November Writing Month

Half of November has gone. The end of 2011 is near. So is my target of completion. As some of my peers have already submitted their dissertations, I’m still struggling with the remaining four chapters. At times, I was so confident that I could get them done before Christmas. I know I can when I’m determined enough. Yet, I’m still here. Trying. Very. Hard.

November is a special month for writing. Many have been talking about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) since October. This year, PhD2Published has suggested similar event called AcBoWriMo (Academic Book Writing Month) which I gladly try to participate. Similar to NaNoWriMo, we need to set a writing target to be completed in this one month. The rule is simple: write as much as one can to reach that target.

My target is simple: complete writing Chapter 4 and 5. Be reasonable, I thought. There’s no way I can complete 4 chapters in one month and I shouldn’t be that ambitious. It would only add tension to my already stressful life. AcBoWriMo has gained quite some attentions among tweeps who are trying to finish their thesis or dissertation writing. The twitter stream has been filled with encouraging words and support for writing. It’s good to connect with others in pursuing similar goals. Motivation and peer supports are everything when it comes to writing.

My progress so far is very minimal. My chapter 4 and 5 are a bit tricky to write. I have to first finalize my data collection and do a thorough analysis before I can write chapter 4. While chapter 5 can only start once I have built a prototype system. So, more times are actually spent preparing data analysis, do calculation, present findings in readable format in order to start writing. Chapter 5 is even more time consuming where I have to learn a development tool that is totally new to me. At the same  time, I have been reading additional articles in another related topics that I haven’t covered yet in LR. Just think of the tasks  that I need to do all around the same time, already gives me headache.

Anyway, I’m seriously putting as much effort as I can for reaching my target this month. If I can achieve my target by end of this month, I’ll be superbly happy and grateful to @Phd2Published for initiating AcBoWriMo. Thanks to all for giving writing support and motivation too. May everyone have a great writing month!