Down to the Wire

This cosmobiologist is finally in the death throes of a Ph.D. program. I recently learned that I have to have my dissertation finalized here in the coming early months of this fall. Yikes! It's going to be a pretty stressful time finishing everything up, but I'm definitely looking forward to the next part of my life (maybe a part where I can get paid for more than only a small fraction of my work). Here's to hoping that I can crush this thing and be ready to give an awesome dissertation defense at the end (which is coming sooner rather than later).

Writing Motivation - Almost There

Sometimes writing can feel like your stuck on a ledge on a cliff (writer's block), sometimes it can feel like your falling (self-doubt), and sometimes it can just feel like your looking up at a mountain and thinking about climbing it (just start writing already!). I'm definitely at the point now where I'm just climbing away. I'm nearing the top of the first major section (the first full draft). I can feel it coming. I'm almost there. Then it goes off to my adviser for reviewing while I focus on other stuff. So close. Almost there. Write on!

Writing Motivation - Slaying this Dragon

I have a pretty sweet collection of cards with old school fantasy and sci-fi art on them (much like these images). I've had those cards since I was a kid, though I have no idea where I got them from. One of my favorite themes is the knight slaying the dragon. Much like the modern connotation of the biblical story of David and Goliath, the knight slaying the dragon (or really any character slaying a dragon) makes us think of situations where great foe can be conquered, usually with some bravery and hopefully some intelligence. That's kind of how I feel with my current writing work. This paper that I'm writing is my dragon. I know that I must slay this dragon. It is a great foe, but I know, somewhere inside, I am greater. Write On!

Writing Motivation - "writer s surf"

writer s surf, by Medi Belortaja

I most certainly need motivation right now to continue working on a current research article, which is also going to be part of my graduate dissertation. Beyond my habitual coffee, I like to jump into my writing by first reflecting on the work ahead and by considering the thoughts and creations of others.

Sometimes, writing seems to come naturally to me, while there are other times where it most certainly requires some personal taunting, teasing, inspiring, and just plain ol' "sucking-it-up-and-getting-it-done". In looking for a quick spot of motivation on my day's writing, I found this beautiful cartoon by Medi Belortaja. He titled the piece "writer s surf". 

"Writer s surf" brings to mind those feelings of the surge of a wave under my board as the ocean picks me up and thrusts me toward shore (a feeling I haven't experienced in reality in too many years). The piece also evokes the feeling of being sucked in to a work of writing or of reading. Some writings (be they short articles, fantastical stories, scientific research reports, or epic journeys into other worlds) really do take the author/reader on rides, much as surfing a wave.

Belotaja brings forward in his cartoon the feeling of riding the page, surfing the written word, and embracing the motions of the cosmos as we engage with a moving force of nature. Write on!