Mindful Reading: Boice pp 59-64

I'm going to play into Boice's hand here, by expressing the same reservations about his 'Shaping Ideas into Imagination' section as his writers did. It might just be that I'm a little tired today, which makes me more skeptical and confrontational, but I shared in these two points:

1. How am I ever going to get any work done if I keep setting aside more time for Brief Daily Sessions?
2. Public scrutiny is NOT what I need right now in my process. 

As always, Boice has plenty of advice for those of us with these reservations. But what I think makes his program so workable, is that he addresses these reservations simply by going back to the advice he's been giving all along. This can be frustrating at first (I've been in class where the students were vitriolically opposed to Boice and found this to be more of an annoyance than anything. My perception was that these students weren't going to try anything aside of what had worked for them in the past, and if they had lowered their walls just a bit they could have appreciated Boice's program and maybe it could have helped them. But I digress), because it might seem like he's just repeating himself. However, there's some comfort in knowing that these practical suggestions can be augmented by simply remembering a few of Boice's key strategies: Wait, BDS, Community, Start. 

Anyway. Boice addresses these reservations with comments his writers have made. The examples he brings up of people skeptical of an additional BDS mostly show that as writing becomes more regular and fluent, it takes less time to do some of the 'warm up' activities that bog down many-a writing session. Instead of warming up for those 10-15 mins, with regular practice you're able to spend those on more imagination-supporting activities. I can see how this is true, but I still wonder how many hours are in a normal Boice-day. 

I am less resistant to the 'make your imagination phase public' advice. Advice I've gotten from a number of people of the years has to do with creating a community around yourself that you can interact with at all stages of the process. Reading groups, writing groups, coauthored pieces, etc. All of these things, I think, are useful for bringing those imagination exercises to the front, bouncing ideas off of others' ideas and seeing what makes sense together and what new realms you can enter by creating an open dialogue of imagination. 

***Listening Notes****

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You can check out their live stream here: http://www.thecurrent.org/listen

Mindful Reading: Boice pp 50-59

On Note Taking (aka: compiling, organizing, taxonomizing, labeling, etc): 

Just when I thought Boice couldn't be any more relevant to me, he seems to be providing strategies for precisely the section of my writing that I am in most need of guidance. Here's why I appreciate Boice the most at this part of his text: He provides wide-reaching strategies for handling the secondary-sources that are so important for an academic style of writing. At times it seems like the writing that is expected of me is only the secondary aspect of what I'm to be doing. \

I heard it described once (and I'll paraphrase) that the writing should be the by-product of a broader exploration of an idea, topic, or phenomenon. The writing and the publication should are only means for recording the outcome of a researcher's new understanding of a topic. I definitely want to keep this in mind as I continue my Comps process. There're times when I pile up all my books on the table and work through them one by one. This is a no-no in Boice, and it certainly doesn't feel like the process of accumulation is the most important thing when I go about it this way. 

With deadlines looming, it's hard to keep this ideal situation in mind, but I think it goes nicely with the rules in Boice that I will try my best to implement as I go forward in my research process. Especially: 

• Make Conversing with Others in my Field a Priority: I was surprised that this was Boice's first step, but I'm starting to see how all of his rules are working together. Even though there are people very close to me studying in a similar area, when I do get around to reading and writing, I have the tendency to cut myself off from the conversations surrounding me. 
• Read to Write: Instead of simply reading through a text, checking it off the list, and then plowing forward, Boice wants me to have the broader goal of reading for a specific purpose. This makes sense, and I already do it to an extent. But I think there's something more when this is a primary goal.
• Limit Reading Time and Limit Note-Taking Space: This is great advice for me because I usually devote myself fully to interacting with a text (often to my detriment). I'll sit down with a pile of books to get through in a session and I'll find myself only getting through ONE book. Granted I'd walk away with eight pages of notes from that one book, but I'd be exhausted and discouraged because of the effort that went into doing 1/100 of the work that I need to. One page of notes per text is going to be a new-norm for me, as will the 1-3 hour rule (that I will keep flexible) per book.
• Alternate Reading and Writing: This is great advice on many levels. One, it's fresh when you've recently read it. Two, it helps decrease the monotony. Three, it allows you to be productive towards your end goal even when you're immersed in the note-taking stage. 

Which of Boice's suggestions for increasing imagination through note-taking will you incorporate into your own writing process? I'm curious to hear!