% Writing Challenges
% The Engineering Method of Technical Writing
% January 27, 2017

# Current challenges

Here are your responses to the short question from last Friday,
January 20.
To make it less obvious who wrote what, I have paraphrased many
responses.  (Highlights are mine)

**Question**: What is your biggest challenge right now?

  - **Stopping**, because I always have more to write.

  - **_Daily_ sessions**.  (Three detailed questions below.)

  - **Brief, daily sessions**.  For me, "daily" is harder than "brief."

  - Regular writing about **work in extremely early stages**.

  - **Overworking**.  Splitting up sessions to avoid slow restarts and
    fatigue the next day.

  - **Starting.**  After finishing a project, it's hard to jump into a
    new one.  I'm tired and having trouble getting started again.

  - **Unblocking** and **spinning the wheels**.  I have been stuck on
    one part for over a month.  It's getting better, but I can't seem
    to move past it.

  - **Anxiety about progress.**  Feeling like I have made little to no
    substantive progress in my research progress makes me anxious.

  - Notebook organization, **developing a consistent process** that
    I'm happy with.

  - **Experimenting vs writing.**  Even when I have material to write,
    I cannot resist the allure of exploring the uncharted.

  - **Dividing work between two projects**

  - **Explaining to outsiders** what my research is and why they
    should care.

  - **Coherent subjects** in a passage.  Many times getting somewhat lost
    in long passages.

Here are the detailed questions about daily sessions:

  - What if I want more than one or two daily sessions?
  - How much time should I allow between sessions?
  - Must I avoid strenuous work between sessions?


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# Past challenges

For comparison, here are the challenges from last September 30


  - When I'm thinking, my mind keeps stopping at the same point, and
    **I'm stuck**.  I don't know where to go.

  - **Motivation** when there's no looming deadline.

  - **Motivation** and **distractions**.

  - Actually doing it.  I don't like writing and I have **trouble
    making myself start**.

  - **Getting to the first draft**.  Also **applying Williams** to my
    own writing.

  - I stress and agonize about **how my work will be judged**.  It
    distracts me.

  - I catastrophize what others expect of my by **judging my work**.

  - I **second-guess** everything I've written so far.

  - Feeling like **editing** is worthwhile.  (I feel like what I'm
    working on is **not substantial enough** to warrant working hard at
    editing.)