Clarity

You know you are a Panera nerd when the waitress asked if you are there everyday. Since Monday, I've been at Panera Bread to work on my paper. It takes a lot of effort for me to pour out ideas into a few hundred words.

I always admire authors who can communicate complicate ideas in simple terms (Jim Collins in Good to Great or Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel).

In other words, clarity.

There are times when reading something I just wrote and think, hey that's not what I have in my mind. I figure this skill is important for my own thinking process and for communication.

The good news is that my paper is done. The last few hours were a struggle as I am easily sway by the thought of let's just pile crap together and get it over with.

...
Note to self: The challenge of a paper is to fight against procrastination. Ideas and thoughts takes a long time to process. To cramp it will result in a slobbering job.

I started writing the paper two weeks ago. This week, I spent more time at it (2-3 hr everyday). I could should have started this paper much earlier. At least 2-3 months ago when I thought about the ideas, reading books and discerning and praying.

If i started to write three weeks ago and each time spent 45 min to an hour writing, the paper will a better thinking flow process. Like slow dripping. this will translate to a 'better' paper. Though I am not aiming for high marks but i want to write a good paper to reflect my thinking process and i think things through.

I remember an artist one described a marble statue he craved. The statue was already there. He simply removed the extra pieces.

That's how I felt about my paper. A huge amount of work was spent on polishing (and there is more to be polish). Great works require a lot of preparation. And procrasinatino will kill this process.

To fight against procrasination. Start earlier than I think i need and let the slow drip process brew a good paper :) I got another course next term. I am goign to start applying that.