The final push

[theredrighthand]

Hi everyone

Comments

[pauldeman2pt0]

Sit down and do the work.
That's basically how it's done.

[sioneva]

This. Sit down and force yourself to write for a half an hour, or an hour, whatever...take a fifteen minute break. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I hate to break it to you, but working can be boring too. The process above is the key to getting it done when the last thing in the WORLD I want to do is any more damn data entry.

[theredrighthand]

Part of the problem is I've been sitting and writing too much. I'm trying to find ways to keep the writing process doable, as I'm starting to notice my concentration waivers a lot more than it used to and I stare at the screen for minutes on end before I 'wake up'. More coffee, less coffee, more music, less music...I fell asleep at the desk yesterday. Sigh. And I wrote one of these things four years ago. Apparently I learned nothing.

Just doing it is good advice - but that's become harder the more I sit down and do it.

[pauldeman2pt0]

Seriously---whining is not going to help you. Sit your ass in the seat and finish. Otherwise you'll never earn the degree. That's basically how it works. Yes, it sucks shit through a tube hardcore on Friday nights. Yes, it's a giant bag of cocks, basically. But you know what? Do it.

Structure. Discipline.

Ask yourself: what would Condi Rice do?

Condi Rice does not fuck around.

Doctor Condi Rice finished those damn degrees.

Ass. Seat. 86 the whining. Stat.

[tisiphone]

I haven't actually been where you are, but I write for a living, and quite a lot of it is deadly boring. (Agricultural trade magazine writeups on tractor trade shows? OH MY GOD BORING.) I use a piece of advice from Nora Roberts, which goes a little something like this = "Put your ass in the chair and start typing." It's not going to get any less boring, and really the only way out is through, so just treating it like a job you just need to get through is the best way to do it. If you pretend long enough, you may at some point get interested and start enjoying it again, and if not... well, it'll be done faster if you write it than if you don't.

[knut_hamson]

Realize that not everything in life is sparkly unicorns and candy-coated kittens, suck it up, and do the work.

[theredrighthand]

You might think that way, but my MA is actually in Sparkly Unicorn and Candy-Coated Kitten Studies. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

[gobsmacked]

my MA is actually in Sparkly Unicorn and Candy-Coated Kitten Studies
So maybe you can tell me definitively: Is it true that unicorns fart rainbows?

I think my icon answers your question...

[pauldeman2pt0]

...

[sensaes]

Pace yourself.

[theredrighthand]

Thank you for a comment that's not 'just do it'. :-) I've been doing it - but I'm looking for a final push!

[sensaes]

There is really only one direction to shove you in - forwards. After all, you've got this far...

Hang on in there.

[theredrighthand]

Cheers.

[the_gentleman]

If it's too hard, you should give up now. No point wasting time on something you don't want to do. Obviously.

[theredrighthand]

Wow, thanks for the totally constructive comment. You've never slogged away at something for a year and just needed that final push? Not sure how that equates with "oh I'll just give up, I'm bored of this."

[knut_hamson]

Don't be such a crybaby. The commenter likely sensed that you just want everyone to know that posting snarky comments to a_a is the only thing getting you through your thesis right now.

[theredrighthand]

Good citation. I was hardly the only person snarking that poster.