Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Project Progress

I got discouraged. That's all....

I was writing a book without reading all the research. That is not a good way to do it. So I stepped back.

I loaded all the research into Scrivener and I'm reading each document/webpage/article/case study...

I'm taking notes on each research item and including that as a separate document in the chapter or section where it belongs. In some cases, the research points to more than one section. That's as it should be. I'm including a reference back to the original document in my notes.

The binder will be a huge file when I get done, but it will be done right.

Then I can transfer it into Word, and format it. Then I'll print two copies for editing.

This all started because I found a report about Omega 3s vs Omega 6s that I'd misunderstood. Then I noticed that the page numbers were all messed up. I'd re-ordered paragraphs and chapters after putting in the page numbers. So, my file was corrupted.

I thought I was near finished when I ran into these two issues. I had 75 pages written of raw content plus the pretty stuff and bibliography. It was a nice-sized project. Not my target (over 120 ppg), but respectable.

And I had a hissy-fit. I got discouraged. I sat back and looked at the work; looked at the body of research and realized what happened. I got ahead of myself and I had to start over with reading and digesting the research.

Hey! If I want to make this scientific jargon understandable, then I have to understand it! I don't have to throw out all the work and words I've written so far. But I will need to edit them. Extensively.

I have about 160 research documents. That means I should have at least 150 pages finished. That's allowing for some duplicated research and small amounts of added content from a few of them.

After I write the content, I'll add the bibliography to make a final project. The glossary is good and will be expanded and included. I'm still doing a 2-part format: description and definitions; then the practical changes that can be made to lifestyle to address it.

It's about 8-9 chapters, with lots of subheadings. That isn't so important right now.

The important thing is that I haven't stopped on it. I didn't walk away. I kept at it. I slept on it and solved my problem. I'm not a wimp who is letting this project beat her. I'm going to make it through this project.  And it will be good.



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