Any minute now...

I'm sitting at my desk. I have a cup of tea (Pear Oolong) beside me, and all of my books are in the living room so that I can stop researching and start brainstorming. I'm presenting a paper in 11 days, and I'd like to get a draft written as soon as possible, so that I can get someone else (preferably my supervisor) to read over it.

But how do I begin? How do I get past the feelings of inferiority, the fears that everyone else at this conference will know far more than I do and I'll sound silly? This will be my first conference that isn't just for grad students. Not only that, but this is my first conference that will have other specialists in my particular field. I am going to want to establish a lot of contacts when I'm there. I have a whole list of people that I want to meet. And I can't blank out and become an airhead around these people. I also don't want to be boring with this paper. I want to make a contribution. I want to attract attention to my author, to encourage further research.

I've been looking forward to this conference for a year now. I've been thinking about this paper since January. I've been collecting books since March. I have a lot built up about this conference: who I want to meet, the reputation I want to begin to establish, the future research I want to conduct. But now I have to write the silly paper.

Any minute now...