On how to write
Struggling with one of the N+1 revisions that I have on my desk at the moment, I came across a beautiful passage on how to give advice on how to write. The text is written by John Van Maanen, a giant in the field of organizational ethnography ("Ehtnography Then and Now. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal; Volume: 1 Issue: 1; 2006; p. 14):
"I am, for example, frequently asked how I write and know how to respond perfectly well to such requests. To wit:
I usually get up around seven or so and get a quick breakfast then go before eight to that Cadillac of a computer that sits on my desk for an uninterrupted three solid hours of work, usually the most productive part of my day. I take a break around eleven or so to fetch the snail mail and read my email, then it’s back to work – resisting by shear strength of character the seductions of this mail. I quit around one or so, get lunch and read the morning paper. Then back to the desk for another couple of hours until my concentration inevitably fades and I sag away from the desk around five, go for a run, take a shower and begin, drink in hand, to read over whatever it is I was writing during the day.
Piece of cake. Right? The problem of course is that I get a day like this once every two or three months. I do have a family, classes to teach, a dog to walk, administrative duties to attend to, students to meet, social attractions that call and so on. But I do think my fictional day is rather typical of the help and advice we give when someone asks how to write."
I particularly enjoy the notion that Van Maanen has a day like that once every two or three months. Man, I wish I had a day like that, everyday.
Struggling with one of the N+1 revisions that I have on my desk at the moment, I came across a beautiful passage on how to give advice on how to write. The text is written by John Van Maanen, a giant in the field of organizational ethnography ("Ehtnography Then and Now. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal; Volume: 1 Issue: 1; 2006; p. 14):
"I am, for example, frequently asked how I write and know how to respond perfectly well to such requests. To wit:
I usually get up around seven or so and get a quick breakfast then go before eight to that Cadillac of a computer that sits on my desk for an uninterrupted three solid hours of work, usually the most productive part of my day. I take a break around eleven or so to fetch the snail mail and read my email, then it’s back to work – resisting by shear strength of character the seductions of this mail. I quit around one or so, get lunch and read the morning paper. Then back to the desk for another couple of hours until my concentration inevitably fades and I sag away from the desk around five, go for a run, take a shower and begin, drink in hand, to read over whatever it is I was writing during the day.
Piece of cake. Right? The problem of course is that I get a day like this once every two or three months. I do have a family, classes to teach, a dog to walk, administrative duties to attend to, students to meet, social attractions that call and so on. But I do think my fictional day is rather typical of the help and advice we give when someone asks how to write."
I particularly enjoy the notion that Van Maanen has a day like that once every two or three months. Man, I wish I had a day like that, everyday.
posted by Saku Mantere at 5:45 PM
1 Comments:
I've just had a streak of 3 weeks at home, when I've been working on research papers continuously. This was preceded by almost 5 months of non-stop travel, where I'm not sure that I got to spend a complete two weeks at home.
It's been good to have the luxury of writing time, but I'm finding that it's also research time. My recent burst of blogging is my way of getting some background content work done. There's some definitions that didn't make sense that I cleaned up, and some old books that I knew about, but didn't previously have time to get to the library. Without excuses, I've been chipping away at my backlog.
However, I have noticed some burnout. Writing for seven days straight has me looking for distractions, and I can't stay focused. I had the interruption of a one day trip to NYC on my day job this week, and I think that it was mostly welcomed as a break.
I echo that I really find the writing time before lunch to be most productive. Afternoons are bad, so leaving e-mails for the midday sag is a good practice for me. Writing after dinner is a hit-and-miss affair. Sometimes I'm too tired, and other days, I'm on such a roll that I stay up late and ruin the next morning's writing.
Deadlines really focus the mind. I've got less than 2 weeks at home, and then I'll be back on the road again.
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