I spent a good 40 minutes writing this week’s lead in paragraph. It was slightly witty (or at least I’m telling myself that it was) and related to one of the articles highlighted this week. In the end, it was crap. There was simply no point. I was trying to explain the stress June brings and how it is a struggle to fit everything into my day and how that relates to you, as a writer, with a job and a life trying to squeeze in writing time.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: May 28, 2015
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” –Stephen King
I cannot say with certainty that, “the scariest moment is always just before you start.” I have to think that I am not alone in thinking the scariest moment is right before submitting the final draft. As a perfectionist I always strive to get it perfect, yet in writing (and most everything in life), I know that it will always have errors. An extra comma or two are almost always inevitable.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: May 8, 2015
If you find you are stuck, that the words just will not flow, focus on why you write. Focus on…
8 Academic writing blogs you should be following
When trying to find relevant articles to share on our Twitter feed I seem to always go back to the…
The three biggest mistakes academic writers make
I grew up in an academic family. When we would gather around the table at holidays, everyone but my bipolar aunt had a Ph.D. My ex-husband once told me he felt I needed to get a Ph.D. to be considered a grown-up by my family. So I know the culture. I am fluent in tenure and promotion, refereed articles and revise-and-resubmit, and the heaven and hell of the sabbatical and adjunct worlds.
As a creative writer and scholar who specializes in teaching mindfulness and writing as ways of dealing with chronic stress and healing from trauma, I bring my expertise in stress-reduction together with my personal experience of what it means to “be an academic.” I want to share with you some insights about the three biggest mistakes I see academic writers making.
