Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! This week’s most useful blog post takes a look at some of the most popular articles featured in this weekly series. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Next week will also focus on popular posts from this past year that were featured here. I hope you have a wonderful holiday spent with loved ones, eggnog and cookies, and writing that flows easily on to the page! For more wishes for writers this holiday season, read this and this.

Happy everything and, as always, happy writing!

How to procrastinate efficiently (if you cannot stop)
If you’ve ever hoped that someone would reinforce that procrastination is actually beneficial, than this is on your must read list. Truthfully, I think this is brilliant. How often have you tried your hardest to concentrate on the task before you only to fail miserably by surfing the internet or taking the dog for a walk? Then, as soon as you break that concentration you find yourself enlightened and focused on what you’d been trying to focus on for hours. For the keys to procrastinating efficiently, you’ll just have to read this article by Julie Gould.

Creating Color-Blind Accessible Figures
Do you take into consideration those who are colorblind may not be able to fully understand the figure you placed in your journal article or textbook? This is a great article to learn more about colorblindness and resources for creating colorblind accessible figures.

How to write 10,000 words a day
Is it really possible to write 10,000 words in a day? It seems like a daunting feat, but as explained in this article all you need is three conditions and you will be well on your way to conquering this feat. Of course, you just have to read the article to find out what those are!

Starting an Online Writing Group
If you are interested in forming a virtual writing group, you may find this approach worthy of exploring. Some valuable takeaways like, how to encourage consistent participation, are given. Be sure to read the comments below the article, there are more insightful thoughts and takeaways.

Writing Deadline Dos and Don’ts
Excellent advice for when you have a deadline fast approaching and need to get your writing complete. The second bit of advice is gold and the last is a great reminder. Is there any other advice you would add to this list?

Writing the textbook: Why professors assign their own publications
Assigning one’s own textbook to teach was a popular discussion in our online community and so I thought it was interesting when I came across this article. Many of the viewpoints are similar to those that were expressed by our textbook author members but there are some interesting differences and perspectives.

Five strategies to get your academic writing “unstuck”
Happiness is: writing when the words really flow. But what if the words refuse to flow? What strategies can you use to get “unstuck”? For five useful strategies, read this piece by Raul Pacheco-Vega.

How to write a blogpost from your journal article
This is an excellent piece on how you can turn your journal article into a blog post, even without having your own blog, and reasons for doing so, such as expanding your reach and boosting your citations. The author gives a thorough, step-by-step process that you can easily follow to turn any journal article into a blog post.