I suppose it is a good sign that I am considering what writing project I should tackle next, despite the fact that I haven’t quite finished the current project. Or despite the fact that I am likely to go and bite off waaay more than I can chew next time.
The funny thing is, I’ve actually enjoyed working on these articles. The blogging article especially. (I still don’t know if I’m ‘allowed’ to post it pre-conference, I might ask after I submit and see what they say. I haven’t spotted any copyright statements or anything like that.) Sure, I’ve been moaning and whinging and carrying on a fair bit about how awful the process is.. how difficult to get the words out… boo hoo hoo woe is me… But the sense of achievement is quite wonderful.
If you’d said to me, this time last year, that writing could be enjoyable, fun even, I would have politely disagreed with you (and privately thought you were nuts). The whole Writing Every Morning thing has really changed how I view writing, I think. It’s no longer a terrifying chore. I still procrastinate at times (habits of a lifetime take a while to break), but this will hopefully change the more I write. And there’s a lot to be said about writing about a topic you are very interested in (The Blog). I’m just thinking about other writing assignments I’ve had in the past. They were usually quite literally assignments - essays and such for coursework - and even if I got to choose a topic I had some interest in, I could never see such writing as writing for writing’s sake, it was always just a chore. Blogging has really changed how I view writing.
Article number 2 is still unfinished at this stage, but I am spending Friday at home where hopefully I will be able to just sit and write and get it done.
And then M and I will be having two weeks’ off! And there shall be much debauchery and indulgence and frolics! w00t!!!!1
Categories: writing, holiday, hoo-ha
I really need a holiday. Proof: I was ready for bed at 7:30pm last night (8:30pm felt like 11:30pm, ie I felt like I should have been asleep for at least a couple of hours by then), and this morning I woke up and thought it was Monday. I was so relieved when I realised it’s Wednesday. Although the fact of it being Wednesday really means that the deadline is drawing closer and I’m not done yet!
And let me tell you, having a dummy spit at 5:30 in the morning is NOT pleasant. What happened, you might ask? Well I was writing an email on gmail and attempting to catch up with all the posts that were created overnight when there was a small glitch in the broadband somewhere - bloglines stopped loading, and the most brilliant sentence I have ever written in email, disappeared. *&^%$#@!!
Of course, spitting the dummy at 5:30am when the rest of the world is asleep, means that you can’t really rant and rave. So I’m afraid my poor keyboard bore the brunt of my displeasure. Typing gibberish very forcefully can be quite satisfying. Baubles the Cat decided to leave the room - she must have been able to feel the angst emanating from my corner.
And at work yesterday I got rather peeved when I realised that for some reason my EndNote library on my thumbdrive was an old version, so all my references for the wiki article I am trying to write at the moment were at home. That lead to a few minutes wasted, with me pondering the benefits of having a web-based bibliographic manager like RefWorks over an application like EndNote which is machine-bound. Not in such pleasant terms, of course.
But lest you think the whole past 24 hours or so has been stressful, I did have a moment of amusement yesterday, when I was It on Instant Messaging reference:
Student: Where can I find info on the appendix please
Librarian (moi): Do you mean what appears at the end of a book or journal article, or do you mean the bit at the end of your gut that some people have to go to hospital to get out?
Student: LOL
Librarian: 
Student: The book kind
Librarian: (rolls up sleeves and starts typing)
Pity that was the only query I had in the two and a half hour shift. Or maybe that was a good thing, as I was trying to write in between answering phone calls and stray emails and feeling a tad short tempered. Being on the verge of having a hissy fit at the next question anyone asks me is a sure sign I need a holiday. To my credit, I have not had any observable temper tantrums. Yet. Wish me strength to get through today. And tomorrow. And the day after.
Categories: annoyance, gripes
Writing the wiki article at the moment is like pulling teeth… excruciating and bloody and I keep wanting to bolt from my chair.
Edit: Pfffft… Here I am needing to write say 3000 words, while Meredith has a whole book due!
Categories: writing
