{"id":9393,"date":"2022-06-02T12:56:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T00:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=9393"},"modified":"2022-06-02T12:56:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T00:56:43","slug":"throwback-thursday-when-your-brain-is-an-empty-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=9393","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: When Your Brain is an Empty Space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post by Dr Anaise Irvine first appeared on Thesislink in April 2017. It has since been updated. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the years I spent writing my Masters and PhD theses, I never felt like I experienced writer\u2019s block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I got stuck, for sure. But the term \u2018writer\u2019s block\u2019 wasn\u2019t quite right for what I felt. \u2018Writer\u2019s block\u2019 implies that the writer has lots of words \u2013 they\u2019re just blocked off. Like there\u2019s some kind of metaphorical brick wall, or fence, or force field between the writer and her words. When I got stuck, I felt like there were no words whatsoever<\/em>. My brain was just a cavernous space, and there was nothing in it at all. No paragraphs, no sentences, not even a lone tumbleweed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t have writer\u2019s block; I had writer\u2019s vacuum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Theoretically, in a vacuum (like that found in outer space), there is nothing present. There are no particles, and there is no energy. There isn\u2019t even any air. Strange things happen in a vacuum. Famously, you can drop a hammer and a feather in a vacuum and they will fall at the same rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my most desperate writing moments, that\u2019s exactly what my brain felt like. Any ideas I tried to form in my brain would drop dead there, and my mind was so empty that any words I tried to form were strangled immediately. There was just blankness and nothingness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, any physicist will tell you that there is no such thing as a perfect vacuum. Even seemingly empty space contains something<\/em> \u2013 perhaps just a few atoms knocking about, but that\u2019s more than nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, even an empty brain contains something<\/em>. Perhaps you can\u2019t start writing up your methodology, but you do know that you\u2019re out of milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Write that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m serious. Write the words: I\u2019m out of milk<\/em> into your thesis draft. You\u2019ll erase them later, but right now you just need words on the page. Many times when I felt like I couldn\u2019t write, I got going again by writing something totally useless. The following are actual pieces of writing that appeared in drafts of my thesis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Remind landlord about sink.<\/li>
  2. I\u2019ve had four cups of coffee. Why do I drink so much coffee? I should switch to tea. I hate tea. Maybe I\u2019ll force myself to become a tea person. NY resolution?<\/li>
  3. Eggs. Olive oil. Baked beans. Pasta. Garlic. Capsicums.<\/li>
  4. ARGH I HATE THIS BLOODY CHAPTER IT\u2019S DOING MY HEAD IN! FML FML FML<\/li>
  5. All the single ladies, all the single ladies, all the single ladies, all the single ladies, all the single ladies, all the single ladies, all the single ladies, now put your hands up!<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Usually, once my fingers are moving, I can get them moving about something semi-relevant to what I\u2019m meant to be writing about. Baked beans give way to brainstorms. From trivialities emerge truths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I write (very roughly, and just for my own eyes) about whatever problem I\u2019m facing. This often takes the shape of paragraphs in which I narrate, analyze, and workshop my own barriers to writing. Then, with the benefit of some text in front of me, I start to feel less intimidated and quality words start to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The vacuum fills with matter, and the empty space on the page gives way to text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This technique does require a bit of clean-up afterwards \u2013 I didn\u2019t want my supervisor to know the depths of my Beyonc\u00e9 fandom \u2013 but if you\u2019re desperate, it\u2019s a viable option to get your brain working again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Try it, and let us know what works for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This post by Dr Anaise Irvine first appeared on Thesislink in April 2017. It has since been updated. In the years I spent writing my Masters and PhD theses, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6725,"featured_media":9395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1],"tags":[43,78],"class_list":["post-9393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-throwback-thursday","category-category-5","tag-drafting","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/landon-parenteau-j8YlQQ0ifZU-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1917%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p83npQ-2rv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9393"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9401,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9393\/revisions\/9401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}