Writing peripherals. And I'm not referring simply to the multiple pens (as many different colours as you can source), pencils and miscellaneous stationery needed as part of the writing task to be completed. I'm thinking more of all the supporting processes and tasks that go alongside but are essential to completing an academic writing project. Like that pesky reference list that is never completed until, two hours before you are meant to submit the manuscript. And when it is finally compiled, it is often riddled with errors or omissions. Or organising all your data files and smaller analysis tasks into a single folder that can be readily accessible irrespective where in the world you might be writing the research.
On Friday I spent all of the morning working on the reference list for my in-progress paper. Yep - a whole morning. I'm an academic, a scholarly writer, not a freaking administrator I kept mumbling under my breath, as I realised how disorganised and incomplete my reference repository is. I'm a print-person - I love paper, so I could find the hard copies of most of my references but when I tried to compile the reference list electronically...well, all was not well on this side of Uppsala. As a PhD student, I had diligently spent most Friday's on this mundane, administrative activity. Sorting out my reference repository, and 'cleaning' up all my data and research related files. It paid off when I had to construct and produce that huge thesis document. But it would seem I've lost sight of the valuable lessons learnt. I'm thinking some of my sabbatical time should be devoted to 'cleaning-up' and organising my articles and updating my Mendeley repository. I might even set aside some time to refine my cite-and-write skills - yes, I'm a late adopter and still not 100% convinced it the best/most practical way to produce a reference list. But I guess writers have to be good administrators too.
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