Air on the G String

Doing research and writing research papers is similar to playing jazz. You have to adhere to certain musical conventions but innovate on top of them. The conventions in research are rigor and theory and academic writing. That alone is not enough as we need to innovate around this. Jacques Loussier made his name by innovating and improvising around Bach pieces - enjoy and innovate!

Writing holiday

Do people think that writing retreats are effective? Everyone complains about not having the time to write and I have heard of people organising trips away from the office to a location where interruptions are minimised. Because it is a group thing it seems to create a supportive motivating force to get on with a thesis or paper or book chapter. From what I have heard the results seem to come through.

Has anyone been on a writing retreat and was it effective?

I fell in love with an air hostess

I may not be travelling to as many conferences in the future. The reason is that I tend to fall in love with an air hostess each time and I am heart broken by the time I have to get off the plane.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUlwclCaFJY

www.CompletePhD.com

When the paper is done

Sometimes, when the paper is done, my mind turns to a Greek Island
Perhaps Skiathos, swimming naked in the Aegean, generous moussaka
Asurtiko bonding with thoughts of the day's faces
A novel that I carry everywhere
Not knowing what day it is
No phone
No internet
Just blue

The road ahead

This year is taking shape. I have a Research centre proposal to write next then I have a trip to Canberra in early April. I will be presenting a research paper at an invited seminar in Brisbane in May and then not long after I will be travelling to Reunion Island for an international conference. August involves anothes trip to Canberra, September possibly a trip to Greece and then December ACIS in Sydney and then a keynote presentation in Melbourne. In between these trips I hope to work on a few research papers.