The Lonely Task of Writing

By definition, writing is a task done alone, with minimal distractions. Such an environment can be difficult to find in a busy household particularly with small children. You will need to find a way to deal with these needs. Some suggestions from other students: find a space that allows you to close the door- even a large closet will work. Recruit or hire a babysitter for a couple of hours to allow you some writing time. Work early in the morning or late at night. Write during your lunch hour. Do you have other ideas? We would love to hear them.

One way to structure your time, is to set goals for yourself for each week of the quarter, leading to a final goal for the term. Hold yourself to these goals. You can even break it down further and set a goal for each day. Consider, if you wrote just one page per day, in a quarter you would have written 90 pages! Some people set an alarm; they must sit and work on the paper for an hour, until the alarm goes off. The important thing is to develop some writing habits, making your dissertation a priority. Otherwise, it is just too easy to let the rest of your life take precedence. Your paper is not going to shout at you to write it. Your chair will probably not nag you. You have to make the decision that receiving your degree is important enough to set time aside every day to write. 

It is a great idea to form a dissertation support group; members could be other students at Walden, students in your dissertation class, or others you know who are in the dissertation process. Commit to supporting each other regularly, sharing your frustrations, and your joys. People who have not gone through the process, however well meaning, do not really understand the stress involved. Get some support!

To reduce your isolation, there is a new Capstone Writing Community that I wanted to share with you. Here is a copy of the email I received on it: 

The goal of the Walden Capstone Writing Community is to somewhat replicate the community of student scholars that I found incredibly valuable as I wrote my dissertation.  The capstone writing process is lonely enough at a brick and mortar university; based on some conversations I’ve had with students, the isolation can be even more overwhelming in a virtual environment. The community is a place to talk about research, writing, and the challenges of earning a doctorate without the pressure of “sounding smart” in front of content faculty or the formality of discussion forums in Blackboard.  It provides an opportunity to share questions and ideas with editors and fellow doctoral candidates.

A social networking site, accessible only by invitation, serves as the hub for community resources and initiatives. The community site includes videos, blogs, and discussion forums. I am logged into the site whenever I am at my computer, so I am frequently available live if students need a quick pep talk.  As the community grows, I will ask other editors to spend some time on the site to provide more informal contact, beyond the existing editor@waldenu.edu mailbox.   

I am most excited about our weekly meet-ups, where students can talk informally (live, via GoToMeeting) about writing struggles and successes, support each other in their projects, and hold each other accountable. We just held our first meet-up, and the response was quite positive.  The participants seemed excited to have an opportunity check in with each other.  As more members join, I anticipate holding multiple meet-ups per week, to accommodate busy Walden students’ schedules.   

This project is designed to be fluid and flexible.  The site includes a forum in which members can suggest resources and services, which I will do my best to provide.  As our numbers grow, I will be able to add features like discipline or program specific groups, live text chat, and integration with other social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).   

Any Walden doctoral candidate currently writing a capstone is welcome to join.  Clicking the following link will take students to an invitation to the group.  I will then be notified to approve the new member, and he or she will have full access to the community site. 

http://waldencwc.ning.com/?xgi=3xs8QjmI5KQGzU 

Please encourage any students to email me at kevin.schwandt@waldenu.edu if they have any questions.  

Thanks!

Kevin Schwandt, PhD

Dissertation Editor and Coordinator of Capstone Writing Initiatives

 

Next time we will talk about writing issues in general, and then we will move on to Chapter 3.