S. Worthen | Weblog

I know so many people like those you describe, who seem able to work constantly on their theses and churn out tons and tons. Good for them, sure, but even amongst academics they're not the norm. In 15 Minutes, Joan Bolker (a behavioural psychologist specialising in helping blocked writers) points out that most of us can write for more like two hours a day on an ongoing basis. Compared to those overachievers, it's easy to feel inadequate (especially when one has considered oneself quite an overachiever up to this stage), but really, that feeling isn't going to help one's motivation levels.

What I particularly like about the book is that Bolker encourages us to find our own workable way of writing, then to use positive feedback methods to become "positively addicted" to working on our dissertations. It's a very practical book. I know the U of T bookstore carries it and I'm pretty sure you can also get it through Amazon. I've recommended it to so many people I should probably be writing to the publisher to ask for a sales commission. :)