Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

by Joli Jensen

So spend a week keeping a “reverse day planner.” Instead of using a planner to record upcoming events, use one to record what you actually devote time to over the course of each day. Record when and for how long you check e-mail, prepare courses, grade papers, write letters of recommendation, meet with students and colleagues. Include routine tasks—food preparation, dishes, laundry, groceries, errands, driving, and walking the dog. Put in everything nonacademic: exercising, social media, meeting friends, watching TV, surfing the net, puttering, sleeping, and staring at the wall. Where is your time going?

What the reverse day planner showed me was how I was currently choosing to live. It recorded my default priorities—where I was actually putting my time, every day. Whatever is filling up your days right now is what you are prioritizing. Once you look honestly at what you are giving priority to, you can ask yourself: are all of these commitments more important to me than writing?

There is a famous Zen tale about what happens when we think we see a poisonous snake. We go into a panic—our heart races, and our body floods with fear. Then we realize it’s just a coil of rope, not a cobra. Our panic evaporates. The craft of academic writing is mostly rope. But when we have problems—with writing or with life—it can feel like a snake.

The monk Milarepa is trapped in a cave with demons, and he tries various tactics to defend against them, to no avail. Then he remembers to open his heart, become curious, and invite his demons in to talk with him over tea. They suddenly disappear. In other words, our writing demons stop deflecting our writing when we find ways to converse with them rather than try to ignore or fight against them.

The process is gentle. You are learning to stop fighting, avoiding, and denying, so that you can stop wasting energy resisting. Instead, become curious. What are your demons nattering on about now? Give them a fair hearing. If they have something true or useful to say, take them seriously.