My strengths as a writer:


Writing itself. Prose. That's the bedrock. Got prose?

Work ethic & habits.

Self-confidence.

Ability to choose interesting critical problems.

Intellectual curiosity and knowledge of subject matter.



Weaknesses:


Disorganization of physical workspace and research materials. Lack of system for constructing bibliography and keeping track of references. I'm not a very good archival researcher, tending to work mostlyl from published sources. I tend to construct and argument first then find the citations to back it up a posteriori. I have a hard time finishing projects and dealing with publishers. I'm not good with getting permissions and the like.

Other things I have difficult doing: coordinating many different tasks during the same day or week. Deriving courses from my research. Limiting my commitments to a manageable number.


Rather than addressing all these weaknesses at once, I am starting by getting a better handle on the actual physical space in which I work. I'm starting by spending at least 15 minutes a day on this.