I am currently driving through the Mojavi Desert on my way back from skiing in Mammoth (hey, there has to be a time of enjoyment in the midst of final projects and research papers, right?). As I drove up to Mammoth yesterday, I had to first drive through the desert, then through the green valley with the ginormous glacier carved mountains looming over me (with snow clouds over them). After the valley I finally drove up into the mountain and was able to ski on the mountain (my quads are going to be so sore tomorrow!). I feel like my journey to go skiing is similar to my journey to completing this research paper.
The desert part of the drive was the past two weeks. From the time that we got our research paper assignment till last weekend, I was dried up with ideas. I had a hard time picking a specific prompt because the inspiration and ideas were dried up, my thinking cap was flat like the desert floor, and the possibilities of specific topics to write about were wide open. When I drive through the desert, it feels like I’ll never drive out of it and with trying to decide on a research topic, if felt like I would never get out of that dry stage, but I did!
Last weekend I finally decided on a specific topic to write about, I did much of the research and even now as I am driving (actually, my dad is the one doing the driving right now), I was typing up possible quotes from Reading Lolita in Tehran. This research stage is similar to driving in the valley next to the giant Sierra Nevadas. The research stage is a bit more inspirational and the research paper (the Mountains) is in sight, but it still seems like such a great task. As I am collecting all of my research and trying to organize it and develop the outline for my paper, ideas and inspiration are more alive, are being narrowed and are taking on more focus, like the valley contained by the mountains on either side.
The research paper is like a mountain of course, it is ginormous and overwhelming. I have not started writing the paper yet, I rarely start writing a paper till a few days before it is due, but I do think about it and gather ideas long before the paper is due. Whenever I see the mountain of a paper, I always think, “It’s too much work, I’ll try climbing that mountain tomorrow.” So I procrastinate with the writing portion of a paper till I know that if I wait any longer it will not get done. It is somewhat comforting knowing that it is only our first draft that is due Sunday night, but because I know this I have procrastinated longer than normal for I know that I will have another week to work on touching up the paper and making my thoughts more clear and organized. I am a bit stressed about the paper, but it is my own fault for not writing it sooner, I know it will get done, but I’m not looking forward to the next three days…
-E
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