A writer describes the two modes of thesis writing: fast bursts of ideas and slower percolation periods where thoughts bubble up and evolve. Taking deliberate pauses leads to smoother progress when you return to the work.
You know, when you're writing, ideas can come out, and sometimes they come out fast and furious, and other times something comes out and you have to stop and think, is this what I want to say? Is this really the direction we're going? So giving yourself what I call percolation time to allow ideas to bubble up through and evolve, it's great. And then hopefully you'll get to those times when things are just moving forward easily.
