Dealing with Blockage

So remember when I said I had x number of words "first draft ready"? Well, I really don't have anymore than that ready. I keep getting stuck in this same part of my paper, the part where I attempt to outline and review the history and the literature about feminist approaches. It's really an altitude problem. A professor of mine describes it this way--think of a plane and the different altitudes it can fly at. The higher up, the broader the view but also the less detailed the view. I've been kind of stuck trying to figure out how high up to go.

I think my other problem is that I'm using stuff that I wrote a long time ago because I don't want to rewrite similar parts, even though my understanding of them has changed a bit. I was reading another academic blog the other day and she talked about when you start a second draft to start with a blank page and write from your brain rather than getting tangled up in your own prose. It's a very scary thing to do. But I really do feel tangled, so last night Eric helped me compromise. He pretended like he didn't know anything about my paper (he says it wasn't much of a stretch of the imagination for him ;-) and we got out a tape recorder and I talked and he took some notes, kind of trying to help me outline it.

Was this approach successful? We'll find out shortly. Stay tuned! And wish me luck!