Thursday, January 31, 2008

Crazy ideas - even crazier on paper

I'm reading this fantastic book, Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day. I put off reading it for a while because I knew once I starting reading it I would actually have to start writing. When I explained my dillema to a friend, she offered to share with me a book she'd read on procrastination. I declined, saying I didn't really trust anyone who'd gotten it together enough to write a book to understand the depths of my procrastinating powers. But now I'm just putting off what I really want to write about...


Early on in the book, one of the exercises the author suggests is coming up with the craziest, most out-there titles for the dissertation/book you envision writing. I actually did this back in December and re-opened my "writing log" to find these little gems:

  • If you’re not on meds then you’re the crazy one
  • Going sane: pathways to therapy for the functionally depressed and anxious
  • Got Prozac? The campaign for psychopharmaceuticals and how it’s changed the understanding and experience of mental illness in the United States
  • Mental Health Consumption: What do you take?
  • Cosmetic psychopharmacology: How being happy has become an issue of personal responsibility
And my personal favorite:

  • Twizzlers may make mouths happy but Wellbutrin keeps me from strangling myself with the red licorice vines

I've got to check the book, but I'm pretty sure this is an exercise you keep to yourself and don't share with your dissertation committee.

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