kick start you writing using online motivational tools

Beyond my life working for graduate students at the gss, I also have a secret life as a graduate student.

This term I am to submit my research proposal. Through my first two terms of graduate school, I have attempted to journal as a means to help my writing process, but with limited success.

Today I embarked on a new effort to ensure I do keep to my writing commitments, partly inspired by Joan Bolker's book, Write your dissertation in 15 minutes per day. (What an inspiring title!) Which advocates keeping a research journal.

But for those, like me, who need some prodding, some online tools may be of interest.

Do you forget to write every day? Oh, Life may be fore you. It is a simple system. you set up an account using your email, and then each evening Oh, Life sends an email asking about your day. You respond, and that is these emails become the substance of your journal. After you build up content, it will send snippets of past entries as reminders/starting points, selected at random. I wish I could choose its question to suit my purpose (not "how was your day" but "how's the research?" or something ... as long as it isn't "are you done your thesis yet?"). However, I can't fault the simplicity of the system, and the fact that an email prompt will likely be helpful for someone like me.

If goals and rewards are what you need, you might like the online journal, 750 words. With this site you are encouraged to login and write 750 words per day, and if you do this for five days in a row you get a little reward (penguin badge), and each month you get a score card with more points the more days you write. The site also assigns moods based on what you write (which unnerves me). There are challenges as well -- you could end up on the wall of awesome (or wall of shame) so think on that before choosing your pen name!

In both cases, the online journal can be downloaded for use elsewhere. Perhaps in your thesis methods section!

More great grad school themed blogs

I seem to be having a bonanza in the department of "excellent blogs for UVic graduate students to read", something I am always seeking in my work.

The Thesis Whisperer warms my heart because, like me, she keeps a list of procrastination activities handy. It is also packed with practical advice to be productive in your research and writing, so has the best of both worlds.

The thesis whisperer is actually a group of whisperers, but the writing is consistent and topical.