There is a Monty Python sketch about theories that I frequently think of when writing academic works. The sketch is a comedic interview with an academic, who has a theory. It takes the academic forever to finally explain what her theory is, as she is very protective of her theory and wants everyone to know that it is hers, she thought of it, and it is good. When she finally reveals her theory, it concerns dinosaurs: they are small at both ends and big in the middle. The sketch is dumb, but it is a good example of poorly communicated research, theories, and the like.
Although Geraldine has nothing to do with dinosaurs, I often have to stop myself and think about my writing. Is it clear? Do my ideas make sense? Are there enough examples? Did I explain why I wrote what I did? Did I choose the right words or is my writing ambiguis? Are my decisions transparent? Can anyone read what I wrote and understand it or do they need to be a linguist? Does it relate to my hypothesis? How does what I'm writing fit into the bigger picture of linguistics, cognition, and the human experience? Most of the time, I find at least one equivalence of "Dinosaurs: small, large, small" in my writing. Thankfully, I usually find these before anyone else sees my writing and am able to improve it quickly. So often I worry about how to start writing something, which word to use, or how many pages can I pound out before my day is over? All of these thoughts are distractions from what I should concern myself with while writing. Page length isn't important, clarity and quality are. Don't worry about sounding too formal or too informal, you can change it later. Write whatever you think of at first and eventually it will turn into something you can use and be proud of. I know all this, but it is nevertheless a circular process each day: Where do I start? What do I need to fix? How much can I write before ______? Does this make any sense? What is this article/chapter/paper about, anyways? Does this flow right as a whole? How should I reorganize everything? Write an introduction. Write a conclusion. Pat yourself on the back and start all over again.
Today I made it to 'What is this chapter about, anyways?' I spent time outlining Geraldine chapter by chapter and came back to a catch phrase of a former German professor of mine: Was ist dein Zweck?! What's your point? We asked authors this question frequently and she told us to ask ourselves this question throughout our writing. Dumbeldore advised us to make at least one point in our papers and build our papers around the point. In attempt to end my day on a productive note, I spelled out the point of each chapter of Geraldine and then sat back and admired my page of notes. Then I outlined the current chapter I'm working on by asking questions about what I need to make clear to my audience, my point, how it fits in to my hypothesis and the bigger picture, what I need to define and so on. Before I knew it, I had another page of notes which I also sat back and admired. I didn't write anything else this afternoon that contributed to my daily page count goals, but I left myself a guide to finish a complete draft of my second chapter first thing when I arrive in my office tomorrow. (And for the record, I wrote another 2 pages before leaving for lunch and spent a good 4 hours on task today)
Writing about writing about writing. Sounds circular, but it helps create a better product (and I still got to include dinosaurs!).
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