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.

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The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: August 7, 2015

Summer is coming to a close. Maybe you are even already back in session. Were you able to meet your summer writing goals? What would you have done differently? Now is the time to make note of what worked well and what didn’t work so well. Keep this on hand so you have a better plan in place or a better understanding of how you work so that you can (if need be) accomplish more next summer. You may not feel you need to accomplish more, but you may feel that you need to work more efficiently.

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The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: July 31, 2015

What tricks or strategies do you use to get yourself started and to get the words flowing? For me, on days when I need an extra push of motivation, I retreat to my favorite local coffee shop where there is nothing there to distract me. Words, sentences, and entire pieces are also always sure to form in my head while jogging or biking. When finally I return home the words never quite flow as eloquently onto the page as they did in my mind during that bike ride, but at least I have a starting place and an idea for what I want to write or how I want to write it. In other words, as soon as I un-focus my mind from a writing task and hop on my bike or lace up my running shoes, the words finally come. Does this “trick” work for you? If not, what other tricks and strategies can you share that you use to get you started writing?

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The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: July 17, 2015

No piece of writing is perfect when first written—that’s why they call it a first draft and why editing exists. Pat Thomson offers a bit of comfort in her piece this week in that all academic writers (or any writer for that matter) face the same struggles. She focuses on being ‘stuck’ with a writing piece and how to move thru it. Today, just focus on getting started and let the rest fall into place. The rest will either fall into place or, if nothing else, give you direction for where to go on the page next time you sit to write. Either way, just start and know that you can (and will) edit later.

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