Blue! The Battle of West Doroway

[mathemagicalschema]

The quarter finished! I am now on winter break. My intrepid and long-suffering readers may remember that I was just taking an English class this quarter. I, uh, actually haven't finished it.

Whooops.

I mean, I did the paperwork so that this is actually fine and I can turn in the two essays I need to write (and haven't even slightly started) after winter break, but uuuuuuggggghhhh. I feel terrible/worried about taking one class and not even being able to finish on time.

The kinds of essays the class wants from me are very hard for my brain to do. I can do creative writing just fine, even on a deadline to some extent, because I can virtually always turn an assignment into something I actually want to write, and I'm familiar with various tricks for generating material even when it's going to suck. Similarly, I think I could do more technical writing alright, because that's more like "convert this idea to words in the clearest way possible", it doesn't require creative input in remotely the same way. All this nonfiction analysis/persuasive whatever demands that I apply my creativity to stuff that I would never voluntarily write, and I've literally never had to or tried to write in an academic style before, and I am absurdly perfectionistic and work too hard at having ideas that are actually interesting.

One thing I'm specifically struggling with in regards to one of my essays is that it is way too open-ended for me to cope with. I am supposed to write a "researched persuasive essay" about... literally anything.

Gulp.

Next quarter, though! Next quarter I'm taking intro to theater and an anthropology class. I hope it will be an easy quarter, but it also puts me at 10 credits, so I can hopefully join student senate! And my schedule is M-W-F only, with nothing in the wee hours of the morning, so yay to that.

Comments

[killing_rose]

Can I offer a suggestion? I have similar issues and spent much of college half out of my brain between PTSD and meds. I spent a lot of time picking up brain hacking and process hacking.

[mathemagicalschema]

I would love to hear what's worked for you, thank you!

[killing_rose]

Some of these may sound ridiculous, but my solutions:
-Have two or three (or more!) people who are willing to be in IM with you while you write your paper/assignment/etc. [I wrote an entire 25+ paper in IM one lovely winter.]
-Have a list of things you're willing to write or ask those people (or DW! tumblr, whatever people) to prompt you.
-Have writtenkitten.com or writeordie.com open if they work for you, or write the entire paper in chat to those people.
-Keep at least one person who's willing to review work for you (again, can be the people willing to be in IM)
-Reward system: I get an hour of television/a movie/a break to bake cookies if I get the first draft done
-Don't be afraid to ask people to hold you accountable to time constraints.

[mathemagicalschema]

That doesn't sound silly at all! Everything is easier for me when I can find a way to do it in collaboration or with support from other people. Thanks!

[quirkytizzy]

I am the EXACTSAMEWAY with school essays. The vocabulary switch alone from the creative, unfiltered language of journaling to the clinical, precise language of academic writing is exhausting and requires endless editing. I don't like to edit.

Kudos for barreling through that. I know it's tough!

[mathemagicalschema]

Yeah I... do not edit my own work effectively either. WYSIWYG.

Thank you <3