Do you enjoy writing? Or do you dread the thought of having to do it? I was thinking about how many of you probably don’t particularly enjoy writing, but rather enjoy having written. You have to write for your job, to further your career. Writing is a “have to” activity for you, not a “want to” one. So what can you do to make this process less painful? Change your mindset. Don’t focus on the feeling of dread leading up to or while writing. Instead, focus on how you’ll feel after. You may never enjoy the process, but you’ll be proud when you are done and feel accomplished in having completed the task you had set for yourself.
8 Rules for creating a writing habit that finally sticks
Are you struggling to make writing a habit? Do you keep pushing it off until tomorrow? Too many times when…
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: August 28, 2015
“Scripturient.” What a great word that I’ve only now just discovered! According to Merriam-Webster it means, “having a strong urge to write.” Do you ever have a strong urge that you have to sit and write? I get these urges from time to time. It can be a glorious thing (if you don’t get in the way of yourself and your writing). For me, as soon as I start thinking too much or try to form the perfect sentence, the words stop flowing so easily. Embrace those urges to write and just put everything on to the page that you can. Editing is for making sense of it all!
GUEST POST: 5 Energy traps that sabotage academic authors: Which one is yours?
Here we are on the uphill swing of the roller coaster again at the beginning of the academic year. While there can be excitement about new students and classes and seeing colleagues and friends again, you may also be feeling frustration about not getting enough writing and research done this summer.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: August 21, 2015
I received “official notice” that summer is coming to end by one of the many random emails I (somehow) subscribe to. As if there weren’t enough signs for me already—raining for days straight, temperatures taking a significant dive, and (possibly the most dreaded) back to school commercials. Growing up in a household in which both parents worked in schools (one a middle school teacher and the other a speech therapist), we were trained to avert our eyes when school supplies were moved to the front of the store, overflowing in anticipation of the school year to come.
How to have a writing room of your own
My writing buddy’s face turned dark pink as she shouted over her latté. “No one can do anything worthwhile without a private writing place!” She thrust her face into mine. “It’s gotta be your own!”
I was as adamant. “Oh, come on. All you need is the desire and will and your stone tablet and sharp tool. It doesn’t matter where you write!”
Our little debate embodies two often-discussed viewpoints about writing. Despite my vehement response to my friend, I have long puzzled about the most effective place to write. If you too are in a quandary, or lament you have no writing spot to call your own, I’d like to help you enlarge your perceptions about your own physical and mental writing places, spaces, and times.