I‘ve had a lot of school work lately and plenty of long nights keeping on top of it all. When it comes to writing papers, here are some quick tips I’ve come to love:
- Change the background color of your Word document (Format>Background>More Colors) from white to something less harsh on the eyes. I find a dull green or beige works well and retains good readability (mine right now is set to #cccc99). For extended periods of time in Word, it’s much less straining if you ditch the white.
- Unfortunately, my computer speakers died the first week I returned to school this year. On the plus side, headphones are what I would recommend for helping drown out distractions from other kids, cars, or whatever your situation may include. Also, I find that I can type faster if I can’t hear the sound of the keys clacking (weird, huh?). The type of music is crucial, which I explain in further detail in a previous post about writing. Basically, pick songs that utilize more acoustic instruments than vocals. You don’t want to be processing what the band is singing about, but instead use their tunes to block outside noises.
- Take small breaks. It’s like giving yourself mini awards. 40 minutes writing, 10 minutes for [fill in the blank]. Play games, watch tv, grab some food, whatever gets your mind off work. Cameron shares some great advice in one of his older entries about unplugging yourself when you get stuck for ideas.
- If you need to reach a minimum number of pages, set the text size to 10pt and page zoom at around 150% before you start typing. When you’re a couple pages shy at the end and can’t think of anything else to write, it’ll be a nice surprise to switch back to 12pt and find out you’re done.
My 10 minutes are up, back to the grind…
Some good pointers.
I am not sure if you can change the page color in office 2007, if you can I haven’t found out where yet.
::Edit::
Nevermind. Found it!
How does Adrian reward himself? He goes to his blog and writes about writing. Ouch. Good advice about the color change, I didn’t know you could do that.
My personal favorite trick is to write singled spaced. Once you go and double space the paper, you can see how much you’ve really done.
So, how’s school going? Enjoying the single? And I know you’re enjoying Debbie. Who couldn’t.
Believe it or not, writing’s what I do most. If I could figure out how to turn my blog into a business and write each day, I’d be all over it.
School’s busy. I’m sure I’ve said that every year but really, the homework hasn’t let up yet. The work is better, but I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to work on web stuff. The single is cool, more room than I know what to do with. As far as Debbie goes, she’s one of my favorite professors this semester. She knows what she’s talking about in Logo, which makes things interesting and slightly less “mysterical.” Also, I quiz her all the time about being self-employed and we have some good discussions.
How’s the new place going? Any new news on the job hunt? Hope all is well, keep me posted.
I use that tactic as well, I write everything single spaced and then when I feel I have written all I can I go to double space, I always have more than I thought.