It's done and in the mail

It is about time I chime in here with an InaDWriMo update. I am far behind my goal and have been embarrassingly quiet here. I have been working a lot to make first the original deadline and then a couple of later ones, but alas, things take time. But, as of this night, the first paper is done. It is still going out for a last round of comments from the co-author before being submitted, but I have a good feeling about the paper this time. The argument is stronger than it was before. I have tied up some loose ends, rewritten parts of the results section where some unclear writing covered up some gaps in my understanding of the data and, I think, come to a conclusions that is neither too adventurous nor too trivial.

The manuscript is standing firmly at 13.275 words, or just about the same as I started out at about two months ago (see why I didn't do a word count for InaDWriMo). That's fine. It's a little on the long side, and technically I think one part could be left out completely or moulded into a separate paper, but just the thought of major structural changes now makes me want to puke. So I'll wait and see what the co-author/ reviewers suggest before doing anything major.

Manuscript 1:

To do (list for InaDWriMo posted Nov 1):

Finish revision of pages 21-25 - DONE

Edits to figures - DONE

Rewrite discussion + add sections (currently 6 pages and shouldn't get much longer) - DONE

Write conclusion - DONE

Re-read introduction and revise according to final discussion - DONE

Re-read abstract and revise according to final conclusion- DONE

Check reference list - DONE

Burn CD with text and all figures - DONE

Print manuscript - DONE

Mail to co-author - DONE

InaDWriMo

International Dissertation Writing Month, or InaDWriMo has begun. Dr. Brazen Hussy explains it here and has a whole long list of people who have signed up to do some serious writing. As I am one of the poor souls who have promised to produce a lot of words come end of November I'd better get my behind in gear and get started. I also need to set up some sort of word count, but I'm not sure how to do it yet as my writing goal is revising rather than producing new text. I have however sneaked in a teensy bit of new writing and hope I can keep it going.

My goal for InaDWriMo is to finish two manuscripts:

Manuscript 1: needs to go the co-author at the end of the weekend (Nov. 4th)

To do:

Finish revision of pages 21-25
Edits to figures
Rewrite discussion + add sections (currently 6 pages and shouldn't get much longer)
Write conclusion
Re-read introduction and revise according to final discussion
Re-read abstract and revise according to final conclusion
Check reference list
Burn CD with text and all figures
Print manuscript
Mail to co-author


Manuscript 2: Submission deadline Nov. 30 (and actually yes, that's the real deadline from the journal)

This has to be revised pretty much from scratch, so I'm not sure exactly what the bullet points on a to do list are going to be yet.


Field report: Submission deadline Nov. 30 (and yes, once again this is the real deadline from the funding agency)

This is not going to be long. Something like 5 pages I guess, but it does require some steady work on the data from this summer every day until the report is due.


and writing for fun: 20 minutes a day

Here I am not thinking about blogging or emails or starting a novel, but about 20 minutes a day dedicated to new research writing. Either on outline for new paper I just started, making outline for upcoming paper or revisiting manuscript I worked on last year but abandoned due to not-very-nice comment.