Writing is hard

The saying goes, there is no such thing as a perfect first draft. But I get the feeling there is no such thing as a perfect final draft. I write, re-write, procrastinate on writing a journal paper by writing about writing here, and so on. Although I am in no position to give tips on writing, I can at least put down what I've learned.

1. It may take a village to raise a kid, and I require a team to get my writing done. Each player on the team has their own strengths which I turn to for help. My advisor can help with technical content and the why, fellow groupmates are great for bouncing ideas around, and a friend pursuing a PhD in history can help with just general readability. Perusing a copy of Joshua Schimel's Writing Science goes a long ways too.

2. Telling a story that captures my reader's attention is difficult. It is one thing to make a coherent sentence, or paragraph, but a journal paper is an entire story. Stories have a beginning, characters, plot, climax, etc. A refined story takes attempts. To simplify this I determine who my characters are, and the change which each character needs to have in the course of the story. Then, each word along the way seeks to address these 2 items: who my characters were, and who they are now after the main challenge.

3. Editing is a mystery. Editing requires I identify shortcomings in my own work. In the early stages these are the blatant, obvious, elephant in the room size errors. But with time these errors become small, like a brush of paint with just an off shade. After looking at the canvas for hours I become normalized to it, but it will still catch the eye of a passerby. To edit, I just keep re-writing until I can't anymore and hope it's good enough. I then ask the respective team mate (point 1.) for input, and repeat the process.

To any other grad student out there wondering about the struggles of writing, you're not alone. I'm right there with you.