Remixing the Dissertation: 15 Strategies for Cultivating

Deep Revision While Minimizing Writer’s Block

Jason Palmeri(Miami University)

The Journey from Diss to Book

1) Treat Diss as a Commonplace Book

2) Take a year to recover

3) Develop related “side” projects

4) Revisit the Detritus of the Diss

5) Gather new data

6) Use conferences to spur revision

7) Refine your “elevator pitch”

8) Use audience as focusing force

9) Value Informal Composing

10) Radically Re-Arrange the Chapters

11) Reclaim your sense of voice

12) Scaffold your writing “assignment”

13) Kill the internet (temporarily)

14) Form a writing group

15) Write the proposal from scratch