Feels Like I'm Writing a Thesis

because this paper is never going to end, and I'm kind of content with just letting it drag on and on because I'm not on a deadline. The only negative is that you end up living and breathing this one subject, day in and day out, until you can finally commit it to paper. That feeling too is like a thesis.

I guess I'd better get used to it.

I once had a friend who was crazy in love with David Foster Wallace. He told me this anecdote about how DFW said that he writes about a page a day, and spends the rest of the day worrying about how he can't write. This was an astounding confession from a man who wrote a 2000-page novel, and at the time I was astounded. But now -

A page a day! Ha, if only! I know exactly the feeling DFW was talking about, but for me I'd be lucky to pull myself together long enough to write a full page. On a bad day, I can write as little as 0-100 words. This does not count those days when I'm organizing in my head what I think I'm going to write about, which can sometimes be more challenging than the writing itself (especially if the idea stage produces crap, and then you spend days just being confused). On good days, when I'm not confused, I can write about 6 pages; on Red Bull days, 8-10. But this only happens when I have deadlines.

If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.