Word: write
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Lamont. They were afraid we would pass out from the smell of the sweat socks or something. On the second or third floor of the Radcliffe library, there were these cushy leather chairs where I would go every day. I’d sit sideways in them and write five pages a day. I did that when I wrote my undergraduate thesis. I did that when I wrote papers. You accumulate a lot of writing that way. Most of it isn’t any good at all, but you can mine it for stuff that is good...
Bolker: I think when writing is a habit, you don’t end up in that 11th-hour reading period bind. Bill Perry, who was the head of the Bureau of Study Counsel, described writing by saying, “First you make a mess and then you clean it up.” Just as you don’t drive your car with the emergency brake on, you don’t mix the creative and the critical parts of writing. First you throw everything at the page and then go back and look with a steely...
Bolker: There are a few answers. Some people have really un-useful ideas about how to write. They tie themselves in knots that way, and once you do that it’s hard to get out. I’ve had students whose advisers have died, or advisers who don’t return their work for six months—which is almost the same as dying. Also, you have to really want to spend your time working on the material that absolutely fascinates...
...final, practical question, what would you say to someone who had four days to write a 10-page paper on which they were just completely stuck...
Bolker: Sit down and set the alarm for 10 minutes, then write as fast as you can about what you think the paper will be. Given the four-day scenario, I would say find another time that day and do the same thing. If you do it enough times, you’ll get going...