Thought on my writing process

I was feeling a bit discouraged that my third draft of one of my chapters still looks and feels a bit scketcy. So I went back and looked at the writing process for the paper I gave at the Postgrad Forum last January, which is probably the best work I've ever done.

It took me 21 drafts to turn my thesis into that paper. Not counting the drafts of the thesis--five for the first chapter, six for the second.

Should I find this discouraging or encouraging?

I think I choose to find it encouraging. Even if my writing style is weird and unconventional (which it isn't necessarily), even if it's inefficient (which it might well be), it works. The only trick is making this dissertation more like the writing sample, which I was quite proud of, than the thesis, which I wasn't that proud of. Answer: more drafts. So it seems.

Back to Microsoft Word, then.