Hurry up and Write!

I'll admit it - I'm a slow writer.  I have always been. Articulating my ideas and getting them on paper is an arduous task, added to that, I'm constantly searching for the perfect words to better express myself.  I want to assure that my writing is logical and clear to my audience.  In the past I would blame it on the fact that I was an emergent bilingual and I thought this delayed the processing and articulation of my ideas.  It's possible that to a certain extent this did in fact interfere with my writing, but throughout graduate school I attempted to get to the root of the true cause of my slow writing. I can't continue to blame it on language proficiency forever! When a professor asks me to complete an in-class writing exercise I can accurately predict that I'll be the last one to complete it or fail to complete at all.  I also tend to obsess over word choice.  As I'm writing I pause constantly to think of the best word to accurately represent what I'm trying to communicate  This, in turn, interrupts my idea flow and subsequently forces me to have to rethink of the original idea for my sentence.  This constant cycle of pausing, thinking and recalling ideas adds a lot of unnecessary time to my writing process.   

The times I feel I can easily express myself is when I write about something connected to personal experience or when I am fully knowledgeable about the topic.  In these situations I feel comfortable expressing my ideas as they are since they are so vivid and easy to articulate.   In reading The Clockworth Muse by Eviatar Zerubavel,  he offers many writing suggestions that resonated with me.  He begins by stating that "accomplishment has to do with more than just ability".  In being an inefficient writer, it is sometimes difficult for me to feel fully satisfied with my writing as a result of the frustration I endure during the process.  It's a burden, at times.  But as not being the one to finish before the deadline does not mean I don't strong writing abilities. And similarly my more organized colleagues who always submit in advance are not necessarily better writers.  

Other tips I found I could realistically apply include setting a writing routine/schedule, getting into the habit of writing multiple drafts, and creating an outline for lengthier writing pieces, such as manuscripts or dissertations. Outlining the chapters for my dissertation to include more specific subheadings will definitely alleviate much of the anticipated stress of such a daunting project that is quickly approaching. For shorter writing pieces I suppose writing a first draft without the expectation that it should be a perfect piece the first time will allow me to just focus on getting my ideas on paper as they are flowing and limiting the interrupted thinking which can add large amounts of time in the process. I applied this strategy in writing this blog post. What a relief! I initially considered and wrote about my adverse experiences as a writer and how the tips presented in the text could connect to minimize my inefficient routine.  I found that minimizing my expectation for an initial piece of perfection, I could maintain focus on simply documenting my ideas. I wrote with exponential speed.  When I returned to the draft I then slowed my pace and substituted some words for better precision and expanded on ideas for better clarity.  I hope to continue this practice on future writing.