April 13…Becker 's Chapter 6-7 (updated 3-24-2020)
Chapters 6 and 7 really dig in about some of the emotional/psychological aspects of writing difficulties. What I am looking for in your posts are some reactions to the chapters. Some possibilities include discussion fo whether you could related to what Richards was discussing about risk in Chapter 6 or where you see yourself tending to fit into Becker's Chapter 7 tension between "making it better" vs. "getting it out the door."
In Chapter 6, Becker shares the thoughts of authors who have a hard time sharing their first drafts with others for fear of appearing stupid. I think I felt that way when I first joined my Master’s cohort at VCU, though through years of peer editing and rewriting, I don’t feel that same anxiety anymore. I think that my mentality now is more about “getting it out the door” as mentioned in Chapter 7. I am currently team-writing an article with three other people, and have really only brainstormed and written an abstract. I was the first person to start the brainstorming list, and was also the first person to start writing the abstract. I prefaced all of what I shared with the group by saying, “This was what I came up with in one sitting - it’s not polished or pretty, but it’s a start.” I would hope that mentality would be inherent in what we are doing, but I said it anyway. That’s me dealing with the risk part, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have found in that teamwork so far is that the other three people in my group are VERY hesitant to start writing, even when they have good ideas. So the strength that I bring to the table in this case is my willingness to start the writing. While my ideas have been maintained through our edits, my prose has been edited immensely, which I truly have learned to appreciate! I don’t take the comments negatively at all, and can honestly see the improvements over time.
I am finding this experience very interesting because it is the first time I have written a paper like this as a group, rather than just an editing partnership. At the end of all of this, the paper is not MINE, it is OURS. I appreciate that immensely as well, because I feel like my group members are more likely to give it their best effort and not worry about offending me. Since all of our names are attached to the final product, everyone seems to be putting in a true effort in critiquing and editing - this is very different than what I experienced in peer review throughout the Master’s program.
As far as Chapter 7 is concerned - I really think I am more about getting it out the door than having a fully polished final product. I am very motivated by deadlines, and create self-imposed deadlines as well. I think this also comes from my Master’s cohort because of the many deadlines on our thesis sections, as well as the mentality that it was never quite “finished” until the end of the semester. I did not have a hard time submitting what I had that was “good enough” at the time - I knew that I still had an opportunity to fix it before the final deadline. Then, the final deadline came after SO MANY editing processes, I was confident that it was my ‘best work’. Could I have continued to edit? Probably. Was it perfect? No. But it was good enough, it got out the door, and I got my degree!
I also really identified with the idea that “equating time spent and quality may in fact be empirically false.” I am a classic overthinker in a LOT of ways, and I think that spending too much time on a paper would inevitably lead me to overediting and probably reducing the overall quality. I do really appreciate the peer review process for that reason though - I think if I am going to spend more time on a paper, I would rather do it reading comments/edits from a second set of eyes rather than doing it on my own.
-Chelsea