Here's what I've learned about academic writing: at this point, it is basically re-writing. Every. Little. Thing. I heard a story about a poet once (english undergrad. never leaves you) who spent a morning putting one word in a poem, and then spent the afternoon taking it out.
At the time, I thought that story was pretty silly. I feel differently now.
I'm not dealing with the inclusion single words, usually, but this prospectus has been a very frustrating process of small changes that amount to large ones. I may move a paragraph from one section to another and wonder, why didn't I put it there to begin with? Sometimes information obscures rather than clarifies and I have to cut, cut, cut sections that I spent hours and hours writing. It is a sad truth that it sometimes takes me several hours to write a single paragraph. (And, yes, this is occasionally because I get distracted. The point still stands.)
I can't even read my prospectus anymore. I don't know what it says.
But it looks really substantial and pristine sitting on the table next to me.
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