Write or Die

If "Publish or Perish" is academia's motto, "Write or Die" is its logical predecessor -- only in (relatively) rare, usually unhappy cases can he who has not written become he who has published.  (I am, however, aware of several cases where "he who has merely translated the works of Q. Esteemed Scholar from the latter's native language" became "he who has published" ... aforementioned works, thus falsely feathering his nest.) 

Writing is hard work, and for the humanities-inclined academic there's truly no way around it.  There are, however, an ever-increasing array of gadgets and programs, largely free or low-cost, that will make the writing experience more interactive, more motivating and overall less painful.  I'm a geek at heart (... albeit sadly not the kind that writes useful programs and heads multi-billion-dollar software emporia, but merely the kind who will be first in line when cybernetic implants become popularly available.)  The availability of a new gadget, program or "hack" makes me salivate -- even more when said hack offers to help me accomplish a highly desirable goal.  Over the past few months, I've been playing around with three or four different programs designed to increase writing and research output.  Happily, they are all multi-platform (... hear that, Google gods?! ...) and all quite promising.

The first, oldest and most basic is Zotero -- a program that folds directly into your Firefox browser and allows you to store notes, screenshots, and all manner of files.  Library databases like ATLA and JSTOR download citations directly into Zotero -- not always a win if you're using Endnote, but a handy tool nonetheless. Best of all, after a recent upgrade, your computer's Zotero folder is now backed up online and accessible from all Zotero-able computers.  In my own work, I use Zotero to store library references, screenshots of items I need/want, and as a way of keeping a folder with article/paper ideas on hand. 

The second in line, one I've played with quite a bit recently is Scrivener.  Unlike Zotero, Scrivener is a writing rather than a pre-writing/note-taking/research app.  It allows for attractive and easy story-boarding -- love that cork-wall effect! -- and gives writers every option to arrange, rearrange, outline and draft to their hearts' content.  This is probably the point where I shame-facedly admit to not being quite creative enough to get the full benefit of an app that is, apparently, heartily endorsed by novelists and playwrites everywhere.  Accordingly, I didn't end up purchasing the program after its 30-day trial ran out.  For my fellow mundane academic writers I am, however, happy to report that Scrivener performed just fine on a project on which I've been working ... despite the fact that a detailed analysis of Pauline exegesis in Carthage is unlikely to become a bestseller.

Third comes my current favorite:  Evernote.  For my money -- which, in the interest of full disclosure, totals exactly $0 since I downloaded it during a Lifehacker promotion -- this program combines the best of Zotero with a number of the good features of Scrivener.  I've yet to plumb all it s features (handwriting recognition?!) and given that despite much geek-lust I'll never be able to justify purchasing an iPhone, I doubt I ever will.  That being said, the combination of an online database to store my work that cross-references with my iPod touch -- while not a massive improvement over Google Docs -- is nevertheless quite sweet. 

Finally, for those terminally writer's-blocked moments, there's always Write or Die ... I DARE you to work on that dissertation in Kamikaze mode ;)

Thing Theory in Action.

Bill Brown, perhaps best known as the expositor of Thing Theory (... a term that at NAPS drew chuckles from even some of the more illustrious attendees ...) explains his development of Heidegger's Thing/Object distinction as follows:  “We begin to confront the thingness of objects when they stop working for us: when the drill breaks, when the car stalls, when the windows get filthy, when their flow within the circuits of production and distribution, consumption and exhibition, has been arrested, however momentarily.” 

Patricia Cox Miller who in her recent monograph The Corporeal Imagination makes use of Thing Theory elaborates:  "In other words, an object becomes a 'thing' when it can no longer be taken for granted as part of the everyday world of the naturalized environment in which objects such as clean windows are so familiar as not to be noticed."

I've been thinking about these lofty concepts primarily because for me a number of "objects" took a turn towards "thing-ness" this week -- the natural function of, say, an indefinitely renewable lease or an unobstructed Eustachian tube in my right ear revealed themselves as anything but natural.  Things broke, to a greater or lesser extent, and my efforts to return them to their previous happy state of objectness have consumed a lot more of my time than I had anticipated.  With any luck, everything should be back on track however -- and thus concludes the business of things.