So it’s the end of the semester and papers are soon going to be due. In other words, writing season is upon us again. You’d think that after a while this whole ordeal would get easier. In certain obscure ways, it has. I know I’m definitely not writing like I wrote some three years ago when I returned to school after working for five years. Still, producing a paper is just as much of a gut-spilling experience now as it ever was.

So I have a draft due on Saturday. Earlier this week I was in this eminently familiar mode where I sit down to write, fire up the word processor and then get distracted by email, a passing breeze or an article that I just must read now. Basically, I’d sit down to write and immediately find a reason to not write. Fortunately, I’ve now moved on to the next phase of writing: I write whatever comes up even if it is shit. Experience has shown me that this is better than sitting around hoping for inspiration since it is often while I write shit that find the organizing principle around which I can write my paper. This does not seem to happen if I just wait for inspiration.

Alright, back to the shit…