So I did like 50 reps....
This week, I worked a lot (A LOT) and ate whatever wasn’t nailed down. I got really frustrated with myself for not logging my food (who wants to log four donuts or a #9 with a Coke from McDonald’s?), not exercising a bit, and not writing an entry in my el-jay.
We were “Up North” this weekend, visiting family and friends, and on the way home I’m telling my husband that I need to get on the Tony Robbins again. I told him how Tony’s Personal Power II methods work, and historically, listening to the CDs has yielded great results for me-I lost weight, finished my thesis and got on track with my PhD program.
But that was a long time ago, and I clearly need to get some new leverage on myself, right? More pleasure, less pain associated to doing the Dissertation, etc., etc. I also mentioned that I have to start using that Ab Lounger we inherited from a friend, and the elliptical that’s gathering dust. I recognized in that moment the combined force of mind-body (and spirit?) of the process of writing.
Before I could really think that through, Tim says, “ if you’re going to work out, you shouldn’t tell anybody. You just DO it…and keep it to yourself…and if somebody says, ‘hey, are you working out?,’ you just enjoy that, because it’s a real compliment. Or, you say, ‘nah’ and then they’ll probably never ask that again. But either way…you’re working out for YOU.”
(He thinks people who talk about how much they go to the gym, or give you details of their muscle-ripping circuits are just bragging and trying to get attention. Half the time, he says, people who talk about working out probably aren’t really working out that much.)
My tears from talking about my dissertation weren’t even dry and I was thinking about this other giant goal of losing 50 lbs, and realized that I need to stop talking ABOUT writing my dissertation, and just write it. No more convo’s around the water cooler about this writing stint or that el-jay entry. NO.
But there is one key difference between working out and writing a dissertation: There are no external signs of dissertation-writing success. No one will ever say it’s going well until it’s ALL DONE.
There’s no paragraph cellulite, research rip, or end-goal BMI. Maybe I could keep my writing to myself, and enjoy it if I heard stuff like: “Hey? Have you been EDITING lately??? Your paragraphs are looking TIGHT!” OR “Damn, girl, look at that research! I can SEE the definition.” OR “What are you? Like 2 per cent book fat? I can tell you are about ready to DEFEND.”
BUT…I’m doing it. I wrote out some chapter titles and I’m starting the outline.
Oops.
Shit.
I just said it.
Damn.
CHAPTERS:
It’s About Time: Why I am Now Writing My Dissertation
--It’s been freaking forever that I’ve been working on this
--How the landscape of OLD’s have changed since I started
--How nobody is surprised anymore that someone would keep an online journal (could work against me, but true)
--When do you start writing up qualitative research?
--Issues of time and memory in narrative writing
--Time and women’s narratives (Wikan’s research--too busy for cohesion)
--Reverse chronological order as time element and structuring device
Diaries, Journals and Random Acts of Blogging
--Why I hate the word “blog” including a brief history of the word blog
--What is the difference between an online diary, an online journal, and a blog
--Picking a system (your own, blogspot, LJ, xanga, etc.)
--Ditching your journal, keeping two (or more), starting over, etc.
--Paper diaries/journals-a brief retrospective-which leads to audience (per research)
Dear _______: Who is Reading my Online Diary?
--Who is reading my journal?
--Who do I *know* is reading my journal?
--Who do I *want* to read it?
--Who I really, really don’t want to read it
--Private/Public issues in discourse
--Managing impressions as audience-based performance choice
--All the Goffman/Meyrowitz research here
A Good Read: Subtitle here
-- What constitutes a good read in the online diary?
--The Finn, my first online diary love
--Different ways to read an online journal
--How getting stuck on your friends page too long makes you not write your own stuff
--Finding new friends, communities, or other journals to read/watch/join
Writer’s Blocks: From Obstruction to Construction
--Writing to be read
--Fears, reservations, jobs on the line
-- Public, Locked, the Supersecret Filter
--What Not to Write: Why Some Things are Better Left Unpublished
--LJ’s “writer’s block” feature/suggestion/tip of the day/month/week
--Finding the formula
--Coaxing a purpose/identity/persona
Rants, Raves & Spiritual Beliefs: How Rants Rule and Higher Vibrations Drool
--Identity/persona in online diary by virtue of tone, topic, and tack
--Different kinds of personae I have encountered
--What kind of persona is privileged by readers
--Constructing a higher self is kinda boring
--Finding a persona that’s interesting and true, but working toward who I want to be versus who I am
--I am a comment whore
Theresa Senft, Pamela Ribon and My Friend Ben, Their Cyberlebrity and Why I’m Not Even on the D-List
--My awe
--The draw and drawbacks of the cyberlebrity status
--Must you be prolific, be consistent even in being inconsistent, be funny/weird/cool?
--How to get lots of readers (this will have to be learned by interview b/c I have no idea)
Cultural Conventions: Keeping yourself in line in online diaries
--Rules
--Netiquette
--Trolls
--Spam,
--Memes
--LJ-cut tag
Technologies that help, technologies that hinder - separate? Or weave in?
---
Anyway…at the risk of sounding like the comment whore I am…
If you want, please feel free to comment on this quasi-outline of mine.
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!