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

by Joli Jensen

Preface

Writing productivity research and advice can be summarized in a single sentence: In order to be productive we need frequent, low-stress contact with a writing project we enjoy. Our problem is that academic life offers us the exact opposite: infrequent, high-stress contact with projects that come to feel like albatrosses.

Academe sets the stakes very high (publish or perish) while mystifying the writing process. We are expected to figure out—all on our own—how to publish prolifically, teach well, and be of service to students and colleagues.

I ask you to stop blaming teaching and service (as well as students and colleagues) for filling your time and draining your energy. When we let go of our rationalizations, we free ourselves to address the obstacles that really stand in our way.

Part One Writing In Academe 1 } Letting Go of the Dream

if I wanted to write, then I needed to find ways to write productively in the real academic world.

Once I stopped blaming my circumstances, I was able to find ways to secure reliable writing time, space, and energy. I learned how to recognize and find ways around the writing myths that kept me anxious and miserable.