[PREV - REAR_VIEW_PIONEER]    [TOP]

AGAINST_BOREDOM

                                                April 11, 2007

I've worked out some
ways of dealing with                                     For that, I would bet
the inevitable                                           on diving in and
technical tasks that            This is *probably*       spewing words that
must be done but that           not such a great         are closer to the
you really, really,             way of dealing with      finished product.
don't want to do:               a *writer's* block,
                                though.
I keep files full of "notes"
in text form, that I treat as
journal, confessor, technical    Sometimes I even
record, todo list...             write important     Sometimes I
                                 notes in them.      even read them
It's a useful way (for me)                           later.
of working my way through a
block: start writing *about*
the block; gather together            I record: the location of files
little bits of information I          that might be useful, the
expect to need in one place;          programs I might try using, the
speculate about how things            names of existing modules that
really work and how I might           might have the features I need,
get things to work...                 the places I might go to ask
                                      questions about the problem
     I write this all in a
     typically very verbose
     style, including lots of
     cut and paste of error     It helps that I use emacs
     messages I'm puzzling      sub-shells (not to mention
     over and so on.            dired) a lot... though
                                explaining why is another
                                subject.

  Quite often, I just write
  these files and don't go
  back to look at them again,
  but they do sometimes turn
  out to be useful to have
  around.  For example, when
  someone comes back to me and
  says "Oh, you know how to do
  this, don't you?  You did
  something like this a month
  ago". I feel much better
  saying "Let me check my
  notes" rather than "A              It is a little awkward though,
  *month* ago?  You expect me        when I'm accused of making a
  to remember something from a       mistake and I react with
  *month* ago??!"                    indignation and go back to my
                                     notes files for support...
                                     sometimes I end up proving
                                     that I really did do it.



              The real danger of this approach:
              you can get addicted to logging
              every little move you make in
              your "notes" file.  That can make
              it really hard to keep up the
              momentum you were trying to develop
              in the first place.

              Just as important as the habit of
              writing things down is the knack
              for knowing when to stop.


--------
[NEXT - WELCOME_TO_HELL]