Three Actions You Can Take to Feel Happier as a Writer This Year

I’m sure many people wished you “Happy New Year.” But what does it mean when it comes to writing? In other words, what can you do to feel happier in your writing practice? To address this question, it’s essential to first define what happiness means.

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness, happiness is to be happy in and with our lives, meaning that you (a) experience more positive emotions than negative ones, (b) feel that your life is good and meaningful, and (c) are satisfied with the progress you are making toward your life goals.

In this article, I outline specific actions you can take to cultivate a greater sense of happiness as a writer, based on these three aspects of happiness.

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Egocentric Reading: Using Literature to Support Your Own Research

By Dave Harris

When we notice egocentrism, it is usually a bad thing: who likes the know-it-all who thinks only of themself? But lack of egocentrism is also bad: we need to know where we stand on issues; we need to trust our own knowledge enough to commit to projects and tasks, and to commit to words on the page. I want to emphasize the importance of egocentrism in reading as a crucial factor in using the research literature effectively, and how writing is an effective tool for building the right kind of egocentrism.

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Three Strategies to Motivate Yourself to Write

By Angelica Ribeiro, PhD

To be happy involves feeling satisfied with the progress you are making toward your life goals. If you are a writer, completing writing projects is likely part of those goals. Therefore, you feel good when you sit down to write. However, I bet there are days when you don’t feel like writing, even if you know it will ultimately bring you joy. So, how can you motivate yourself on those days?

Here, I share three strategies that can motivate you to write, especially when you’re not feeling up to it.

Break down a big task into small tasks

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Welcome to TAA’s Newest Column: Dear Dr. Noelle

By Noelle Sterne, PhD

Welcome to Dear Dr. Noelle!

Unashamedly, I have modeled this column on the popular “Dear Abby” advice column but aimed at us more evolved intellectuals. The column is for you graduate students, new academic doctors, and professors who have questions that burn in your minds even when you’re binging on a Netflix series.

Fair game: anything pertaining to a dissertation, article, monograph, or book: intellectual, expressional, procedural, psychological, emotional, relational, maddening.

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Productivity and Confidence

By Dave Harris, PhD

The August 2024 TAA Conversation Circle on productivity reminded me of how much productivity depends on confidence. This insight can guide us: confidence can be built through practice. I offer some suggestions on building confidence, and thus productivity, through practice.

Degrees of self-confidence and behavior

Speaking generally, emotions shape our behavior: the optimist behaves as if things will work out, while the pessimist behaves as if things will not. Metaphorically speaking, the optimist will buy a lottery ticket, and the pessimist will not. The optimist submits a draft for publication, where the pessimist does not.

Self-confidence varies for each person, and, generally, the optimal degree of self-confidence lies between the extremes: too little self-confidence leads to paralysis; too much leads to arrogance and an inability to learn.  Ideally, a scholar has enough self-confidence to move forward with their projects and to present their work to others while also remaining open to correction when errors arise.

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2025 TAA Conference Bookstore Featured Book: ‘Becoming the Writer You Already Are’

Why is writing so terrifying? Dr. Michelle R. Boyd’s Becoming the Writer You Already Are explains why being afraid of writing is neither strange nor shameful. And introduces the Writing Metaphor, a tool that illuminates what you already know about overcoming writing challenges. Becoming shows you how to consult, trust, and follow that process. So you can live a pleasurable, productive, satisfying writing life.

Purchase in the 2025 TAA Conference Bookstore

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