Sleep and dream about writing. I was deeply involved in the process of writing a dissertation about writing, social class, and academic discourse. Talk was a crucial part of the process for me. When I stalled writing my exam papers, my chair told me to go free write. When I struggled with an argument, my third reader coached me via email.
Friends read drafts of chapters.
When chapters came back from the committee, colleagues read their comments, and we discussed ways of interpreting them. I would never have finished my dissertation except for the conversations that I had with other people about writing. A good writer, I am told, is one who does not need help from anyone else, someone who knows what to do and when to do it. The opposite, of course, is true. More experienced writers tend to spend more time with their texts than less experienced writers.