Authors...help!
 

OK, so I'm co-authoring a chapter for a book on which we're collaborating with a bunch of folks, and I've got to get a first draft to the editor by Friday. Then it gets passed around to the other folks writing the other chapters so we can peer-review everything.

I've gotten about 70% there, all the content is down. Now it's "just" a matter of polishing and sanitizing. It's fairly technical but not in a numbers way...more of an industry-as-opposed-to-academic view of some problems in certain fields of study.

Thing is, I AM BORED TO TEARS by my own writing. Seriously, I used to have insomnia, now I just read this dreck and it puts me right out. The tone has to stay technical and highbrow but I just can't take it anymore. The other author is no help...not gonna go into that right now.

What to do??? I'm going nuts, I think I just read the "bounced check" thread another time through just to avoid working on this. I've published papers before, but this is just pages and pages and pages of tedium...

Any suggestions?

Pelican member "rrpjr" is a writer.
Not to be volunteering him, of course, but he may be along and have some input for you.
I've been fiddling at writing a book, but unlike you, I don't have any deadline.
I do understand your plight, for sure.
It can be hell when you're not motivated/disinterested/disinclined, etc.

Good luck.

Blue - farm it out. I will take it for a $2/word! Have you signed any sort of contract? What is your take on this besides being sited as an author? PM if you don't want the visibility.

Lubey, love to take you up on it but it's a fairly esoteric field and I sure can't afford your rates...all I get is an "attaboy" from my management and the citation, albeit next to some very-well-known folks. :(

I can give you two "attaboys" per word, though. ;)

I feel your pain. I wrote myself to sleep this morning. But take heart. If you’ve got the bulk of it down, you’re in good shape.

Step away and don’t think about it for as long as you can afford to. Go back with fresh eyes. Read it through in one sitting without pause and note what doesn’t flow or feel right.

Then resolve to “keep things simple.”

Someone (Hemingway?) said: anything that can be said can be said clearly and simply – and should be.

Your duty is to be clear, concise and technically thorough. If you do that, you really can’t be boring. I’ve never been bored by anything written clearly by somebody who clearly knew what he was writing about.

On the sterner side, I’m afraid “writing is rewriting.” No way around it (except for those gifted few among us born with the grace of the first draft.)

Good luck. Remember, “Love and deadlines make the world go around.”

Thanks for the tips. I wrote myself to sleep Saturday night (which really ended at around 4:00 AM) and am probably going to do the same tonight to finish this b!tch. If only this hadn't been dumped in my lap last week! :rolleyes:

Blue - what is the subject matter? You have my interest.

i'm working on a re-write of a paper. well, actually avoiding doing it becuase the thing is a mess. I sat down and wrote a first draft that was perfect. Untill the co-authors working on the other sections decided we needed to go a slightly different way. So now I have 2 graphs written by somebody else making a point that I don't fully agree with, and have to edit my 8 pages down to about 3, while shifting the focus. I think it might actually be easier for me to clean slate it at this point.

Esoteric? Yeah, I also called porn that when I wrote it. Bored me to sleep too after so many episodes. :D

how many words is 3 minutes?

Lubey, I'd tell ya but your PM box is full. ;)

edit: OK on the way....

I described action. Dialogue belonged to some ESL student down the hall.

i spent 3 years researching and writing a sci-fi manuscript of just under 800 pages..currently have an agent in new york reviewing..should hear something myself as to whether or not he'll take it on sometime in may..crossing fingers..

anyway, i feel your pain..i was so sick of the editing process when i was done i thought i was going to lose my mind. amazing how sick one can become of reading their own material..lol.
ryan

ryan, sounds like a book in my taste. When printed - send me a copy and will send you a copy of my book for parents on common deceases in childhood (you do have children, right?).

When I wrote that book it was like magic. I sat down in the evening and decided what topic for that chapter. Then the words just poured out of my head. I hardly stopped writing for a minute until I was finished with that chapter. I then closed the book and did not look at it for at least a week. The amazing thing is that when I did - I didn´t wanna change one single word.

My own experience is that the first thought very often is the best. Changing and rewriting send me into a never ending spiral of uncertainty and ambivalence.

rrpjr is right on the money, step away as long as you can, then come back with a fresh perspective.

Part of my job is writing technical documentation, either short or manual format. I was recently put to task to write a manual in a short amount of time. It's painful. It isn't something you can turn on and off. But you need to get that "second wind." Maybe try to think about the audience reading it with excitement in learning (yeah, i know, if that's even possible LOL) can get you through.

Man, I feel your pain. Good luck.

lol..no children that i know of, livi. at 40 now, i appear to be a 'confirmed bachelor', especially since i lost my lucrative aviation career. let's just say that women my age 'penalize' a guy for not having a 'treasure trove of riches' and very high-paying career. i just took it for granted all of those years when i was a heavy earner. when i was young, all that mattered was my looks and personality..:p

be happy to send a copy..am keeping my fingers crossed..it was an exhausting effort, truly..
ryan

Oh well, although I have four kids it seems I am about to head the 'bachelor' way myself real soon. At least if I follow my heart and the consensus of all the helpful members on this forum regarding my current thread on vindictive women with an agenda.

markus..i just weighed-in on your thread. putting you into my prayers and will be thinking about you. the board will be here for ya when you need it. i know there's plenty of time i'm on here because i'm hating my life so much at present and need an escape. losing my flying career was devastating emotionally and financially..i went from flying all around the world to the ptsd taking it all away and now i'm a homebody who rarely leaves town..or even goes out that much on the weekends for that matter and i'm 40 and SHOULD be enjoying life. so should you..durn for'ner.. ;)
ryan

You´re a good man, Ryan. I can honestly say I hate my life as is. You guys have made me stronger in my belief that I am in a position, albeit deadly ;) , to change it. Its literary do or slowly die. The latter being out of the question.

Actually sitting here with a map right now, trying to find were the hell Arkansas is located. Might have to get back to you on that one. :D

Markus - If you ever make it to Texas we would love to have you visit us!