Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Writing

There are, as near as I can figure, four primary activities of an academic. They read a lot. They read and read and read and never quite get caught up with the reading. There is far more information than we can all process. Which is why we spend a lot of time talking to others about it. We talk out our ideas, we talk over your ideas, we talk about teaching and students. We complain about not having time to write. Which is the third activity. We write a lot. We write research reports and lit reviews and articles for practitioner (teacher-oriented) magazines. We write syllabi and comments on students papers. We write power points. We write an ungodly amount of emails. Finally, we teach. We teach anywhere from two to four courses a semester, depending on the kind of University you go to work at. Bigger research loads = lesser teaching load.

So recently I've been following the advice of Paul Silvia who says, in so many words, stop complaining about writing, make the time, write, then forget about it.

This approach has been remarkably productive for me. I've finished one project that has been hanging over my head since August. I've mostly finished my Candidacy paper. I'm making good progress on the first article I want to submit to a peer-reviewed journal.




Simple but inspirational. Well worth the $8.