When Writing Isn't

I just spent three hours writing . . . but not writing at all. How is this possible? What does it mean? 

I'm back to dissertation and academic writing. My last two chapters are due in November. What does that mean? My proposal consisted of three chapters. Chapter 1 was my introduction, Chapter 2 was my literature review, Chapter 3 detailed my methodology. 

I presented these three chapters during my comps, and I was approved to move forward with the study. 

Now that I'm running the study, and I'm gathering data, I need to prep my dissertation for my defense. I'm hoping to defend in November or December as my timeline shows. 

What's that mean? It means blocking out the remaining sections of my dissertation. Does this mean my major professor says "Have you added this section or that section?" and helps to design my dissertation? Nope. 

What it means is that I go to the library (online) and I download a shit-ton of dissertations that are similar to mine and I analyze how others have done it, which means a metric-shit-ton of reading, and then I figure out how to design my own work. It's a ton of work. I've gotten 8 that I think are worthwhile. I'm reading them now. 

So is this writing? It's certainly "working" on my dissertation. I've written a few title words, but I haven't written written. I've read through my first three chapters and changed it from future tense to past tense, but other than that . . . writing?  

Still, even research in this case is "writing" . . . at least that's what Intuitive Writing tells me. So, I'll take it.