O Great Spaghetti Monster, please help me!

[cassius987]

I am trying to finish up a fairly banal paper on an iron (ferroin complex) assay I did last week and it's just not happening. Why I shared this here? I dunno, but I had to let out the pain. I hate writer's block.

[kiramdear]

I find I have unlimited enthusiasm for anything that isn't what I'm meant to be doing at the moment.

[lennon211]

Having written some absolutely painful 30+ page papers for the grad school program that I was in, I totally empathize. I found so many great distractions and would normally spend at least a few bucks on iTunes. Thankfully I've gotten the Masters degree, but am still...oh yeah...easily distracted.

[doctorwho]

What I tend to do when I'm in a writer's block is to write down the main sections or areas to address (e.g., experimental, results, conclusions, etc.) and then see if I can write about just one ... I might start with just keywords, then start writing sentences, not worrying about connecting them at that point.

[melibreits]

I feel your pain, Joshua.... This site is a great distraction for me when I am supposed to be working on projects that often bore me to tears.....

[jimk]

I remember it well. All the nights I should have been writing that term paper, and instead distracted myself with my guitar.

On second thought, how about all the nights I am presently distracted by the RRF when I could be making better use of my time writing a new song.

You aren't alone, Joshua

JimK

[antipodean]

Josh - my patented writer's block cure (note - needs to be done well before the deadline):

1) Do a rush job of finishing the piece, with little or no regard to quality of expression;
2)Take a break (with a good 8 hours sleep) before looking at the piece again;
3) Read the piece as though it were someone else's work, and critique it (for content, argument structure, presentation, style etc);
4) Use the critique to amend the piece;
5) Repeat process in whole or in party as you find necessary, with an eye on the deadline.

It takes a unique talent to get any writing right the first time. I find I need two to three rewrites to get anything coherent, let alone presentable.

[cassius987]

Good ideas from several of you, thanks!

The main thing that's getting me is not being able to find a literature value for molar absorptivity of this stuff ANYWHERE. And I need one badly. But the writer's block has lifted so that's good.

[sloop_john_b]

What I tend to do when I'm in a writer's block is to write down the main sections or areas to address (e.g., experimental, results, conclusions, etc.) and then see if I can write about just one ... I might start with just keywords, then start writing sentences, not worrying about connecting them at that point.

My method as well!

[ram]

The Gary/Evan method has worked for me for decades - school and business (proposals, reviews, specs, process...). Good luck with it!

[winston]

In my profession I write a lot of material for use by my clients Joshua. I try to avoid writers block through using a few simple techniques.

1) Know your subject and research what you need to substantiate or support your documentation.
2) Prepare as if the quality of your life depends on it, because it does.
3) Create an outline of the material that you expect to deliver including placeholders for flowcharts, pictures etc.
4) Write in a quiet environment with all of your research and supporting materials close at hand
5) Execute with a clear mind and focus on the objective.
6) Meet the deadline.

As you can see, planning is an important part of meeting your objective. I hope this is helpful.

[deaconblues]

What works for me is making the environment more boring than the assignment, whether that means removing guitars, TV, music, etc. from the room or working at the library instead.

[doctorwho]

... iron (ferroin complex) assay ...not being able to find a literature value for molar absorptivity of this stuff ANYWHERE. ...

I am not sure whether these will help, but I found them through a Yahoo search on <ferroin complex "molar absorptivity">:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 829AAkHweD
(technique)

http://www.ics-ir.org/jics/archive/v4/1 ... icle-7.pdf
(Method D is a ferroin method, and Table 3 cites a molar absorptivity for Method D ... maybe that's the value you need?)

I think that you may need to apply the Lambert-Beer law here ... bribe Lambert with a Beer and have him tell you the answer!

Back to serious: I would think that Beilstein would have this value in its citation for 1.10-phenanthroline. Gmelin (sp) might have it under iron, but I'm not that familiar with that data source.

[cassius987]

I was able to derive a number from Beer-Lambert's that turned out to be 3% off of the true value (once I found it). The Iranian paper has a value that is close but a little further off from my experimental value and the literature value I dug up at 11,100 M^-1 cm^-1. Thanks for the links though!! It's good to know people have my back!

[jdogric12]

The FSM will not let you down. Ye shall be touched by His noodly appendage.