Writing

It’s no exaggeration to claim that my PhD was transformed by the Pomodoro Technique. As I was studying part-time, it was crucial to make the best possible use of every spare moment. Without that structure, I’d have been trapped in a cycle of procrastination and recrimination. Since then, I’ve used it to write three books, and dozens of shorter pieces. I’ve also shared the Pomodoro Technique in hundreds of workshops and coaching sessions. That’s given me the opportunity to find out how people are actually using it. As with any technique, you get purists who insist you must use it in a specific way. They want you to pay them money to explain that you’re doing it all wrong. There’s no wrong way to use the Pomodoro Technique. And there’s no right way, either. It’s whatever way is helpful for you. ...

Does this sound familiar? You spend all morning squeezing out a paragraph, then all afternoon trying to make it the best paragraph in the world. The next morning, you reread that paragraph, decide it’s rubbish, then delete it. That’s your inner editor ambushing you before you’ve built any momentum. Although we talk about writing as a single monolithic activity, it actually involves three distinct roles or hats: the project manager, the writer, and the editor. Every piece of writing is a project. As project manager, you create a plan for the writer … who also happens to be you. When you’ve completed your draft, you hand it to the editor. Yes, that’s you, too. No wonder you’re tired. ...

One of the biggest barriers to writing is waiting until we have the time and space: “When I have a clear day, I’ll definitely get some writing done.” If I had 50p for every time a client told me that, I could afford to retire before I’m 97. I’m not immune to this problem, either. Although I’m good at blocking out time for writing, an early interruption often spirals into a pit of distraction and grumpiness. “Why did I bother starting?” 😾 ...

It’s important to remember that all academic writing is storytelling. Yes, even for scientists. The data don’t speak for themselves - you need to create a narrative that explains how you pursued your research, what happened, who was involved, and why it matters. Humans are wired to respond to stories, so it’s the perfect vehicle for communicating complex ideas. If storytelling feels alien to you, there’s good news: successful stories follow a common structure. There are many different structures you could use, but OCAR is especially helpful for academic writing. ...

Although being a 21st-century researcher has its challenges, we are at least blessed with some excellent tools. Scrivener and Zotero are two of the best. This dream team makes it much easier to plan and draft your writing, then add citations and bibliographies in the right format. Unfortunately, the two tools aren’t directly integrated. This means finding workarounds and making compromises. In a pair of blog posts, I’ll explain two approaches - one simple, one more complicated - so you can decide what’s right for you. ...

When I run project management workshops, there’s always one problem that everyone struggles with: how on earth do you estimate the time needed for each task? Most of us either overlook the complexities of an apparently straightforward activity, or simply forget that it always takes much longer than we imagine. As researchers, we vow to devise a better data-driven solution, but that’ll be for the next project. Time Tracking One of the best solutions I’ve discovered is time tracking. Working on freelance projects, I sometimes need to track billable hours for clients. With time tracking tools like Toggl, you record the start and end time for activities so you can generate reports on exactly how long you spent on that project. Within the project, you use tags or labels to track specific activities, such as emails, meetings, or researching. I use Toggl1 because it’s easy record everything with the desktop timer, which also supports the Pomodoro Technique. Alternatives include Clockify and RescueTime. ...

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: ...