Give Your Writing Some Love!
One thing I’ve observed as an academic editor is that often the negative emotions authors who I work with experience surrounding their writing are not in sync with the writing itself. Last year one author bemoaned the fact that she had not accomplished anything in her writing over the past year. She meant this. I later went back and added up all the words I had edited for her and found that I had worked on several chapters, most of which were new writing. Together they added up to 60,000 words. Another author was extremely anxious over a chapter that she reported was in terrible condition despite the fact that she needed to submit it to a press shortly. A quick read of it convinced me that it was a strong piece with a compelling argument that would only need some minimal revising (and maybe not even that) to make it peer review worthy.
This is not to call out these writers as unrealistic or out of touch with their writing, but rather to share them as examples indicative of larger currents in academia in which scholars often view their own writing primarily through negative and critical lenses. It is of course important to be able to critique your own writing, but it is also important to not forget about its positive aspects more generally.
In her wonderful book Air & Light & Time & Space on what makes some scholarly writers "successful", Helen Sword notes that these writers cultivate positive emotions around their writing. This doesn't mean that they never feel frustrated or anxious about their scholarly work; rather, they hold their negative emotions along with the positive ones and harness the latter to help provide them with momentum in moving forward with their work.
So consider taking five or ten minutes regularly during your writing practice to pause and reflect on the positive aspects of your writing. Weekly or daily you might free write around a question like, "What am I proud of in my writing right now?", "What has been going well in my writing?", or “What do I find pleasurable about my writing?”
Maybe you'll reflect on progress you've made on a book chapter or article. While you didn’t complete the draft last week as you had hoped, maybe you had a conceptual breakthrough, which helped bring the project into better focus. Or maybe you'll reflect more on your writing process more generally. Perhaps you’ve been making time for writing despite a busy semester. Or maybe you’ll reflect about the exhilaration you feel when you discover an insight through your writing or when you craft an exquisite sentence. Whatever the case, celebrate these positive parts.
Making such reflection a regular practice can help you focus more on what is going well with your writing, which can lead to increased momentum and improved writing strategies. It can also help you to maintain a healthier and more realistic perspective as to how your writing is actually progressing. To this end, I suggest that when you do reflections like this, you also occasionally focus on a broader period of time, maybe the past six months. This helps you focus on how things have been going over the long term, rather than fixating on a day or two of writing that did not go well (which we all unfortunately experience!).
Helen Sword also argues that paying attention to what parts of your work give you the most pleasure can help your writing moving forward. After you do a reflection on what has been going well or making you happy about your writing, think about whether you might be able to introduce more of what is working for you into your writing practice to make it even more enjoyable and sustainable. If you find that you are happy when you write several times a week, try and make that happen even if the sessions are short (a lot can get done in 30 minutes!). If you find that you deeply enjoy the craft of writing, consider enrolling in a writing workshop or reading some books about scholarly writing (here are some suggestions). If you enjoy writing you do with others (as a co-author or in a writing group), think about how you can make such practices a more regular part of your life (check out my scholarly writing groups or set up your own!).
Finally, if you feel like you are having an exceptionally difficult time coming up with anything positive associated with your writing, you might consider talking with colleagues or working with a writing coach who could help you work to develop healthier attitudes about writing. Be honest about these feelings, especially if they persist over a long period: do they suggest you’d be happier in a job that doesn’t revolve around scholarly writing? How might you improve your relationship with writing? Finally, therapy can also be a helpful tool in understanding and navigating negatively surrounding academic life.
So share some love with your writing and watch it blossom into a healthier, happier writing practice!
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