Face it, anyone who has to write, has tried to write, and has written knows what this post is about. Life in it's many forms has an interesting way of disrupting writing endeavors. The past two weeks have been particularly brutal with work demands (both expected and unexpected), family responsibilities (both expected and unexpected), and everything in between (home, car, physical) making writing virtually impossible. I wrote OTHER things (emails, texts, notes, announcements, power point presentations) but not what I tasked myself to write. I tell myself that if I can figure out how to do all of these OTHER things, I can also write. My writing group has discussed several activities that have worked for them and I try to implement them in my world as well. Unfortunately, my world just doesn't always seem to want to comply. What has worked for others? 1) Carving out time that is dedicated only to writing. I have a lofty goal of 30 minutes daily, however, I find that 3 times per week is a bit more realistic. The challenge is when and where this takes place (In the morning before work begins? During lunch? In the evening after life quiets down?). Frankly, the opportunity varies and external realities DO exist. That said, having a structured plan does help. This includes putting that designated time allotment along with location, into your calendar and commit to sticking to it for at least 2 weeks. By taking a scientific approach: commit, track, and assess, you may be able to overcome LIFE. 2) Accountability partnering to track writing goals. This has definitely worked for me. I can truly say that NONE of my writing would have taken place had it not been for my Writing group and accountability partner. 3) Take time to analyze what is getting in the way of writing. Is it something practical? Technology does hinder progress at times. If you know you don't have access to reliable internet, computer/laptop, and etc. in certain locations, consider waiting until you are able to get to a place where you are able fully focus on writing. I say this because sometimes I consider writing while I am waiting for the kid at dance, swimming, and other lessons. Wi-fi is not always available and I don't relish the thought of using my cellphone's personal hotspot capability. Is it something personal? Are you your own worst critic? Do you have Imposter syndrome? Are you a perfectionist? This is where the accountability partnering and support comes into play. You are not the only one who has these experiences. After my ONLY first authored publication, I admittedly worry about being a one hit wonder. Having my partner and group ensures that I keep it moving! Lastly, are there external realities outside of your control? Understanding and keeping in mind that if you are doing the best you can, attending to those external realities without getting derailed is OK. Taking the time you need to manage LIFE and approach writing mindfully will guarantee progress.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Ghost Writing… It’s a thing: when should you agree to ghost writers managing your article
During one of our writing groups, the topic of ghost writing came up. I had no idea that this was even "a thing" within the world of academic writing. Ghostwriting is at the most basic level not crediting an individual(s) who contributed to a written manuscript. It can take many forms and may be based on the noted author's ideas and words, the author's ideas and the ghost writer's words, or soley on the ghost writer's words and ideas. It made sense on one hand, when considering transforming an academic article into a mainstream one. In that case, similar to "legalese", the information may need to be translated from an academic perspective to a layperson one. However, it still seems a bit questionable to me. My limited publishing experience also limits my perspective in this regard so I researched a bit from both the ghostwriter's and academic writer's perspectives and found some interesting articles/blogs. Here are a few links:
I would love to hear other's thoughts about this!
And we're off: How to keep the momentum going after your first publication
Recently, I was fortunate enough to have an article (my first, first author publication) published. I am thrilled of course, however now the pressure is on and I feel like not only do I have to keep the momentum going, I also have to have everything I work on published YESTERDAY! Obviously some realism needs to happen here so I have incorporated a few things into my life (I wont say daily routine because life happens) to facilitate continued writing fairly regularly. I have partnered with one of my colleagues to keep me accountable. We communicate via email on a weekly basis to check in and support each other. This has been tremendous as it keeps me on track in addition to helping me not to be too hard on myself when I don't reach my weekly writing goal. My partner keeps me motivated and realistic. Additionally, I have a wonderful group of people at work with whom I meet once a month to obtain support, feedback, and suggestions regarding my writing endeavors. This group of colleagues has a variety of expertise and experience with writing. Being privy to their knowledge, successes, and not so successful (I don't like the word failure) ventures not only encourages me but also makes the process less daunting. There are also opportunities offered through my institution's Faculty Success Program (FSP) that have inspired my aspirations. There are 14 day writing boot camps (which I have attempted previously and could have been a bit more diligent in execution, well a lot more) that are provided on what seems to be a quarterly basis (don't quote me on that however). I am a firm believer of "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" Therefore, I will surely be on board for the next one. I am curious to know what other people have tried.
The FSP information can be found at:
Writing through resistance
This post summarizes my experience working on a paper that I feel passionate about, but was making AGONIZINGLY slow progress on. This was occurring despite budgeting and spending lots of time “trying” to work on it. This is the definition of resistance, so I decided to use the tools available at facultydiversity.org to tackle this head on and learn more about resistance and what I can do when I encounter this experience! More specifically, I used the ‘Moving from Resistance to Writing’ 90-minute webinar, and the 14-day free Writing Boot Camp as tools.
I kept noticing that when I budgeted time to work on this project, I felt nervous beforehand (largely due to thoughts like “I can’t believe this is STILL on my list!”). Other tasks (often easier and more immediate) bled into the time I set aside, and although I would successfully engage, read articles, make decisions about how to move forward, and begin to work on these tasks, the draft moved very slowly. Between writing sessions there were many guilty “I should go work on this” moments, but when I finally got to it, I spent time re-orienting myself, re-reading or re-working on something, and was not able to easily dive back into the project.
Well, the Resistance webinar (Skill #5) provided a lot of validation about why I was having this experience. It covered external barriers to writing that we all face (competing more immediate demands, particularly service, lack of support/community for writing) and internal barriers. A few include work-crastination (my specialty), avoidance, and limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs include “I need huge blocks of uninterrupted time to work on this”, “I need to be inspired to write”, and “Writing is what I do when I’m done thinking.” This last one was huge for me. Shifting to the idea that writing IS thinking was tremendously useful. The rationale is simple: the more complicated our ideas become in our heads, the harder it will be to actually translate on the page, and the less reinforcing it will be. Having the work (ALL the work) take shape on the page makes it easy to jump in and out without effort. The webinar also covered 8 technical errors (behaviors people do) that inhibit writing progress. Well, I was making several of them regularly, not because I didn’t know better, but because stress about the task was leading to not-so-very-strategic behaviors. The two I focused on correcting were “You have no idea how long tasks take” and “Tasks you’ve set out are too complex.”
During the boot camp, I worked more regularly and systematically… and noticed that my expectations for myself (and what I wanted to accomplish in my daily time) were oh-so-unrealistic and unhelpful. I plan workouts based on my actual 5k time, not an Olympian’s – why was I doing this differently at work?
So to review the impacts of working on this problem, using these tools…
Did this process revolutionize my writing progress, and make it easy to work on this project? No. Heck, no.
Did I get unstuck and start making more progress in less time? Yes.
Did I start logging time for tasks, acknowledging my actual priorities and time that I have and don’t have, and move back my writing deadlines as a result? Yes.
Did I spend a lot more time mapping tasks in my document, ‘showing my work’, and a lot less time redoing work? Yes.
Was it hard? Yes.
Ultimately I needed to connect with a colleague to break down smaller goals, benchmark together, and reengage with the reason I wanted to share our findings. I needed to cool it with the unrealistic expectations and work more regularly, more efficiently, and tolerate that it’s slow going in my current role. If I loved writing, and was amazing/efficient at it, I’d have a different role!
Jordan Cattie, Ph.D.
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