There is a discipline to academic writing that may seem elusive most of the time. I was inspired by Ethel, a friend and colleague in our Faculty. Ethel is always writing something. Then a proposal, then a paper. How does she do it? I had tried several times, but as with all other disciplines, it was something I simply had to master.
Here’s what helps me: since 23 July 2019, I’ve been writing 750 words first thing when I get to the office, every morning from Monday to Friday. I joined a trial version of 750words.com, a site I really enjoyed. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way encourages a similar discipline. One of my past students, Clarissa da Costa got through an entire MSc this way, tracking her number of target words every day.
The result has been really positive. A funding abstract, a conference abstract, a teaching portfolio, a PhD literature review chapter, a funding report and three teaching blog posts – these are the outputs for August. This commitment to writing 750 words per day has increased my productivity in ways I could not have imagined.
These are the things that trip me up: SMDs (social media distractions), a phonecall from those people trying to sell us things, switching on my desktop computer, icy fingers that would rather be wrapped around a cup of hot chocolate than tripping over a keyboard. Hard as it is sometimes to overcome these temptations, nothing beats the feeling of having achieved this one small goal for the day.
The morning writing is not always serious writing. Sometimes I am just free-writing. This is writing whatever comes into your mind, even if all you write is: “I have to get to 750 words again today and I am just typing this to get to the word target.” I call this parking. I find myself writing about things I need to do, things I am worried about not getting done… There are several advantages. I get to declutter my mind for the day, making room for action oriented thinking. The long lists of anxieties often double as strategic lists of things to do. Nothing like panic to spur me on! I also write about things I feel good about. Like making the deadline for the funding report, and having the conference abstract approved through peer review.
So much of the academic project is writing. We think as we write. We read to write. We write to understand. We write our responses to the writings of others. We write for funding, for publication, for recognition, for teaching. My advice: train your dragon. Now is always a good time to do the write thing.
The Small Things Fund 