Whining about writing - my monkey

Months into an assignment and as usual I find that I can't sit down and write like a sensible person. The kind of person that writes summaries of papers as she reads them, for example. As usual I am stuck with a bloated brain full of convoluted unpaved roads, too many cul-de-sacs and nothing on paper. It would be nice to be able to, just once, read a paper and write 100 words or so on what the author wanted to say, in other words, be capable of churning out a literature review. Reading, understanding, then writing – how hard can it be? Instead, as I read my brain is a cacophony of implications and disagreements, none of them hanging around long enough to be scribbled onto a notepad, let alone make it into the lofty realms of the text editor. Maybe the problem is that I read actively, and I need to find a way of getting my analytic side to butt out on occasion. Maybe the problem is that I find the activity of reading with summarising in mind dead boring. Well, to be fair, it is. What's the point of reading with nought but reiteration in mind?

Well, none for you Emma dear, let's face it, criticising and lampooning is more your thing; but it does help the newbies jack into your thought process doesn't it? Gives them a bit of background, lets them know what it is you know, solidifies your context, outlines the sources of your premises.

See? I know why summaries are useful, I just-can't-do-them.

I blame my monkey.

I go to all this trouble to acheive quiet, to make the area nice, to excercise and tire him out, to caffeinate him into oblivion yet he insists on cracking jokes in my head at every opportunity! Goading me into playing games, twittering, checking my stocks… I hate him. I want him dead.