Bella Alarie and Writing

I was reminded of a discussion I had with Will recently while watching some basketball games with my ten year old son who is completely and utterly a basketball fan. It's for Under Armor (I think) and stars Bella Alarie. 

I say "I think" because I can't seem to find it on the web, otherwise I would send a link. Regardless, she narrates the commercial and discusses how she felt like an impostor. She reviewed good things that she had done to help get her into the mindset to conquer. I've heard the same thing about coaches in the NFL, who will watch tape of their games and instead of focusing on what the players have done poorly, they will focus on the things they did well. It goes back to something I tell my teams at work, we have to promote our wins more than our failures. We have to be our own best cheerleaders, because there is no guarantee anyone else will know about them.

Regarding writing strategies, I'll say this: first, like I said in my original reply to him, be ready for "writing" to mean mostly "re-writing." I say this again to reinforce it, but also because this has been the biggest surprise to me in writing long drafts of papers and books. It's the most surprising aspect I've found yet. So be ready to edit, rewrite and move on. Also, I think I would say, when the feeling to write strikes, take full advantage. I find that I'll feel a pull to get things done and just sit there and churn through for a few hours on my novels. 

Sure, there is the day to day grind, but then there are those writing frenzies. Take advantage of both. Finally, you were asking about parsing down too much. It's always a concern. There's a fine line between saying too much with too much flourish and writing too little. I think the best answer to that comes with "trusted readers." I completely expect to have my friend Andrew read the heck out of my writing when it comes time and since he doesn't work as much in my area of interest, I think hearing back from someone like him would be invaluable, especially when it comes to making links and building the dissertation.