Writing

Although I enjoy blogging, it’s almost always an activity I put off. “I’d love to write that post,” I tell myself, “but I need a whole day for that.” One of the many epiphanies from my recent series of Tiny Experiments is that I can write much faster, especially when I’ve made a public commitment to do so. I don’t suppose anyone would’ve chased me if I’d missed a day, but the very threat of shaming was enough. Admittedly, the posts from that week are sketchy, but some will be reincarnated into future book chapters. ...

In her autobiography Through the Narrow Gate, scholar and former nun Karen Armstrong recounts finding a fellow novice in fits of laughter. She was pointing at a notice in the boot room and shrieking. Peering at the wall, Armstrong discovered minute directions on how to clean a shoe: “take it up in your left hand, cover liberally with polish, brush off and shine with a soft cloth”. Perplexed, she then spotted the punchline: “Repeat for the other shoe.” Her colleague, still helpless, added: “Can you imagine! If Mother hadn’t had that last sentence printed, all the novices would be walking round with one shoe perpetually clean and one dirty!” ...

If there’s one topic guaranteed to suck all the fun out of a writing workshop, it’s signposting. Signposts include descriptive headings, cross-references, and emphasis of argument. For the writer, these mechanisms feel clunky and dull; for the reader, though, these navigational aids make the text much more digestible — especially when it’s a long document like a thesis or a monograph. Your reader or examiner is probably reading your work alongside a whole heap of other research material. They’ll be dipping in and out over weeks — maybe even months — so need frequent reminders of what you’ve already told them and a roadmap of what’s coming next. With a clear structure and frequent signposts, they’re much less likely to miss something important. ...

Over the last week, I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. This morning, my brain had a great idea: Why don’t I create a whole new blog about self-help books? Yes, that’s much better than just writing this one piece. Then I can find the right domain name, fanny around with WordPress, and (best of all) create a content plan in Trello. Excruciatingly, this is exactly the sort of behaviour Burkeman cautions against: ...

Even when we start out with a clear plan, it’s easy to end up with rambling draft. We know there’s an argument lurking within, but we’re darned if we can find it. While every writer is different, nearly everyone benefits from the technique of reverse outlining. I think it’s the best way to improve the flow of your argument and produce a coherent manuscript or thesis. There are many different approaches to this technique and there’s no right way of doing it. I’ll share my approach with you, which you can then adapt. ...

One of the biggest challenges with academic writing isn’t necessarily the writing itself, it’s actually keeping ourselves in the chair. As soon as we hit a tricky part, there’s an overwhelming urge to wander off and tackle an easier task. We tell ourselves, “This is far too difficult today. I’ll come back tomorrow and it’ll definitely be easier.” Unless we push through those tricky parts, though, it’s impossible to make significant progress. The solution is to either get some velcro pants or to use Focusmate. ...

If you’re at all familiar with academic publishing, you’ll know it moves at the pace of a creaky snail. Imagine, then, a team of researchers gathering to plan, write, edit and publish a book in just 4 days. Yes, that’s right – 4 days. I was sceptical, too. Devised by Adam Hyde, the Book Sprint is a process that promotes collaboration and rapid decision-making, helping teams to achieve a lot in a short space of time. Typically, the Sprint is arranged over 5 stages: ...