Map This

In preparation for my little stay in Paris, I'm listening to French news on-line. I only understand the words I understand, which doesn't seem to help with the acquisition of new words. I'll keep at it though.

So this weekend, I went to a dissertation writing workshop. Here's what I learned:
1) Don't psychologize the writing process. I'm not not-writing (or writing slowly) cause "I suck," but because of external factors: like time-managment issues. I guess my poor time-management skills aren't supposed to reflect poorly on me personally. It's probably time's fault. He's an asshole. Don't question it.
2) Work in 45-minutes "sessions" for better productivity. I worked a total of 6 sessions today (not on writing, but on stuff like grading papers and reading for lecture), which may sound impressive until I admit it was a 4.5 hour work day. But it's mentally stressful, so suck it.
3) Try a cognitive map, which I wish were a graphic representation of my brain, but it's not.
4) Actually, the best thing she said was that when a person bitches constantly and complains about how slowly her writing is going, this most likely means she is getting really productive work done. Since I've been bitching non-stop for the past month and getting depressed about the 1-paragraph a day writing feat, that made me feel like a genius! Of course, now I'm going to moan and whine continuously, whether I'm writing or not. Better to feel like a genius than actually be one. Geniuses are boring, admit it.