i love thesaurus.com
(yes, nerdy title and nerdy post.)
I dropped off the last of my applications yesterday afternoon--so relieved. In the last six weeks, I've applied to one fellowship, one scholarship, two conferences, and a post-doc. It has been non-stop "application"-style writing, which I never thought I would have to do again after I got into grad school. Apparently, if I choose to stay in academia, I'll be doing applications for the rest of my life, since there are always fellowships or grants or something that I need to apply for. :(
Even though I'm pretty tired of applications, the best thing that came out of it is that it forced me to come up with a description of my dissertation. So I finally have a tentative sense of what the whole thing should be about. Knowing that has helped a lot with the current chapter I'm working on, the-chapter-that-is-taking-forever (a.k.a. Ch.2). So I've been pretty excited this past week.
In fact, I've been in my manic writing mode: wild-eyed, crazy hair sticking up everywhere (even more so now that I got my perm!), jittery and easily excitable, talking to myself all the time, and totally in love with thesaurus.com. Usually, I consider writing a big chore and really have to force myself to put sentences down on a page. Yet when I reach the manic mode, the ideas come so fast that it's like my mind is working exponentially (and that is sooo not how it usually is).
Thesaurus.com is my best friend in all of this. I've been obsessed over verbs. I love scouring for different ones, testing the meaning to see if one works better than another for what I'm trying to say. Much of my writing involves describing what I'm trying to do ( "I argue that...," "I propose...," "It is important to keep in mind...," "This suggests that...," etc.) so I end up using the same verbs over and over. It is so satisfying when I discover a new verb that captures exactly what I'm trying to express. Different verbs are like different colors, with varying shades of meaning. The goal is to try to find the one that contains the right nuance. My favorite verb that I've discovered and used recently is "recalibrates." Love that word; it is so precise! Another favorite is "evince," although it's a bit specific and obscure, so I can't use it that much.
The obsession with verbs and words only lasts while I'm in the "writing zone" and actually getting substantial writing done. Once I finish an application or chapter, I'll revert back to my usual writing habits, where I never use the thesaurus and it takes me an hour to write three sentences. That is pretty much how it is for most of the year; unfortunately, I only get into the "writing zone" very seldomly and it lasts very briefly. So, since I'm in it now, I guess I should make the most of it...
I dropped off the last of my applications yesterday afternoon--so relieved. In the last six weeks, I've applied to one fellowship, one scholarship, two conferences, and a post-doc. It has been non-stop "application"-style writing, which I never thought I would have to do again after I got into grad school. Apparently, if I choose to stay in academia, I'll be doing applications for the rest of my life, since there are always fellowships or grants or something that I need to apply for. :(
Even though I'm pretty tired of applications, the best thing that came out of it is that it forced me to come up with a description of my dissertation. So I finally have a tentative sense of what the whole thing should be about. Knowing that has helped a lot with the current chapter I'm working on, the-chapter-that-is-taking-forever (a.k.a. Ch.2). So I've been pretty excited this past week.
In fact, I've been in my manic writing mode: wild-eyed, crazy hair sticking up everywhere (even more so now that I got my perm!), jittery and easily excitable, talking to myself all the time, and totally in love with thesaurus.com. Usually, I consider writing a big chore and really have to force myself to put sentences down on a page. Yet when I reach the manic mode, the ideas come so fast that it's like my mind is working exponentially (and that is sooo not how it usually is).
Thesaurus.com is my best friend in all of this. I've been obsessed over verbs. I love scouring for different ones, testing the meaning to see if one works better than another for what I'm trying to say. Much of my writing involves describing what I'm trying to do ( "I argue that...," "I propose...," "It is important to keep in mind...," "This suggests that...," etc.) so I end up using the same verbs over and over. It is so satisfying when I discover a new verb that captures exactly what I'm trying to express. Different verbs are like different colors, with varying shades of meaning. The goal is to try to find the one that contains the right nuance. My favorite verb that I've discovered and used recently is "recalibrates." Love that word; it is so precise! Another favorite is "evince," although it's a bit specific and obscure, so I can't use it that much.
The obsession with verbs and words only lasts while I'm in the "writing zone" and actually getting substantial writing done. Once I finish an application or chapter, I'll revert back to my usual writing habits, where I never use the thesaurus and it takes me an hour to write three sentences. That is pretty much how it is for most of the year; unfortunately, I only get into the "writing zone" very seldomly and it lasts very briefly. So, since I'm in it now, I guess I should make the most of it...
posted by mariyaya | 9:41 AM
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