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!

If you need carrots and sticks, check out StickK http://www.stickk.com/about.php

Time Tracking and Backwards Planning

Earlier I highlighted an article by Moira Allen entitled Time and the Writer.  

Now, Joli Jensen has a "Who Knows Where the Writing Time Goes?"
good post about using "Reverse Day Planning" to understand how you are using your time and how you might be able to find patterns in your use of time. Her post is entitled

During the first few sessions of Agraphia, we usually spend a lot of the meeting time talking about time.  Most people under-estimate how long a task will take and therefore create unrealistic goals for the week.  I ask people to write down their larger goal and then break it down into individual tasks.  For example:

• Reflection paper on class reading (7.30 hours)
• Read and take notes on assigned text (4 hours)
• Pre-write - outline/web ideas for writing (1 hour)
• Draft (2 hours)
• Revise (30 minutes)

Then I ask people to estimate how long each individual task will take and write that next to the task.  Then, as they open their planners, they can schedule in the specific task to get done each day, rather then the overwhelming goal of the entire paper.  Also, by analyzing the specific tasks, their final estimation of time is a little closer to reality.   This also helps writers get to know their personal style.  Some people like scheduling a long time to do all the tasks, others need thinking time in-between reading and writing.  As a grad student, most people have 2 or 3 of these types of papers due each week, so it is important to both recognize and schedule the time needed to complete the work.

As an early career scholar, these skills are just as important.  Backwards planning for a due date will help alleviate last minute submissions.  But, I've learned to give myself an extra week for cushion.  So, if a proposal/paper is due March 3rd, I will backwards plan from February 27th to provide some time for the unexpected interruptions that always happen.  Mini-goals throughout the project will help show progress and success, which is sorely needed motivation.  If I am working with others in a co-authored paper, I've learned that designing a clear, written schedule in the beginning is advantageous for everyone involved. It provides clear deadlines for each person that are supported by positive peer pressure - as one person's deadline impacts the next writer.

Reading and Writing - Links

Cate Russell-Cole at CommuniCATE has a nice post about "How to Read Like a Writer"

It is all about actively reading - getting into the writing and asking questions of it.

Here is some advise from some academic writers: Put One Word After Another Until Done

Rejection is the rule in scholarly publication, not the exception... (p. 141)

But, don't look so depressed!  The typical proverb "Publish or Perish" is turned around with John M. Moxley's 1992 book PUBLISH, Don't Perish.   Recognizing that to play the academic game, we all will need to publish, Moxley, a professor of English and composition, wrote a compact and accessible book about all facets of academic writing, from overcoming agraphia (though he doesn't use the term), to developing/planning scholarly projects, drafting, writing, revising, and marketing your ideas.  In addition, he provides some basic guidelines for the differences between various academic genres such as quantitative and qualitative work, book reviews and grant writing. 

Although the books is a little dated in its technical approach (using snail mail and basic computer use), the foundations of his advice is spot-on.  In addition, since it is an older title, you can access the full text here: ScholarPublish.   Moxley also provides good resources and additional readings.

Writing is Writing

Robert J. Nash has an interesting book Liberating Scholarly Writing: The Power of Personal Narrative.  In this book, he makes the case that personal narrative writing can be scholarly and rigorous and allow the author to tell the story of their life/understanding in a manner that traditional objective, academic styles cannot.  He provides some general guidelines, highlights some of the best master and doctoral theses from his own experiences, and gives some advise on how to deal with the difficulties of challenging traditional academic writing.

He recounts listening to a panel of African-American writers on C-Span and one writer said, "Reflection is not writing. Research is not writing. Note taking is not writing.  Talking about writing is not writing. Planning for writing is not writing.  Writing is writing.  Hear me say this again: Writing is writing." (page 156).

Don't Stare at Blank Screen/Piles, Stacks, Folders

Another website that all grad students and new faculty should know about is Inside Higher Ed. (http://www.insidehighered.com/) The site is described as “Inside Higher Ed is the online source for news, opinion and jobs for all of higher education. Whether you're an adjunct or a vice president, a grad student or an eminence grise, we've got what you need to thrive in your job or find a better one: breaking news and feature stories, provocative daily commentary, areas for comment on every article, practical career columns, and a powerful suite of tools to help higher education professionals get jobs and colleges identify and hire employees.” There is a nice calender of Calls for Papers and a Twitter Calender of online chats. Plus, there are lots of interesting articles – which leads me to the point of this post – Pre-Writing!

Peg Boyle Single, author of Demystifying Dissertation Writing: A Streamlined Process from Choice of Topic to Final Text and an academic writing coach, posted about learning habits of writing fluency. She provides many tips so you “Don't Stare at a Blank Screen” & “Piles,Stacks, Folders”:

1. Read actively – take notes while reading, interact with the information by writing summary statements. Write notes on your notes – what you are thinking, connecting etc. (Could be called “memoing” ala grounded theory.) Also called, “citable notes.”
2. Write a clear, concise, and convincing focus statement
3. Create a 1 page outline with the basics – including references (don't trust your memory)
4. Insert your citable notes from your reading notes to create a long outline
5. Use your long outline to write your prose

I would strongly encourage you to read all of Boyle Single's postings at Inside Higher Ed. She also talks about perfectionism, procrastination, having too much to say, and getting into the routine of writing regularly.

There is also a ppt of one of Boyle Single's seminars.

Finishing the Dissertation - Advice

There are numerous books about starting and finishing the dissertation/thesis, some better than others. But one of the things I've realized is that the process of writing a dissertation is much more about psychological aspects and facing myself – overcoming procrastination and perfectionism, endurance and perseverance and developing new ways of thinking, writing and viewing the world. Although everyone's experiences will be different, there is some practical advice that everyone can use. The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article “Finishing the Dissertation” by Renata Kobetts Miller that is worth a read. Although the author directs her comments to her dissertation work, it is applicable to most of the work we do in graduate school – including our class work, comprehensive exams, etc.

Here is a quick summery of Kobetts Miller's lessons learned about writing a dissertation:

1. The first chapter was the hardest – learning a new genre is tough, but keep at it.
2. Observe the rhythm of your work – both in time, energy, and where you struggle when writing. Figure out your own cycle of working and realize each phase will end (with perseverance).
3. Avail yourself of writing groups if they're useful, but don't feel guilty about ditching them when they're not – groups can be a great source of support and motivation, but they can also interfere with your own thinking. Be wise!
4. Revision may be easier if you put it off until later – reviewer comments can be demoralizing. With time and perspective, it will make more sense.
5. Be realistic about your timeline – Don't make set deadline that will make you feel overwhelmed. Thinking (and writing) takes time.
6. Identify the people around you who provide useful support - be gracious and grateful for the people who listen, sympathize and cajole you.
7. Relish epiphanies - open yourself to talking with many people and be ready to take advantage of the serendipitous inspiration.
8. Remember that you're doing this for yourself – it is a marathon of one, you are not in competition with others, and the journey is as important as the finish. 
   
   If you are looking for the full article, it can be found here:
   http://chronicle.com/article/Finishing-the-Dissertation/45136/