Ok, so a week later and I haven't posted about writing. Lousy way to stay accountable. This week has been off, and to be honest, I have been productive, but not with regards to word output. I haven't gotten any start on my actual goals either. So here's a reminder that I should be working on comprehensive exam preparation more directly, and prewriting like a fiend.
That being said, I was looking around a web site on public laws and stumbled upon a set of agreements between states for fire protection. I know that the federal government has been horrible about funding anything but suppression, and underfunding that when it does. (Learned that $2.2 billion was transferred from prevention and mitigation programs to suppression between 2002 and 2009). Well, states are apparently trying to engage in some collective action to distribute risk. Not sure what these are yet, but it is quite interesting. There is definitely variation in these agreements, and they go back to the 1950s at the earliest. Notably three have been formed since the 1980s and one was formed as recently as 2007.
The fact is that these have not been written about at all it seems. They are not collaboratives, they are states engaging in collective action outside of the "hierarchy" of traditional cooperative federalism. I think there might be something here.
Today: 381
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Keep going
I mentioned the last two days that whatever happened I needed to continue this habit of writing daily after my deadlines. Well it did and did not happen. I missed my scheduled time to write, but I am also reconsidering the time of day to write. This time of year I don't like to work outside after noon just due to light issues. So I waited until the end of the day. I also had no specific project to work on, so I didn't crank out words on that. Today was not supposed to be a word production day. Instead today I am reflecting and assessing.
One of the suggestions from the book I have been following is that every so often goals should be revisited and revised. A monthly schedule tends to work well. So here I am, a month later, looking to set new goals. Last month's goals were:
- A new draft of my collaboratives and fire mitigation grant and dissertation proposal, this time focusing on collective learning
- A paper on the failure of the voluntary sector and collaborative partnerships between nonprofits and the government sector
- Three answers to past comprehensive exam questions from my major area, Public Policy
- Not word-count specific, but I also intend to get my Water Mangers Use of Weather Data paper submitted at the AZ Law School Environmental Journal
The first two were accomplished. The last two I did not even get started on. They will carry over though. I have one more goal, but it is related to teaching next semester so should not be included in this time.
One thing I noted in my writing is that I was still writing the bulk of the papers in the last days. Yes I was producing anywhere from 500-1500 words on other days, but they were not directly producing the finished product. I want to try and start accomplishing more of the work ahead of time. Now that I have at least two months until the next deadline I hope that new patterns will take hold, and I can accomplish some of this writing outside of deadlines.
One way of accomplishing this is to break up the big goals into subgoals. That way I have "finished" product that can be completed in shorter periods over time that aggregate into the finished product. With enough time this can work, so I am beginning with these two goals.
The first goal is being expanded to completing all pre-writing for my comprehensive exams. This is not a "do in a month" goal but a general goal with a deadline of early February. This is broken into four subgoals, which consist of the prewriting for each subject area I need to cover in my exams.
10-20 pages of prewriting each for the following:
- Public Policy
- Public Management
- Bureaucracy
- Methods
Then there is the goal of getting that paper published. This is low on the list, but needs to happen:
- Write CV
- Submit CV and Paper
I have some grading to complete next week, but overall I really want to stay on top of this, and will continue tracking here.
One of the suggestions from the book I have been following is that every so often goals should be revisited and revised. A monthly schedule tends to work well. So here I am, a month later, looking to set new goals. Last month's goals were:
- A new draft of my collaboratives and fire mitigation grant and dissertation proposal, this time focusing on collective learning
- A paper on the failure of the voluntary sector and collaborative partnerships between nonprofits and the government sector
- Three answers to past comprehensive exam questions from my major area, Public Policy
- Not word-count specific, but I also intend to get my Water Mangers Use of Weather Data paper submitted at the AZ Law School Environmental Journal
The first two were accomplished. The last two I did not even get started on. They will carry over though. I have one more goal, but it is related to teaching next semester so should not be included in this time.
One thing I noted in my writing is that I was still writing the bulk of the papers in the last days. Yes I was producing anywhere from 500-1500 words on other days, but they were not directly producing the finished product. I want to try and start accomplishing more of the work ahead of time. Now that I have at least two months until the next deadline I hope that new patterns will take hold, and I can accomplish some of this writing outside of deadlines.
One way of accomplishing this is to break up the big goals into subgoals. That way I have "finished" product that can be completed in shorter periods over time that aggregate into the finished product. With enough time this can work, so I am beginning with these two goals.
The first goal is being expanded to completing all pre-writing for my comprehensive exams. This is not a "do in a month" goal but a general goal with a deadline of early February. This is broken into four subgoals, which consist of the prewriting for each subject area I need to cover in my exams.
10-20 pages of prewriting each for the following:
- Public Policy
- Public Management
- Bureaucracy
- Methods
Then there is the goal of getting that paper published. This is low on the list, but needs to happen:
- Write CV
- Submit CV and Paper
I have some grading to complete next week, but overall I really want to stay on top of this, and will continue tracking here.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
20,000!
Today I finished my mandatory writing for deadlines. This would be a good time to re-evaluate goals, which I will set as my goal for tomorrow. As stated yesterday, I ended up binge writing a lot these last few days, with yesterday and today cresting 2000 words to make the deadline. I don't want to continue that, but it worked out.
The quality of my writing has plummeted I think. But at this point it is really about mass production. I can polish the writing later if it warrants pursuing the ideas. This is the next step. But hey, with the exception of pre-writing for comps, my ACWRIMO goals were accomplished, albeit 5 days after the end of the month.
Onwards and upwards!
Today: 2161
Total: 20945
The quality of my writing has plummeted I think. But at this point it is really about mass production. I can polish the writing later if it warrants pursuing the ideas. This is the next step. But hey, with the exception of pre-writing for comps, my ACWRIMO goals were accomplished, albeit 5 days after the end of the month.
Onwards and upwards!
Today: 2161
Total: 20945
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Binge!
Deadlines will push you to crank out words, that's for sure. Difference here is that I am only writing during the work day. So it is a bit different from previous writing sessions.
I am thinking that this binge, while not a great approach in general, is better than previous binges. I worked throughout the day, with a general pace the whole time. I felt the anxiety of writing, but didn't feel the dread. I just had to put words on the page. They may not be great words, and the ideas are not perfect, but without them being out down on the page I cannot get them evaluated any further. In addition, I work them out when they are put down in sequence.
The big trick here is to pick up the next bit of writing on Thursday after this is due. If I can stay as productive I will really be able to bring this mess forward. No need to binge after tomorrow, but my next goal is simply this: write after the next project is due.
Today: 2782
Total: 18784
I am thinking that this binge, while not a great approach in general, is better than previous binges. I worked throughout the day, with a general pace the whole time. I felt the anxiety of writing, but didn't feel the dread. I just had to put words on the page. They may not be great words, and the ideas are not perfect, but without them being out down on the page I cannot get them evaluated any further. In addition, I work them out when they are put down in sequence.
The big trick here is to pick up the next bit of writing on Thursday after this is due. If I can stay as productive I will really be able to bring this mess forward. No need to binge after tomorrow, but my next goal is simply this: write after the next project is due.
Today: 2782
Total: 18784
Monday, December 3, 2012
Not all goals must be met
Well December has arrived and my total did not do much more than pass the halfway point to my writing goal for the month. You may also have noted a gap in my blogging at the end of the month. Well, I didn't write those days, but I did have my hands full. I had a ton of grading to get done, which definitely took priority. Yes, I could have kept writing, but it was not to be.
I am continuing my blogging and tracking as an attempt to form a habit of this, especially through the holidays. Today I got in another good chunk of writing for my next assignment, so running totals continue!
Today: 829
Total: 16002
I am continuing my blogging and tracking as an attempt to form a habit of this, especially through the holidays. Today I got in another good chunk of writing for my next assignment, so running totals continue!
Today: 829
Total: 16002
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