Six days in ...

... and still going strong!

I've been working out regularly (except for today) and have been making regular progress on my writing. I've written at least 750 words each and every day, and I'm super stoked to report that I've written over 10,000 words thus far!

That translates to just over 30 pages!

Words cannot truly express how happy this makes me. I had been in a dissertation holding pattern for quite some time and was honestly getting quite disillusioned with the whole process. It seemed impossible to start. I think a lot of that was fear. It has been almost four solid years since I have written an academic paper of any kind. My prospectus doesn't count. I'd honestly forgotten how to write using sources and critique and critical engagement. Which, for me, is rather heartbreaking since it is something that I genuinely love. But my priorities and responsibilities have shifted. I spend my time reading and writing for my students more than for myself. And this has made me a worse writer. And, with my fear of writing, came a doubt of whether I was even capable of it. So finishing 30+ pages in the last two weeks or so feels really amazing. My confidence is getting a nice boost, and I'm slowly remembering how to write again. It feels kinda good. I'm not bragging, but I'm a little proud of myself.

Now that I've made some real progress, I'm going to start setting some deadlines. I'm not ready to do that just yet -- especially with the start of school on the horizon and knowing how crazy those first few weeks are -- but I'll be making a deadline for my first chapter submission in the next week or so. If I can get one chapter out and read, I'll feel really invested and ready to keep plugging along.

I'm also pretty proud of myself for actually sticking to this routine (albeit has only been six days) and writing every day. Given that this whole process is something that I've been dreading, I'm pretty impressed with me.