Naturally, the weather these past few weeks has been perfect - sunny and in the 70s with a slight breeze. I've been avoiding other graduate students because they inevitably say that they're finished and already handed it in, which is not at all helpful. Interestingly, absolutely everything besides sitting down to write has become instantly more attractive and I look forward to doing things like cleaning, cooking, laundry and dishes, it's absurd. The process feels like trying to eat an elephant with a fork and makes me think of Ann Lamont's book/story, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, one of my favorite books of all time:
"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said. 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"
So, with the windows open and with all my avian friends chirping away and having the time of their lives in the gorgeous springtime weather, I'm going to stop writing this blog post and start taking it bird by bird.
Also, these memes have helped:
Bird by Bird, Word by Word!