writing in the dust

When I look back on my work process, and those of my friends, we seem to keep doing whatever we did in college. I was that person who always had her papers done days before they were due—typed, proofread, and ready to hand in before my peers even began theirs. My papers weren’t necessarily better, and I’m not sure it did me much good to have idle time when there were fewer friends to play with. But I didn’t feel like I had a choice.

Some of my academic colleagues, the pullers of all-nighters, claim that they don’t like the way they work. I used to believe them, mostly because I couldn’t imagine how they could stand the pressure, but I no longer see it that way. These people are grown-ups, successful professionals, and they make choices all the time. They are clearly choosing to put off finishing things, though sometimes that’s because they have kids to make sandwiches for and classes to teach. But that’s always going to be the case, and I think if they were truly bothered by the last-minute rush, they would try harder to carve out the space in their schedules earlier on. It’s still going to take the time it takes; it’s just a question of when and what gets you to plant your butt in the chair.

Graduate school may be the time to break old habits from college. It’s a chance to be deliberate about how you want to work, to try on different styles, ask others about their process. You may tell yourself things like, “I can work only after the sun goes down,” but you won’t know unless you attempt to write in the mornings for a while.