Suffering-free academic writing: A “practical strategies” workshop Alexis Shotwell, Carleton University http://alexisshotwell.com/writingworkshop.html

The plan: Attitudes toward the writing process Useful exercises Time/guilt management Structuring the thesis or dissertation Organizing the material realities of the writing process Writing clearly for an academic audience Communicating with advisors and committees Setting up support structures for writing Knowing when to stop writing

Taking a view/holding an attitude: See yourself as: Fundamentally good, capable, smart, curious Sometimes self-sabotage-y, but worthy of care. See the thesis or dissertation as: A whole Manageable A serious work, but also an experiment Something that you are doing, but that does not encompass everything that you are. Something you can make decisions about now, not later (title, length, number of chapters, etc)

Attitudes toward your writing Writing as a very personal, frequently vulnerable thing. At the same time, a very public thing, and in this case something that must be evaluated. So: striking a balance between writing sincerely and resisting taking feedback as a comment on you as a person. Relocating the writing outside you - and, thus, as something that can be worked on. Writing mindfully, with moderation.

Some graphs : Hypomania. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 171

Some graphs : Binging. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 172

Some graphs : Creativity. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 173

Some graphs : Depression. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 174

Time/guilt management Since you will not get everything done, consider what has to be done. Not everything is as important as everything else. Being exhausted is not a virtue. Managing guilt, more than time. 80/20 rule & the “Will Do” vs “To Do” list Use the things you know about your own neurosis to your advantage.

Further time management Planning ahead/Project weeks 45 minute units Stop time for any given day Structured procrastination Taking a day off, as entitlement not reward

“Brief, Daily Sessions” (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 144)

Beginning the writing process Hold your writing in mind while you do research. Read, write short papers, etc, with a view toward how the work you’re doing will fit into your thesis or dissertation. Take notes that include your opinion/ thoughts: what you’re thinking “for now” about your findings: have a charge. Use the tone in these notes that you will use in the thesis/dissertation itself: Calm, reasonable, measured, ample, not cryptic.

Structuring the thesis or dissertation Come up with a working title. Right now. Try out a cognitive map of the dissertation How many pages will this be? How many chapters will you include? Formulate a Table of Contents (not an outline) What are the institutional guidelines for formatting? (put the MS in this format soon)

Pre-writing, writing, revision Freewriting Emailing/de-priming Notecarding Colour-coding and re-mapping Cognitive maps Back-outlining Respond to feedback and also hold your ground (Not too tight, not too loose) Understand revision and pre-writing as just as significant as writing.

Organizing the material realities of the writing process You must back up your files. Really. Otherwise, some suggested tactics: the binder mock-up of the whole manuscript. the box marked “archive” develop a system for knowing when you’ve responded to comments go ahead and print drafts out. regard the computer as a tool for production, not organization. Work-flow charts

Communicating with advisors and committees Faculty feedback = valuable commodity. Brief your committee well, use them wisely. The memo cover-letter: always include, on paper: Dear Dr. _________ (hail them in their role!) Here is “…” (V. specific: # pages, what they do, what stage of draft they are at, where they fit into the whole project.) What its core argument is. Specific guidelines for feedback you want. If this is the end: Ask “Is this something you can sign off on?” explicitly.

Knowing when to stop or pause Is your procrastination telling you something important about form or missing content? Check in with self, faculty: given clear goals for a given piece of writing, how close are you to meeting them? “In this piece of writing, I hope to show __________”

Writing clearly for an academic audience Academic writing as genre, tool: something to master and use. Not the “best” kind of writing. Discipline- and area-specific! Learn what makes sense in your genre, and write to that. Through-line: does each part of the writing speak to your overall purpose? Would a reader be able to say what you mean to do at each point in the piece?

Setting up support structures for writing Prepare your friends/ lovers/ family/ spouse/ children for your writing process Structure your material and psychic realities according to what actually works for you. Consider forming a small, manageable, functional, trustworthy writing group. Forum for sharing work-in-progress. Submit work to conferences and journals, at whatever stage you’re at - singly or in collaboration with a more senior scholar.

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