30 Pages In 30 Days

Final Draft Approacheth

Sean — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:02:34 +0000

I have met with my advisor and all systems are go. I have notes for some fairly minor revisions. I still need to do a close copy-edit and then we’re done! W00t!

Posted in The Final Paper

First Draft of My Last Paper

Sean — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:20:35 +0000

10 days since my last post. I had to take some time off from my paper and catch up on the many, many other things I had put to the side while I worked on my paper almost exclusively. However, since then, I’ve gotten back on track and put in a few marathon sessions of editing. I printed off a copy of the draft and hand-edited. I then reconciled those edits with the document. A lot of my comments to myself were clarifications, improved transitions and spending time to unpack some very dense writing.

I also had to redo my references (I used Zotero and the MS Word plug-in – it was pure magic, not completely painless…but the least pain I’ve had with referencing a paper). I also had to create a dozen or so screen shots for examples throughout the paper. I received early feedback from one reader, my game design expert, which was very helpful. No major conceptual or theoretical problems, but some very helpful refinement of my examples and some work to make the first half less boring .

I have submitted the draft to my Advisor. It was very had to hit send. The compulsion to make just one more change is so strong. What I had to do was focus on the fact that this is a first draft. I’m going to be a wreck when I hand in my final draft . I have also sent a copy of the draft off to a small army of supportive and crazy friends who have offered to read it and let me know what they think. I am very grateful for this amazing support and for their guaranteed brutal honesty….

In any case, it’s a done deal now. I’ll start copy-editing and fixing up some screen shots in the mean time, but basically, it’s just waiting now to hear back from my readers before I wrap up this paper and finally finish up this degree.

Whew.

Posted in The Final Paper

FIRST DRAFT IS DONE!!!

Sean — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:45:29 +0000

That is all.

Final word count: 15, 189.

Whew!

Posted in The Final Paper

Unleash Writenarök!

Sean — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:47:49 +0000

I have completed the penultimate section of my final paper – the Second Case Study is complete!

Behold the Harbinger of Writenarök! The twilight of my MA is upon us!

Today’s word count: 13, 378. That’s 2332 words that I wrote tonight! This is just an extra sentences so I get to use a slammer again!

I’m feeling really happy about the writing and I have some strong momentum moving into the conclusion. Hopefully I’m about 2000 words or so from getting this first draft complete. After that comes the editing, cleaning up my references and adding some more screen shots from the game.

I’m definitely short-timing it now.

30pages out.

Posted in The Final Paper Tagged: fighting the good fight, survival of the writingest, word count

Life…Catching…Up

Sean — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:41:22 +0000

It has been very hard this last week. I’ve been making my writing my main priority for almost a month now, which has been a very long time for me and my family. This week I’ve had some big events, like weddings, and big responsibilties, like taking care of the kids to give my wife a much needed break. While these are not burdens, they do neccesarily mean I’m not writing.

So far, since my last post, I have managed to poke a long a little bit. Not nearly as much as I had hoped, but its better than nothing.

Current Word Count: 11, 046.

I have 1 case study left to do and then it’s on to the conclusion. That doesn’t mean I’ll be finished. I have to do a copy-editing draft and tidy up my references as well. But, it’s getting much, much closer.

In fact, I do believe, the end is nigh.

Posted in The Final Paper Tagged: fighting the good fight, gang aft aglee, word count

Holding The Line

Sean — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:37:32 +0000

Well, it appears I have lost the ability to coherently think and certainly to coherently write.

I did manage to get back up and dust myself off.

Today’s word count: 10353

Posted in The Final Paper

On Falling Down

Sean — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:48:19 +0000

I like to think of myself as a guy who’s gotten up more times than I’ve fallen…so far.

This has been a very, very rough week. Life caught up with me in a big, big way and at the same time the writing got hard as well (of course!).

The writing hasn’t been quite as bad as 5 days of no posts here. The last time I posted a word count, June 21, I was at 8657. As I start writing again today, my word count is 9485. Not terrible, but far from where I need to be.

The important part about falling down isn’t worrying if anyone saw you, or even how much it hurts. The important part is to not just lay there. Today is all about getting back up after falling down. Skinned knees and shaky confidence and all.

Posted in The Final Paper

Smell the Fear

Sean — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:19:49 +0000

I didn’t manage to get a post up last night after my writing. I had all day, and I wrote through out the day. I’ve never been able to sit down and write for an entire day, at least not this kind of writing. I think that’s the big reason things are going well for me now – the 30-60 minutes a day I’m spending is really working well for me.

However, having both more time on Saturday and wrapping up my first Case Study section meant I had a lot of trouble sitting down to write. I got it down, but it was hard. Having more writing as my goal made it harder, but also, I think I’m having some jitters because I’m getting close to done. After this Case Study, I have 1 more Case Study and then I’m writing the conclusion. Meeting with my advisor was great, but it also made thing oh so terribly real. It’s awesome that we’re both so happy, but it also means that this is really the paper I’ll be handing in, and I’ll be sending him my first draft 7 days from now. Now can you smell the fear? .

Anyways, still a good day. I didn’t actually get my Case Study finished, but I decided I needed to move part of it to it’s own section earlier in the paper. I was struggling with providing one or two sentence coverage of race, class and gender in World of Warcraft, so I gave the topic it’s own section. It fits better in the earlier part of the paper and I can say what I need to say. And I hope it’s the last additional section I add the paper.

Yesterday’s word count: 8657. Page count: 29.

I think realistically I have 6-10 pages of writing to complete and then I need to add screen shots, tidy up my references, do a once over to clean up the writing/grammar/copy editing in general and then ship it off to my crack team of dignity and self-worth crushing reader before I get my “First Draft” to my advisor.

Today – I need to finish and first Case Study: Character Generation and get as far as I can on the second Case Study: the gendered nature of dress in WoW. I dare to dream that I might finish it today. Good to have goals…

Posted in The Final Paper Tagged: procrastination, survival of the writingest, word count

Truckin’ Along

Sean — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:39:53 +0000

Today was a bit of long day, but in terms of my paper it rocked.

I had a great meeting with my advisor today. We’re both really happy with where my paper is. We agreed that I’ll have my first draft handed in next weekend (which is technically a bit early from my 30 days of June deadline…but who’s counting? ). I also reviewed some of the procedural things I need to do and I got some more information about what the process is going to be like (after all this is the first time I’ve handed in this sort of paper )

Tonight’s writing went pretty well. I got a bit more than my page done. Not only that, but I went on a bit of a footnote kick – which doesn’t get included in my word count…but still takes just as much time to write .

Today’s word count: 7833. Good stuff.

Tomorrow will be a big day. Hoping to get through the rest of this case study and hopeful start the next one.

Posted in The Final Paper

I can’t Brain today…

Sean — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:35:05 +0000

I’ve got the dumb.

Long, hard day == little to no brain power.

I’ve squeezed out my page.

Today’s word count: 7430.

Posted in The Final Paper Tagged: blood from a stone, I've got the dumb, word count