long, grueling, often desperate process. I knew one man in graduate school who, in his first year of dissertation writing, composed one sentence. At the end of the year, he erased it. Here's what I told the graduate student asking my advice. It applies for any writing project in which a person feels that the task is both miserable and impossible. It is especially good if you are feeling watched and judged by a thousand angry eyes. 

1) Write 15 minutes a day and/or 500 words no matter what. Even if your basement floods. Even if your kids get the flu. Even if your dissertation advisor just told you that you didn't have a chance in hell of getting a job. Just write something, even if it is garbage. No, especially if it is garbage. This is basic plumbing and must be done.

2) In my experience, writing demons--the kind that attack you with their mean-spirited critiques and regularly ask, "Who are you kidding?"--tend to sleep in a bit late. If you can get up and get your 500 words written early in the morning, you may get a couple of good solid weeks in before they wise up.