I remember sitting in a coffee shop, staring at my doctoral dissertation draft, a sick weight settling in my stomach.

At one point, I was working three jobs, planning a wedding, and trying to finish a PhD...all at the same time.

When I wasn’t writing, I felt guilty.

When I WAS writing, I felt like I was drowning.

There was just too much to do and never enough time to do it well.

I’d open Google Docs and scroll through dozens of pages, rewriting a paragraph here, jumping to a different section there, wondering if a final draft would ever come together.

Tears often pricked in my eyes as I thought, I can’t keep going like this.

I eventually realized two things at once.

1️⃣ My dissertation wasn’t my magnum opus.

It could be something I was ready (even proud) to submit for committee approval, but it didn’t have to be the best, most awesome-sauce thing I’d ever write.

That mentality alone lifted a huge emotional burden off my shoulders.

2️⃣ I’d never finish without a process that fit the life I was actually living (NOT the one I wished I had).

So I stopped trying to find the big blocks of writing and revision time that were never coming.

I joined a virtual writing group two nights a week to research and draft.

I booked one university writing center appointment each week to talk through my work.
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I created simple revision systems for myself.

And I switched to weekly instead of daily writing goals (wayyy more sustainable for me).

My “dissertation dread” didn’t disappear overnight.

But it did start to ease up.

Progress became something I could actually see (which made me want to keep going).

So yeah, in short, these are my takeaways for today:

• The dissertation isn’t your magnum opus. Do your best, get that committee stamp of approval, but ease up on some of the doggone pressure.
• Create sustainable writing systems for yourself, ones that match your life right now.

All write, all write, all write,

Erin

​The Academic Writing Coach​​

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