overcoming writer's block and new experiences in literary criticism

I got over the writing hump, and things are now progressing. I moved past this last block in the way I often do--by starting in the middle. I am very comfortable with close reading. It is really just fun. I love it, and I think I'm good at it. So I skipped the sort of set-up that has to happen to introduce my argument and methods, jumped right into the stories, and I've filled up lots of pages quickly. I'm not finished with that stage yet, but as I have written it I feel like I have a better grasp on what I need to write in my introductory pages. So, good.

I've also had an interesting experience while writing this essay. I don't think I've ever written two essays on the same text before. There aren't a lot of opportunities for that in grad school because most of your papers have to be on a course topic. I think this is also the first time that I have produced a whole piece independent of a class. It's kind of exciting. I described this project a bit in my previous post--it's on a text that I've written about before and it's making an argument that is close to but not the same as the argument I made in a previous paper. I kind of thought that I would be able to draw large pieces from my previous essay, but that is not happening. This may sound a little simple-minded and unsophisticated, but I am really excited by the fact that I am analyzing the same stories, I have not changed my mind about what the stories mean, yet I am writing two completely separate readings. They are totally complementary and work together in interesting ways, and of course, I've read essays that work together like that before, but I've never written them. It's fun. And it's nice to have fun while working.

Another clear benefit to this, even though it's not saving me time now, is that my other essay will remain something very different from this one, so I can hopefully get both of them published without worrying about one looking like a revised version of the other. I really think that first one deserves to be published, and I'd like to send it out soon. This one is turning out to be quite good, I think, but I am not as confident. I have a fear that my essay will be cut from the collection in the end, and all of this will be for naught. But maybe I could find a home for it somewhere else if that happens. We'll see.

And now I must work. I don't want to push my luck and piss off the editor by not getting my submission in on time.

words not coming

I finished my paper last week with a grand sprint to the end, and I was pleased with it. But I still have an essay for a collection due December 15, and I can't seem to get it done. It's not so much writer's block as a complete disinterest in the task. I have already written an essay that is very close to this topic, but it does not fit the topic of the collection. So I proposed a new essay that does fit in with the collection but does not require more extensive research. The paper has to be different because I am making a completely separate argument--it's not just a revision of the other paper. And I like this argument--I think it's smart and interesting and right, and my advisor does, too. As does the editor of the collection, apparently. So why is it that I don't want to write the essay? I think what is missing here is the excitement of delving so deeply into the text and discovering things there and developing my interpretation--I feel like I've already done all that. I know exactly what I'm going to say and exactly what evidence I'm going to use because I have spent a great deal of time with this text working on the other paper and this argument is sort of adjacent to that one. It seems like I should be able to spit out this essay in record time. I'm just not into it right now. And I'm not sure how I'm going to force myself over this hump.