Professors as Writers – Boice

Robert Boice (1990) has spent much of his academic career thinking, researching, writing, and mentoring others about writing. His book Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing is a compilation of his work with stuck or blocked writer and it provides a lot a solid advise for both the blocked writer and the novice writer.

His initial program to get writers writing includes four stages:

1. Establish momentum and ideas with unself-conscious techniques
2. Arrange external situations to ensure regular, productive writing
3. Manage self-control of cognition and emotions
4. Create social support, develop writing skills, and understand your audience

His first chapter reveals the nature of writing problems including; censoring self, fear of failure, perfectionism, procrastination, poor early experiences with writing, mental health issues, personality issues, attitude toward writing and busyness. An important part of revealing these issues is recognizing that all writers experience this – it is not just you.

The next chapter explores what writers say about their own work, and encourages the reader to take the assessment in the appendix to understand their own writing problems. Boice believes most writing problems can be categorized into a distaste for writing, lack of time, lack of confidence, anxiety, problems with starting, or problems with finishing. In addition, there may be psychological issues such as depression, phobias, and physical limitations to writing that might interfere with writing. Problems with writing are not unusual. By studying yourself, you can discover what blocks you and arm yourself with strategies to unblock.

For the blocked writer, quick success in writing is necessary and he recommends a technique called “Spontaneous Writing” or “Free Writing” which he credits to Dorothea Brande and Peter Elbow (1973). The basic idea is to set a timer for 10 minutes and just write – about anything – without stopping. If you can't think of anything, write gibberish or “I can't think of anything.” The goal is to get words on paper. This fast track to writing should be done each day for a week or two. The next step would be to have more focused writing – pick a specific topic that you wish to develop and set the timer. Then, re-read and develop outlines from these writings. The goal of the timed, free writing is to quiet the inner critic and not worry about flawless prose. Instead, the focus is ideas, which can be revised later.

Boice then spends some time on creating a supportive environment for writing:

1. Pick a regular place
2. Non-writing resources should be put away
3. Clean/straighten at the end of writing sessions, not at the beginning
4. Attend to the audio environment – eliminate distractions, use music if needed
5. Limit social distractions (especially digital ones)
6. Get peer support/pressure (schedule writing times with others, try #amwriting on Twitter)
7. Be physically comfortable

Beyond the environment, productive writers develop productive habits such as:

1. Write daily
2. Be aware of how you spend your time and schedule your writing time
3. Write when you are fresh/best (whenever that is)
4. Don't binge write
5. Write in small, regular amounts
6. Set writing goals for each writing sessions
7. Keep track of time, amount, and % of task completed
8. Break large goals into smaller parts – backwards plan for deadlines
9. Share with supportive peers
10. Work on multiple projects to stay interested, and at different stages.

Boice states, and it is back up by tons of other studies:

Regular, daily writing increases productivity and creativity!

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