Great tips. As a father of three, I cannot imagine writing a dissertation with children -- search committees ought to take serious note of the competence that juggling those two huge responsibilities implies. I wrote my dissertation very quickly using a variation of your methods, but I was single and in my late 20s. The importance of rituals, of grinding away at each stage regardless of how inspired you feel, has got to be even more essential with family responsibilities.
My metaphor for dissertation writing is that it's like cleaning out a cluttered basement. The task seems insurmountable at first glance, but the only way through it is box by box. I might also add, at the risk of being too windy, that a lot of work can be saved in the planning stage, both in the writing and in the adaptation of the dissertation into a book proposal. Too many of my peers began with a general idea and then got mired in messy drafts. Or they wrote an adequate dissertation for graduation that had fatal flaws as a book project. If you have a clear map for the diss, it's much easier to stick to those routines, because the end goal never wavers.
Great tips. As a father of three, I cannot imagine writing a dissertation with children -- search committees ought to take serious note of the competence that juggling those two huge responsibilities implies. I wrote my dissertation very quickly using a variation of your methods, but I was single and in my late 20s. The importance of rituals, of grinding away at each stage regardless of how inspired you feel, has got to be even more essential with family responsibilities.
My metaphor for dissertation writing is that it's like cleaning out a cluttered basement. The task seems insurmountable at first glance, but the only way through it is box by box. I might also add, at the risk of being too windy, that a lot of work can be saved in the planning stage, both in the writing and in the adaptation of the dissertation into a book proposal. Too many of my peers began with a general idea and then got mired in messy drafts. Or they wrote an adequate dissertation for graduation that had fatal flaws as a book project. If you have a clear map for the diss, it's much easier to stick to those routines, because the end goal never wavers.
Thanks for sharing this!
Love that metaphor, Joshua! I'm going to quote you on that one at some point!
This was a great analogy, thank you for your comment!
So thrilled to read this post from Dr. Barner! This guidance is excellent.