Working Through Writer’s Block | Writing my Doctoral Dissertation

In this week-long writing vlog, I tackle the work of completing a draft of my final dissertation chapter, which ends up involving a lot of time struggling through writer’s block. There are always highs and lows in a long-term writing project, and some weeks it feels like there are way more lows than highs! But that’s just part of the adventure.
Thanks for watching - and please (please, please) let me know your strategies for getting through a patch of writer’s block!
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[@SilverXT]

I loved hearing u say the f bomb. It just humanizes you so much and I smiled lol

[@shiru400]

this is probably one of my favourite PhD journey blog. i am in the humanities as well and this helpful

[@vonjanachbe]

Thank you for making these kind of videos! I am working on my dissertation as well right now and sometimes it's hard to motivate myself to keep doing. Your videos actually help a lot with this - they make me remember that I am not the only one going through these doom spirals!

[@GlutenbergBible]

Solidarity and community in any form is sooo helpful when doing this work! So much of the dissertation is work we just do sitting alone in a room, it's easy for it to feel isolating. Good luck with yours!! (And thanks for watching :))

[@maryap8821]

Watching you work on revising a chapter is super helpful right now as I'm doing the same! I find editing to be somehow worse than writing from scratch, so I'm using this vlog as motivation!

[@GlutenbergBible]

Oh I so agree, when I'm just starting out with the writing it's so much more liberating because I know the quality of writing doesn't need to be great! And then I get to the editing, and have to actually make everything sound coherent and smart haha it's the worst

[@cyang4432]

Thank you for your video, as a phd candidate in my last year, it is really motivating to learn about others who are also unmotivated and burnt out at this point. I'm having my defense in late March, and although I finished my draft a month ago, the draft is only 60-70% completed, so the work amount I'm expecting is overwhelming....... I've been avoiding my thesis for a whole month, only doing minimal work day by day, but your vlog helps me realize this is just a hard phase that I need to overcome. Thanks again.

[@GinaMarcella]

This was incredibly motivating to watch! Thank you for sharing.

[@MarthaPennington88]

This is super interesting to me. I’ve always wondered what it was like writing for a PhD.

[@mhacker84]

“f…ing around” 😮 Thank you for your vlogs! They are very inspiring.

[@edelgrane9375]

This video is motivating and relatable as someone who's also (supposed to be) writing a master's thesis but isn't very motivated to do so! :D Academic writing ain't easy

[@brontecronsberry4106]

Great video, I am sure I will be returning to these dissertation vlogs when I get to that stage in my PhD (in Theory and Criticism). I am currently in the comprehensive exam process which feels semi-impossible and makes the dissertation writing feel very far away. I assume you probably had to do comps for your degree as well and would be super interested in a video about what that looked like for you and any thoughts/ suggestions you might have for those of us who are still on the comps struggle bus.

[@GlutenbergBible]

I did have to do a version of that! In my department they call it the Special Fields exam, it was a 2-hour long oral exam on a reading list of around 110 texts. I can definitely make a video talking about that. I'm relatively new to KZbin, but I've been documenting my PhD process for a couple years on TikTok - if you have access to TikTok, my account (same name as here, @glutenbergbible) has a playlist called Academic Work where I have a bunch of vlogs made during the leadup to the exam. Good luck with prepping for that exam, it is brutal but getting to the other side of it feels amazing!

[@iasminmelo6223]

thanks for your videos, they make me feel less lonely navigating my bachelor's thesis

[@actual-spinster]

i rly appreciated seeing ur commitment to ur work even though it was a struggle n all the different stratefies u tried !! congratulations on submitting ur draft !

[@elyssasalinas8046]

One strategy that I have is trying to just write 500 words, they can be terrible but having them out of my body helps along with writing a "zero draft", it feels like intimidating than a first draft and on one sees it but me.

[@FreeElf25]

New subscriber!!! ❤ love this vlog

[@ClaudiaSuarez22]

I was wondering what monitor is the one you use? I really need a bigger screen as I am looking through various documents at the same time. LOVED the video!!

[@shannonparker6192]

I am currently in the same position with a defense date in April. We can do it!

[@christinapatterson8254]

Can you make a video on writing tips for PhD? (literature reviews, essays, etc).

[@pen_paper_and_wardrobe]

Also defending my diss in May, ALSO feel like it's impossible. Be kind to yourself. We can do this!

[@MichaelButlerAuthor]

Let's work together! Let me know if you need any help.

[@boinkadoinkk]

I have a really difficult time with stress paralysis too!! I have found though that lemon balm tea works amazingly well for me in bringing down my stress levels to the point where I can ACTUALLY initiate/engage in tasks without being distracted by how overwhelmed I am. It’s also the only anti-anxiety ingestible thing I’ve found that doesn’t make me sleepy lol. I don’t think I’d ever be able to write a dissertation unless I find some kind of miracle method to manage my ADHD well enough without seriously sacrificing my mental health 😓 I find it incredibly impressive when anyone is capable of completing a dissertation at all, so even if you feel like your work never reads as “good enough” just know that what you’re doing is a massive achievement regardless! Academia can be ROUGH… I hope you’re not being too hard on yourself 🩷