Between Projects

I have finished Cat’s Paw. (Minus edits, beta reads, more edits…) I have finished Black Thumb Society. I am not going to start my next project for another few weeks. Basically, I am between writing projects at the moment.

You’d think I’d take a break and enjoy myself or get ready for my next project. You’d sort of be right.

Because, unfortunately, I have other papers to write. School papers. My dissertation. That sort of thing.

I’m trying to get them done before I go off to Skye for a proper vacation, which leaves me about three weeks to write two papers of ~ 3.5-4K words, finish up my dissertation and do a small assignment for Pragmatics. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that difficult. And really, it isn’t. Except for one thing.

The actually sitting down and writing it bit.

Academic papers are structured in a way that fiction is not. Frankly, I find the rigidity extremely boring. And the language is meant to be as complicated as possible in order to both expound upon your topic and obfuscate any possible counterarguments that your peers might suggest. It’s roundabout and very stylistically specific. And really annoying.

I plan on having outlines (yes, I know. Outlines for a pantser) done by the end of the week. There’s not too much to do/worry about. I have a few articles to read for each paper and mostly it’s the analysis/write-up of my dissertation that will take the longest. Still, the outlines should be done by the end of the week. Then I just have to put everything into complete sentences. Not hard. Just boring.

Really boring.

This is why I’m going to pursue a career as a writer and not an academic. I can do academia. But I dislike it.

So, now to buckle down and actually get to writing. Sigh.