HOW TO HANDLE WRITER'S BLOCK
This advice was distributed by Gina Hiatt, PhD
Write Before You're Ready: First Steps to Avoiding Writer's Block
Oh no; it's happening again!
You just sat down to write. In the back of your mind, you know what you want to say. But as you stare at the computer screen or your pad of paper, you realize that you probably haven't checked out all the literature on this subject. Furthermore, you're not really clear about some of the articles that you've read. Perhaps you wonder if you really have anything to say after all.
So you decide to go back to do some more reading, more research, take some more notes, and check out a few more sources. Eventually, though, you find yourself back at the keyboard. Somehow you can't find a way to express those thoughts that were so clear when you were reading and researching. Every sentence that you write sounds banal, weak, obvious or boring. "I'm not in a creative state of mind," you think. "I'd better wait until I have a bigger block of time" or "I'd better wait until I'm in the mood."
The cycle continues, as you try to get clear in your mind what your thoughts are. Eventually you grow to dread the process of sitting down to write, and you think of yourself as a procrastinator.
Many writers get caught in this endless cycle.
Is there a way out? One way is to practice what Robert Boice suggests in <http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=120675>Advice for New Faculty Members and in <http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=117910>Professors as Writers. His suggestion is: write before you're ready. By observing "exemplar" new professors, and teaching their techniques to struggling professors, he found that blocked writers can be taught to write more easily. Here are the first few steps of his technique.
Pre-writing
In this stage, which might last a week or two, you spend 10 to 15 minutes per week day writing, sketching out, taking notes, making lists, talking through, or otherwise preparing for what you will be writing. This is not a reading/research stage, but a preliminary writing stage. You should start this stage before you feel fully ready.
If you do this for more than a few days, you'll notice that thoughts will come to you unbidden about your work. Jot down these thoughts.
Informal Outlines
At the end of each pre-writing session, make a small outline of what you've just written and where you want to go next. This will be difficult, but if you make a practice of doing it for a minute or two at the end of each session, you will get better at it and reap the eventual benefits. Avoid making the outline better and better. Be satisfied with its imperfect state.
If outlining makes you nervous, or even, as one professor told me, sick to your stomach, then just make lists, or even turn your writing into a mind map.
Avoid the Urge to Research (at this stage)
In some cases, reading and researching can be a way to procrastinate on your writing - you know who you are. If you think you're engaging in this behavior, then try stopping your reading for now. You will be learning from the prewriting and early outlining what additional specific research needs to be done. This will help you avoid over-researching.
Revise and Expand
In each succeeding pre-writing period, revise and expand your outline. Note what your main points are, and add supporting material. Start to use your notes from previous reading and research. If the notes are too detailed, cull out the pertinent information by making notes on your notes.
Write Informally
At this stage you should write as you would talk. Fight the urge to be a perfectionist in your writing. Don't try to cover all the points at once. Simplify. Be content with the knowledge that you will eventually edit. Now is not the time for editing, but for getting your thoughts down in writing.
Why not try Boice's techniques if you have been feeling blocked? If you don't want to use them all, modify them to work for you. Although these suggestions may go against every fiber of your academic soul, if your current writing techniques have gotten you mired down, "writing before you are ready" may be worth a try.
Warmly,
Gina
Gina is a dissertation and tenure coach. She helps academics, from grad students wondering about their dissertation topic to faculty members who want to maintain a high level of research and writing, to reach their goals more quickly and less painfully. Get Gina's free assessments & ezine at <http://www.academicladder.com>www.academicladder.com
Cate Palczewski, PhD also has some recomendations for getting through different types of block:
1. If you are having trouble getting started: tape record: If you are better at talking through things than writing through things, talk them out. Pretend you are giving a speech and tape record yourself, then transcribe it as a first draft.
2. If you are having problems sustaining concentration: Do writing sprints: Get a kitchen timer, and set it for 10 or 15 minutes. Do not set it up where you can see it, but do set it up where you can hear it. Sit down and write until the timer goes off. Even if you are on a roll, stop (jot down a few notes to remind you of where to start. Then, set the timer for 10 or 15 minutes and use the time to read a novel, vacuum, empty the dishwasher, play with the dog, watch TV. When the timer goes off, STOP, reset the timer, and sit and write. Repeat 5 or 6 times until you simply cannot stop writing even when the timer goes off.
3. If you are having problems getting your writing to flow: Write from an outline. Develop a basic outline. Then flesh out each idea. Then type in quotations for each idea. Then actually work through the complete argument.
4. If you are overwhelmed by a 20 page paer: Write in chunks. Figure out ways to break the paper into 3-5 chunks of 4 pages each. In all honesty, most academic papers are written in discrete chunks, each of which develop a discrete idea. So, figure out what each idea is, and focus on writing that one idea completely. Once each chunk is done, then spend time quilting them together. This is particularly helpful if you tend to get ahead of yourself or find yourself writing in cricles.