Ball dropped, again.

Alright! 21 days into InaDWriMo 09 and I have yet to update. It might not turn out so well this year. But things are still getting done- just different things!

The official update on projects:

1) Decent progress made. I've got 1700 words or about 5 pages of...stuff. Hopefully by Sunday night it will be in some sort of readable form since I am sending it to Rt-H at that point. It is really similar to a proposal that was funded a few years ago and I am struggling to make mine different at least in wording and structure. The best argument is x, y and z. But I have that other grant, which also sets it up as x, y and z. I feel like I am copying but there is no other way to say it!

5) Since this is the same as 1, I have made 1700 words of progress! Woo!

2 and 3) Haven't touched them.

4) Also haven't touched but should get to it this week.

So, what HAVE I been doing? There was another writing task that didn't make my list. A revision of 'paper with too many authors.' I am first author on this thing but my PhD advisor wrote it and is last/corresponding author. It is a weird situation but he doesn't want to be first and out of all of us, I had invested most in it. I get the paper, thinking that I would have to add a couple references and that would be it. Nope. It took over a week of re-writing to make sense of some new data that he added and negotiate how to say many of my critical comments in a way that will hurt no ones feelings. 'Paper with too many authors' indeed.

I also started working on a new project to get preliminary data for my grants. It has been so long that I forgot the voodoo that is bench work. It is really cool when it works though! I also gave an invited seminar (more on this later), spent a weekend doing awesome-physical-activity in a wild and wonderful state, applied for a bunch of jobs and am now working from PhD Town home for the rest of the month. Writing is always better when surrounded by pets, right?

Final InaDWriMo 2008

As promised- I have written no more after the dissertation. That was my goal and that was enough! I've been editing but haven't bothered to count as I go along. 

I think the best thing about this exercise and my time-crunch-writing situation this semester has been to show me what some of my potential is. If I have to, I can write a lot in a short amount of time. I lived through it and it wasn't even that bad. In theory, there should be nothing stopping me from just sitting down and writing whenever I need to. Of course ,we all know that but the practice of actually doing it gets more complicated. I am hoping that when I get to my next set of papers or grant or whatever, I remember how to find this productivity and hopefully keep my writing momentum without a looming deadline. 

InaDWriMo and Presentation

For all practical purposes, I've reached my goals and am done with InaWriMo for this year. My gratitude to Dr. Brazen Hussy for organizing again this year! The friendly competition added just a little extra to my deadline driven motivations to write. Plus, I wouldn't have counted words without it and seeing my progress also provided a little boost of much needed confidence each day. 

Since sending the document to my committee, I have been putting together my talk. In my department, there is a public lecture followed by a private defense with the committee. I really enjoy giving talks, but this one is particularly challenging because it requires a lot of balance. 

The department is very broad so I need to make sure everyone understands it without compromising the complex theoretical underpinnings of the research. Also, I need to balance the details with the big picture. My number one complaint about defenses I've seen is that they do not effectively convey why I should care about their research or where it fits in the greater scheme of our field. Now I am seeing how difficult it can be to compromise another slide of data for this larger background. 

Then there is the PPT issue. I'm very picky about the aesthetics of presentations and am not 100% happy with any color scheme I've tried thus far. I really like the dark grey background with green and blue text and highlights that I've been using for about a year now....but it isn't new and fresh since I've used it for the past year. I even tried to make a color scheme that resembles to blog here! Unfortunately, it makes my figures look bland. 

So, great interwebs...I ask your advice. What is the number one recommendation for the content of a dissertation lecture and what is the best PPT color scheme you've ever used?

Secrets to my InaDWriMo success

ScienceGirl wanted me to post about how I am getting so much writing done for InaDWrMo.

I've already fulfilled more than my 8000 words and it is only the 12th! 

Here are the keys to my success...

1) My committee wanted my dissertation last week. Literally, I had a guy say, 'Well if I could have it right now, that would be cutting it close." and that was last Thursday. 

2) I had a meeting to turn it in today!  

3) I don't have anything else to do. I'm not teaching, no lab work, only 3 hours of seminars/meeting a week. 

4) The Grackle brings me food, coffee and beer so that the only reason I move from my writing chair from 10 am till midnight is to use the bathroom. This is on weekends only. On weekdays, I have to get my own lunch (which I usually skip) and coffee.

5) I didn't go outside during daylight from Thursday till Monday. 

Ok, while all of those things are true, they aren't really helpful for anyone else trying to write. Here are just a few things that have been really helpful:

1) I have most of my reprints on pdf. Jumping from paper to paper to check details at the click of a button without having to rummage in the cabinet or my backpack has allowed me to move quickly through heavily referenced sections of writing.

2) Write a lot and then revise later. In fact, on Sunday night, I had sat in my chair working for 14 hours and had only increased my word count by 156.

3)  Remember that writing has to be simple. Topic sentences for each paragraph, very simple sentence structures, re-stating complex ideas in clearer terms or examples are all things I try to remember.

4) Classical music seems to help. I have been listening to Vince Guaralidi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" all week!

5) If someone (my advisor) is confused by what I write, I try to talk to him about it. If I can explain it in a conversation, I start over by using those exact words in the paper.

I am pretty close to being done with it! I turned in the whole thing to my advisor today and am waiting for comments. It will go to the committee tomorrow or Friday. My defense is official with a room and a flyer and everything. 

Printing it out today was pretty cool. Seeing it in print was rather overwhelming....at least until I got butter from my bagel all over the title page...now on to the presentation!

Write or die

I haven't tried it, but this might be one way to get your InaDWriMo word count up!

InaDWriMo update

I am zooming right along with the ol' word count for InADWrMo. In fact, my goal will probably be reached today. 

The third chapter is much larger than I thought...I predict that my committee will want it cut into two chapters but I will wait for them to tell me that. I am sending a full draft to my advisor today and then hopefully can finish revisions on the other two chapters while I await his comments.  

I'm also fighting off sickness. It sucks. Coughing, tired, achy, ugh! On Friday night, my advisor asked me if I was sick or going through puberty because my voice is all crazy. The Grackle has me on a steady stream of vitamins, zinc and Day-Quil. 

In other news, I am appalled by the behavior of some folks in my department. Grad students, postdocs, faculty- they are all crazy! The unfortunate thing is that I am leaving and can't do or say anything about it because it doesn't affect me personally (but at least I get to leave!). I wish I could help all my friends (and husband) who have to stay and deal with all these crazy people. I can only take what I've experienced and use that to make me a better postdoc/advisor/PI when it comes to be my time. Here are some of the things I will or won't do*: 

• won't drink in my office
• won't drink in my lab
• won't drink at lunch before coming in to do lab work
• won't try to steal projects from other people, behind their back
• won't give people who make me mad the silent treatment
• won't expect my hand to be held or be told how to do things more than twice
• will set standards and expectations for all lab personnel
• won't change those standards due to personal relationships
• won't actually cut and paste my expectations and lab philosophy from someone else's and put my name on it as author
• won't forget to change the details to be specific to my current institution and research organism if I do use someone else's materials
• won't live with my boss or someone who answers to me in the lab (except maybe while I look for a place of my own)
• will accept that different things are accepted and expected at each institution. No matter what the ranking of that institution 
• won't think I'm better than anybody simply because I finished my degree
• or because I came from a certain school
• or because I'm a centrist about my subfield
• won't be a condescending asshole to everyone I meet, even if it makes people think I'm funny

Wow, that felt good. Time to get back to work now!

*Not all of these occur at my current institution. 

InaDWriMo 2008

That's right, it is International acaDemic Writing Month again!

My goal is to finish Chapter 2 and 3. And write an introductory chapter. Basically, finish the dissertation. I am really not sure about word counts since I have a lot of revising to do but I pledge to write at least 8000 words. 

Time to get started!