It's so interesting how differently people work. I've been waking up in the night all stressed about this paper, even though I've been steadily working on it for weeks. I think I'd drop dead if I waited until this late in the game to get started.

Stephanie - how distracting! stay-put~ma just in case.

d-it's snowing!

happy macaversary msbelle!

I have just now stress-chowed down on all the goldfish baked snack crackers. Please dear santa, please bring me more before 4:30 pm so that, after I pick up the sprog, I don't hear "iwantsomegoldfishiwantsomegoldfishiWANTSOMEGOLDFISH!" because I cannot do that today.

Me too. I once started a major paper 24 hours before it was due. I got a good grade on it, but the professor did ask why I had focused on 19th century sources. Why? Because I could check them out.

I think the only paper I ever started more than two days in advance was my Master's dissertation. I think six thousand words in eight hours was my record.

I've been waking up in the night all stressed about this paper, even though I've been steadily working on it for weeks.

This is so me. I almost always finished everything at least 3-4 days ahead of time, but still stressed about it.

sj, not being able to brethe would make me really anxious too. What a morning! Glad you made it to your mom's, though.

Every time, I would do the research, mark passages, perhaps even a rough outline ahead of time. I would swear that I would not be up all night the night before. Sometimes, I'd even get 5 or 6 pages written. And then, the night before, I'd be writing the damn thing until 6AM.

La Vortex, c'est moi.

Neither one has even started writing yet! It's due in one week!

yeah, that would have been me.

Me too. I never had to write a 20-page paper in college, but I regularly wrote 10 page papers the night before they were due, sitting at the computer with a pile of sources all around me. With 20 pages, I'd probably give myself the weekend.

Of course, that was before I had a full-time job and a child. When I'm in draft mode with my fiction, I shoot for 20-25 pages per week, which means four pages per day, at least five days per week. Under pressure, like when my agent made me rewrite the ending of my last manuscript before she'd submit it to editors, I can push to 40-50 pages per week, but that involves making a deal with DH that he'll handle my share of childcare and housework for the duration.

Every time, I would do the research, mark passages, perhaps even a rough outline ahead of time. I would swear that I would not be up all night the night before. Sometimes, I'd even get 5 or 6 pages written. And then, the night before, I'd be writing the damn thing until 6AM.

Sadly, this will probably be me this semester. I have three 15 page papers to write before the end of the semester. YAY! The research is done...outlines are written...now I just have to write the damn things.

I don't think I have ever started writing a paper more than two days before it was due.