• Feature Article: Scholarly Writing: A House of Pain?

The Academic Ladder

The online newsletter for academics from graduate students to
tenured professors. Brought to you by AcademicLadder.com and
Gina J. Hiatt, Ph.D.

Today's Topic (<$today$>):
First person accounts of overcoming writer's block.

Dear <$firstname$>,

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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• Feature Article: Scholarly Writing: A House of Pain?
• Book of the Week
• Resources, Reviews & Recommendations
• Ask the Coach
• How to Change or Cancel your Subscription

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Write Before You're Ready:
First Steps to Avoiding Writer's Block - Gina Hiatt, Ph.D
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Some academic writers get completely, hopelessly stuck. The
closer their deadline looms, the less they write. Often this
is the point where people contact me for coaching.

If you are stuck, try starting with just a little every day.
I wrote about this technique in last week’s newsletter, which
can be found here.
http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=122440

Unfortunately, for some people, even 15 minutes can seem
overwhelming. With this in mind, I decided to share some
comments that my clients have made during the course of
implementing this technique. My hope is that their
experiences will encourage you to get started.

In each case, we had come to an agreement that the client
would write 15 minutes a day. The comment of one person
before she began this process is typical of the negative
thoughts that plague the blocked writer:

"I (felt guilty) about not doing my work consistently, and
I was convinced that everyone else was a lot more
disciplined or had way better time management skills."

These quotes are representative of how it feels after getting
started:

"You shouldn’t call this coaching. You should call it
Gina’s House of Pain."
"It was excruciating."
"I put in a few disjointed ideas."
"I’ll never finish by the deadline if I only write this
much a day."

It wasn’t easy doing the 15 minutes at first:

"I sat down late and tried for a 15-minute session and
needed 35 minutes or so; my level of distraction was such
that I couldn’t resist burning a CD, looking at a few
e-mails, adding to tomorrow’s calendar while reading bits
and pieces from a chapter…"

"I really dislike the stuff I'm doing at the moment: I feel
mired."

"Still, though my progress was infinitesimal, I can see
that sitting here and being almost completely unproductive
is better than not sitting here at all."

As time went on, people got a little calmer and saw some
changes:

"I did the 15 minutes today. I think it was more like
20 minutes."

"I wrote today, for about an hour. I intended to do 15
minutes, really, and that's what enabled me to sit down
at all. I was struggling to explain the point of some
theorist's work. I stopped and instead free-wrote a
paragraph about why this point matters for my topic.
That was helpful and easier. I stopped before I was
finished.

"Another close call but squeezed in a 15 minuter at the
close of day. Again to my surprise an idea or two
occurred to me."

After doing this for a while, some more positive comments
snuck in:

"These last few days I’ve actually been drawn to putting
in my humble block of time."

"Just the act of sitting in front of the computer and
writing energizes…"

"I’ve been writing for about 30 minutes now…today’s
session was quite a bit more productive than others have
been."

Eventually, there is a reward. The habit starts to stick.
The horrible dread recedes. People begin to recollect why
they were attracted to their field in the first place.

"I can't help but focus on (the fact that) is the best
I've felt about writing for a long time."

"My 15 min became an hour tonight. It's becoming a little
bit of a nice, secure time."

I hope you are inspired by what these writers have been able
to accomplish. Not demanding too much of yourself in a
perfectionistic way, reducing your anxiety by taking small
steps, and getting support from others can accomplish a lot.

To me, though, the most important result is that people will
actually look forward to the rest of their academic or
professional career. Isn't that really your ultimate goal?

© Gina Hiatt, PhD
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.

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Ready to finish your dissertation?
Coaching can help you complete it more quickly with less pain.
Call or write Gina about individual or group coaching.

Overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being a junior
professor, or worried about getting tenured? Call or write
Gina about individual coaching or her writing/time management
groups.

Stay tuned to this newsletter, which will give you hints,
reminders and practical suggestions for staying on track and
creating the career you deserve. And check out the writing/time
management groups on our website!
http://www.academicladder.com

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Book of the Week
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Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day:
A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your
Doctoral Thesis
by Joan Bolker

Many graduate students are familiar with this book.
The author provides practical tips for every phase of
the dissertation process, including the topic of this
newsletter – how to handle writer’s block by writing a
few minutes a day. I recommend it to every graduate
student at any stage, and to any blocked writer.
Click below to read more reviews!
http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=122441

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Resources, Recommendations and Reviews
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Take our new survey for assistant professors.

Your answers will be anonymous. If you think of any other
responses to add to the survey, please write me. Look for
the results in the Academic Ladder Newsletter in coming weeks!
http://www.academicladder.com

Take an online assessment

Would you like to assess your progress on your dissertation or
on the climb to tenure? Check out the assessments on the website.
http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=117909

What is Tenure Coaching?
http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=117991

What is Dissertation Coaching?
http://www.academicladder.com/cmd.php?ad=117992

Like our Newsletter?

Send it to a colleague or friend in need.
http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/tellafriend.asp?MerchantID=58609

Maybe one of our hints, essays and reminders will help them out
of a slump, give them a boost, jolt them into action or make
their day. They can sign up at the website.
http://www.academicladder.com

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Ask the Coach
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Have a question that you would like to have addressed in this
newsletter? Send it to mailto:questions@academicladder.com
and you could see your question answered in the next issue!

R & D Team
Want to be on my R & D team? I'm creating two workbooks,
one for grad students, and one for professors. If you would
like to give input and insight on what to include, or
critique a page or two, just send me an email with R & D in
the subject line. Include your name, let me know if you are
student or faculty, and any other details you'd care to share.
Thanks!
mailto:gina@academicladder.com?subject=R&DTeam

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In Our NEXT ISSUE: How NOT to get tenure.
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The Academic Ladder is published by
Gina J. Hiatt, Ph.D.,
6845 Elm Street, Suite 710
McLean, VA 22101.
Email Gina: mailto:gina@academicladder.com
Phone Gina: (703) 734-4945

All content ©2004 Gina J. Hiatt, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

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