The dangers of not-writing

I'm coming back to my blog. I'll try to update my blog frequently again.

I find the following passage so striking. It's meant to be for research students in English Department. But I thought it's something I want to share more widely; it tells us vividly why writing lies at the heart of postgraduate study:

This is the most challenging and the most rewarding aspect of research. Most people find that writing is itself a mode of discovery, a hermeneutic path, a process of exploration which may transform the perspective from which one started. Yet for many others the prospect of sitting down at the word-processor or putting pen to paper is a forbidding one. Procrastinaiton [i.e., to keep leaving things you should do until later] is a widespread malaise among university staff and students alike. Some of this may be attributed to a proper and admirable sense of perfectionism and a reluctance to commit even a single word to paper until all the preliminary reading has been completed, all the relevant notes have been taken and all conceivable questions have been answered in advance. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that to get into a habit of not writing, to distance yourself from the therapeutic and invigorating struggle with words, is to increase severly the difficulties which no writer can indefinitely avoid. It is essential to develop a healthy and efficient attitude toward writing. The best way to conquer your inhibitions about writing is to write. Do not wait for the spark from heaven to fall. This is generally the excuse for some kind of evasiveness. You will find that the process of writing often generates its own unexpected inspirations and sends you off on new trails of discovery. [From Department of English and Related Literature, Instruction, Information and Advice for Graduates and Supervisors (University of York, n.d.), p. 48]

'Do not wait for the spark from heaven to fall.' It struck me most. I used to wait for the spark to fall upon me!!

Diary: 19 May 2005

1) Had a supervision with my supervisor:
I'm currently writing the second chapter of my dissertation (out of three chapters). Controlled judgement is crucial. I will work hard up until the end of this month.

2) did futsal with my friends in the History Department:
I did it last week as well. It's been great to do this, because we now have a fun together apart from our discussion in the seminars. I hope it will be sunny next Thursday as well.

3) did sewing to fix a few buttons to my favourite shirt:
I haven't done sewing for nearly two years. All my dim memory about sewing had gone in the meantime. As a result, it took 90 minutes to carry this out. It was, at the beginning at least, a mission impossible. To thread a needle was a difficult job. I even broke a needle. In the end, I managed to put three buttons; I found myself feeling a sense of achievement. It's strange, isn't it?? Just three buttons! But I was pretty happy about it, and thought it deserves an entry to the blog!!

Oh, at the same time, this sewing reminds me of myself asking my mum to fix a button on my shirt in the morning, just before I left my house to the uni. It happened more than once. That's for sure. How quick she was to do that! It was less than several minutes, I can say. I must confess I just took that for granted. Thanks mum. Great is mothers' care and skill!

Duke Humfrey's Library at Bodleian Lib., Oxford

Impressive, isn't it?? I was so excited when I got to read manuscripts there!! I really wanted to share! I went to quite a few nice places, but I dare say it was the best place I visited in the entire two-week trip.

Research Trip Photos

I have updated photos I took while I was away. There are not that much, but the album is available HERE.

I like this

In Oxford, I came across to a Nokia shop like this.


It just looks like a shop on the street. But surprisingly, it was housed in THIS kind of building. How old is this building? - Way older than a few centuries, I thought.

Something like this doesn't happen in Japan very often!!

Legal Perchment in C18

Legal perchments are often kept in a box being rolled up like this. It's quite big isn't it?? I don't really know why they are so big!


I took one out of the roll. The perchment are much thicker than our usual sheets of paper, and hard to bend. What is surprising about their way of using perchment in C18 is first that the lack of indentation. You see no space on the perchment!!


In a closer look, you may find some abbrebiations. Endings like 'tion' were often abbreviated. The lack of indentation and a number of abbrebiation were partly due to the relative scarecity of paper/perchment at the time. But what is more difficult about reading manuscripts is to tell apart letters with down strokes, such as n, m, i, and u. Added to this, their 't's don't usually look like a cross, and 'd' and 's' often look similar. Can you get any words? I couldn't at all at the beginning. But, alas, I can read some now! It took me hours to go through a few lines though.

Coming back soon

I'm coming back to York tomorrow evening. Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing you all again, york friends!!

From Neath!!

Hiya, how are you doing?? I am doing well.
This is my third day in Wales. I worked in Swansea once, and this is my second day in Neath, a thriving town 30mins east of Swansea by bus.

Neath is a special place to me, because the person I am working on in my dissertation, Sir Humphrey Mackworth (1657-1727), used to live near here. So the archive in the town is full of records relating to his political & business records. Yesterday, I skimmed a bundle of legal documents. H. Mackworth was a MP in the Commons, but was at the same time deeply involved in commerce as the Deputy Governor of a mining company. The company failed disastrously in ten years after the floatation; and as a result, he became embroiled in law suits, being accused for the failure and fraudulent management, while accusing others in his turn. So he used legal process to defend his own reputation, just as some other gentlemen might have done at that time.

In the bundle of legal papers, I found a copy of a reply of Mackworth to a set of allegation cast upon him. This would become a further evidence to understand the nature of his 'perdon tale'; it would help me understand how Mackworth, as a social superior, depicted his involvement in commerce on the one hand, and his notion of responsibility/accountability on the other.

While working on this sort of rhetorical analysis of manuscript document. I should keep my eyes open to other issues as well. At a specific level, his pardon tale isn't a sole object of my discourse analysis. And at a more general level, I can also examine something other than the rhetoric on the paper.

Well, I should roll up my study talk; I'll go back to work now! Tomorrow, I am going to Cardiff to see my friend. Cardiff is apparently a good place to visit. I'm looking forward to it.
Take care.
Koji

I am in Oxford now.

Bodleian Library
Originally uploaded by koji yamamoto.

Hi ya. I am writing to you from the Old Bodleian Library, Oxford. I've been working here for the last two days. The photo is taken from a court yard of the library. It's rather like a castle, isn't it?

Inside the library is also amazing: it went simply beyond my imagination. The reading room where I am reading some manuscripts was apparently completed in 1604!! Thanks to the excellent reading room and the manuscripts, I've been really productive so far. And I'm getting more used to reading manuscripts.

I am leaving Oxford this evening, headding for Swansea. It's a three-hour train journey.

I will write from Swansea or from Neath (a small twon nearby) next time.
See you later!

KOJI