Tom Scharpling's Advice for Getting Things Done

[effecT]

1. I am terribly sorry to have been so inaccurate: 30-40 in total in a time frame of a good two months

2. My thesis is about high and declining prices signalling objective product quality: This is the paper i was discussing and augmenting: ftp://ftp.cba.uri.edu/Classes/DellaBitta/PRICE%20SEMINAR%20-%20BUS%20610/ARTICLES%20V1/HIGH%20&%20DECLINING%20PRICES%20SIGNAL%20QUALITY.pdf

3.I knew you would like it Dave!

[fonpr]

Safari can’t find the server.
Safari can’t open the page “http://ftp://ftp.cba.uri.edu/Classes/DellaBitta/PRICE%20SEMINAR%20-%20BUS%20610/ARTICLES%20V1/HIGH%20&%20DECLINING%20PRICES%20SIGNAL%20QUALITY.pdf” because Safari can’t find the server “ftp”.

[yesno]

remove the "http://"

[colonel panic]

.5 pages per * 60 days = 30 pages.

your colleague may have a future in project management.

[effecT]

.5 pages per * 60 days = 30 pages.

your colleague may have a future in project management.

i have a slightly different equation
2 weeks= understanding the stuff
2 weeks = acquiring all necessary quotations/ doing your own model/ acquiring everything needed for the writing process
2 weeks = writing it all down
2 weeks = frantically editing and proofing the document

just in time to hand it in

[Hugman 3.0]

In the interest of dispersing Tom's advice so he doesn't have to give it to millions of people that bother him individually, he once gave me a very good one.  When I told him I tried to set an entire day a week aside to write, he suggested that instead I set aside 15 minutes a day.  If you're on a role, keep writing. If not, don't.  Works better than torturing yourself all day if it ain't happening.

[yesno]

There's some crazy college class I read about years ago, which I think was in the 1950s.  Maybe the University of Chicago or something.  Anyway, you had to write massive amounts all the time, as a kind of endurance test.  Something like 50 to 100 pages per week.  Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[Sarah]

You're probably right, it just sounded like the required amount of pages produced per day was 30-40. Which obviously would be insane unless we're talking about The Stephen King University of Maine or something.

Sir, my eldest sister is a graduate of that fine institution, where she and I briefly had a radio show.  How dare you!

[Sarah]

Stephen King in  "On Writing" talks about how he has a 10 page per day goal.  He also talks about how he was so f'd up in the 80s he doesn't remember writing Cujo.

It isn't hard to produce ten pages a day if you never edit yourself.  Time was, I longed to get my hands on Stephen King's manuscripts, 'cause I knew I'd be able to trim any one of 'em in half. 

[Sarah]

Post #3 for good measure:

.5 pages per * 60 days = 30 pages.

your colleague may have a future in project management.

i have a slightly different equation
2 weeks= understanding the stuff
2 weeks = acquiring all necessary quotations/ doing your own model/ acquiring everything needed for the writing process
2 weeks = writing it all down
2 weeks = frantically editing and proofing the document

just in time to hand it in

Here's how I wrote the long paper I had to produce for an independent study in French lit that I took on in my last year of college to avoid taking a class:

1.  No work for three months, bar weekly sessions I spent chatting with my advisor.

2.  Two Saturday afternoons in the library, during which I skimmed books on and by the poets about I was writing (Jules Laforgue and Henri Michaux) and jotted down quotations that caught my eye.

3.  One weekend writing the paper (in French) one day and typing (no computers in them thar days) a fair copy the next.

4.  One hour on Monday inserting accents and turning in forty-page paper.

I was a very lazy student. 

[dave from knoxville]

Also, do blogs and Twitter count as writing?

They better