I have decided to abandon my "summer writing project". This is not a change of heart of about the paper itself but about the idea of posting it to the blog one paragraph at a time as I'm writing it. What at first seemed like an interesting demonstration of my approach to writing, is actually something quite different.
Most importantly, I had not considered the enormous difference between the experience of drafting a paper one paragraph at a time in private, to be revised and then shown to select readers and reviewers before publication, and what I was doing—making each half hour's worth of work public as I go. It's a very different mood to write in, and not, I can now report, an especially pleasant one. It's certainly not sustainable over another three weeks or more.
The experience, however, has of course been worthwhile for the insight it has given me into the experience of writing. (It has been very different from the usual levity with which I have composed blog posts in the past.) I'm going to be reflecting on it for some time, no doubt. Sometime next week I'm probably going to write a final post about the experiment as part of my meta-commentary over at Jonathan's blog.* But the experiment is, in any case, hereby officially over.
Instead, I'm going to do what I would normally have done at this time. I'm going to take a break from blogging until mid-August. The rest will do me good. I wish you all a great summer.
______________
*Update: the post is now up.
Most importantly, I had not considered the enormous difference between the experience of drafting a paper one paragraph at a time in private, to be revised and then shown to select readers and reviewers before publication, and what I was doing—making each half hour's worth of work public as I go. It's a very different mood to write in, and not, I can now report, an especially pleasant one. It's certainly not sustainable over another three weeks or more.
The experience, however, has of course been worthwhile for the insight it has given me into the experience of writing. (It has been very different from the usual levity with which I have composed blog posts in the past.) I'm going to be reflecting on it for some time, no doubt. Sometime next week I'm probably going to write a final post about the experiment as part of my meta-commentary over at Jonathan's blog.* But the experiment is, in any case, hereby officially over.
Instead, I'm going to do what I would normally have done at this time. I'm going to take a break from blogging until mid-August. The rest will do me good. I wish you all a great summer.
______________
*Update: the post is now up.
Glad to read it has been worthwhile. Have a great summer break and thanks for the link as well.
ReplyDelete