1. Beginning
   • Writing Your Way In
   • Developing Your Own Work Process
   • Choosing a Topic
   • Doing Research
   • On Ownership
   • About Maxims

2. Choosing an Advisor and a Committee
   • Your Advisor
   • Your Committee
   • Using Your Advisor Well
   • On Dissertation Paranoia
   • Troubles with Your Advisor

3. Getting Started Writing
   • Thoughts on the Writing Process
   • Using Behavorial Principles
   • About Creating a Writing Addiction
   • Freewriting and Making a Mess
   • Setting Your Daily Writing Goal

4. From Zero to First Draft
   • The Zero Draft
   • The First Draft
   • Getting to Your First Draft
   • Asking Questions
   • A Few Approaches to Writing a First Draft
   • More Strategies for Working on Your First Draft

5. Getting to the Midpoint: Reviewing Your Process and Your Progress
   • Taking Stock of Your Dissertation
   • Your Writing Process
   • Your Writing Progress
   • On Deadlines
   • R&R

6. Interruptions from Outside and Inside
   • Interruptions from Outside
   • Ambiguous Interruptions and Events
   • Interruptions from Inside
   • Funky Exercises for Times When You're Stuck

7. You, Your Readers, and the Dissertation Support Group
   • Writing for Yourself and for Others
   • You and Your Readers
   • The Dissertation Support Group

8. Revising: The Second Draft and Beyond
   • Thinking About the Revision Process
   • Useful Revision Strategies
   • Revision and Truth Telling

9. The Best Dissertation is a Done Dissertation
   • The Costs of Growth
   • Hitting the Wall
   • Getting On with It
   • A Possible Horrible Scenario
   • The Thesis Defense
   • Afterward

10. Life After the Dissertation
    • Publishing your Dissertation
    • Publishing your Dissertation as Articles
    • Transforming your Dissertation into a Book
    • Becoming a Writer

Appendix I. How the Computer Revolution Affects You and Your Dissertation
Appendix II. Some Advice for Advisors
Some Useful Books and Articles
Index